Today’s cycle was not quite the ride that I’d anticipated when I set out on my trusty old bike. The weather seemed ok and I felt ok; the world seemed generally ok. I met with Tony Solon at the Bath Guildhall and set off on a ‘discovery ride’. This is our name for those rides where we just get lost. But once we had started, the ride unfolded rather differently than I’d hoped. 
The wind picked up and brought with it a nasty chill that punished me for my optimistic choice of clothing.
My trusty bike also failed to shift gears properly making it a real challenge to climb any gradients. When we’d purposely headed into the Mendip Hills, this was not an ideal situation at all. As we ducked and dived through whatever network of lanes we found we saw nothing too unusual for the North Somerset Countryside. That was until we stumbled across Downside School. Now contrary to its name, there is nothing about this school’s appearance that is on the Downside. It is a truly magnificent looking building which somehow remains hidden until one stumbles right upon it.
With no sense of direction and no clue where we were, and winter bikes that were somewhat letting us down, we continued on our directional guessing game in the hope of finding Bath. Clinging to its Roman heritage, all roads did eventually lead to Bath and after a few hours we were back in the city – home safe and sound. Or so I thought. I was just winding down my speed and thinking about what food I might cook up when something happened that caused me to lock up. I skidded and aligned myself perfectly with the traffic lights at the pedestrian crossing.
My head was the first point of contact with the post, splitting my helmet, and my hip was the first point to contact the ground. Nicely placed with the edge of the kerb. It’s a far quicker way of stopping than using the brakes, and from what I can tell it causes less wear on the wheel-rims.
As with every cloud there was indeed a silver lining. I fortunately crashed in front of a large bus queue who had nothing to do besides watch and laugh. I at least provided entertainment for others. The most saddening news however, is the health of my poor old bike. We’d been together since my 16th birthday and it looks as though we may never ride together again.
However, if anyone is looking for a pair of strong wheels, I can only advocate the Bontrager Race wheels. Mine are still as straight as a ruler while the rest of the bike and its parts are less so.
