I'm glad to say we have now picked up our second bike, which currently resides in my kitchen. It is quite a beast - sleek and fast, effortless to ride... until it stops working. Which it did within 2 miles of getting on it.
Myself and Mercer went to London town to pick the beast up. Crack of dawn start to Paddington to meet the fella who'd been kind/foolish enough to lend it to us (Thanks to Rob Lewis of Scott Wilson fame), and then the simple task of cycling the 30 miles back to mine via central, south and outer London and Croydon. Easy enough - 30 miles is no more that 2 1/2 hours on a tandem when going for it a bit.
Anyway, we walked it to a suitable central London side-street (meaning only 50 people were looking at us) and mounted up, A to Z in pocket. We started off brilliantly - apart from Mercer having to sit like a Baboon - and caused much attention through Hyde Park. Heading towards Victoria became chocca though, so we opted to dismount and walk - it was quicker. Then beyond Victoria on Vauxhall Bridge Road I was forced to tell Mercer to put his legs into it. He was. I was. And we weren't particularly moving.
Sods law had dictated that our journey was over. The rear wheel was about as straight as Graham Norton in a Dutch Gay club. I can assure you that walking the damn thing to Victoria to catch a train home was difficult - the bike weighs a damn ton! And from Victoria to Sevenoaks is the most convoluted route ever known to man.
Anyway, we eventually made it and were looking forward to a three mile walk home carrying the equivalent of the QE2 in terms of weight. On the off-chance I suggested we try Kwik Fit for a spanner and some mechanical help, worth a try at least. The bloke who we talked to not only knew his way around bikes, he was totally up for helping us - result. 10 minutes and some fettling later we had a completely ridable bike once again, and home we zoomed!
Not quite the trip we envisaged, but a mini adventure none-the-less.
No comments:
Post a Comment