John arrived at my house at around 7:30 am like we had arranged, he was not in the best of moods as his bike was cold lol. I think it must have got frozen during the night in his little shed as he was complaining of his rear brake and gears not working. I told him to bring his bike into our utility and had a quick check of his rear brake. It was just a quick fix as the cable had come out from the brake lever.
It seemed to take me ages to get ready this morning, finally we were on our way. Just as I set off I discovered my adjustable ankle had seized. I gave it a few thumps but it wouldn't budge so I just thought 'Awww sod it'. As I caught up to John at the bottom of my street he said to me 'Awwww man I can't get me gears'. A quick look and I could see in his impatience and frustration he had stretched his gear cable, it was dangling down below his frame.
We carried along to the foot of the farmers trail and as John fiddled with his bike I set off. I hate stopping on banks, hills or inclines, especially where it is muddy or in this case covered in snow and ice as it is just so difficult for me to get a start again if I stop. So I was off, a nice steady pace to the top. John was unable to ride his bike and as i stopped at the top and looked around he was on pushing his bike up the hill. As we both approached the top of the farmers trail we had another look at John's bike. It became apparent that the inner cable for the rear gears had become stuck within the outer. A bit of poor maintenance on John's behalf there. John you need to make sure you look after the cables, it's not just a case of washing your bike, you also have to sometimes lube the cables. I can't talk of course, at one time I really didn't mind cleaning the various cars, motorcycles and push bikes I have owned, now I just cannot be arsed and only do it out of necessity.
As John couldn't really do anything with his gears we said our farewells. John headed home and I ventured out alone. Bloody hell it was freezing and how I managed to ride a whole 10 miles without falling off is beyond me. I mean here's all this black ice which makes things more than difficult and I stayed on board my bike. It's ironic because come the summer and I am sure I will have a few spills when the weather is find and dandy lol.
Today's excursion was a somewhat muted one. I am still not feeling 100%, but cannot put my finger on what is up. I just feel a bit numb and desensitised to everything at the moment, a bit like I know I should give a shit but I don't. Kind of just on autopilot. That said even though my heart was not in continuing after John went home I pushed myself. Again thoughts of just how lucky I am sprung to mind and that inner voice which says 'don't quit, just head out and do a bit' came to mind.
I decided just to go down towards Beamish and although I did not get any pictures I did shoot a little bit of video with my GoPro. It's nothing spectacular, but hey I was out and made the effort so instead of being overly critical I gave myself a bit of credit.
COLD RIDE OUT JANUARY 2016 from Glenn Johnstone on Vimeo.
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