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Wednesday 25 September 2013

Grittleton Gadabout

Ladysolly said she'd be bridging till late today, so I went out for the first time in two weeks. I should have taken it easy ... but I didn't.

First, a ring of 18 on bridleways and byways called "Drew Grit", on the bike. I did several extras as I went round, including a 1 km excursion on foot, to see how the leg went. It went well.

Then, three caches from the end, the electrics on my bike stopped working. That's annoying, but not critical, as it means I still have a bike - it just means that I have to do *all* the work.

Back at the car, I had lunch, and thought about the afternoon. I'd planned on maybe doing a six mile circuit "Hiking Hullavington". I say "maybe" because I wasn't sure how my leg would work; remember, two weeks ago, I could barely shuffle across my hotel room to visit the en suite toilet because of my fall from the bike. But the one-kilometer test convinced me, so I set out.

By the time I finished, both thighs hurt and my back hurt. But that's just my usual exercise pain; the formerly bad leg was no worse than the other one.

53 caches done, no DNFs.

Back home, I had a look at the bike. I think the electronic controller has gone, and also a fuse in one of the batteries. That's a 20 amp fuse, which I don't have, so I ordered some from Ebay.

As it happens, I have a spare controller, because I had to get a new one to control the wheel motor that I got from Alienocean, that doesn't have sensors. So tomorrow, I'll put that in, to see if it works.

And since that leaves me without a spare controller, I ordered one on Ebay, they're only £20. And then I had a thought. The back wheel on that bike is getting increasingly wobbly; the problem is the bearings. I know I could take it to the bike shop and get them to fit new bearings, although they might say it needs a new hub too, plus fitting, and it'll probably be cheaper to buy a whole new back wheel rather than pay the labour cost of threading the spokes, and I'll be lucky to have much change from £100.

But while I was on Ebay, I had an idea. Suppose I buy a new back wheel, with 7-speed gears and freewheel? Which turns out to cost only £26.49. I'll put on one of my super-thick thorn-resisant inner tubles, and a kevlar tire, and that gives me a new back wheel, without wobble!

No word from BMS re the CVC issue.

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