Hello First Training Session - Part 1

This Tuesday (16th Oct, 2012), I finally managed to get some long distance cycling under my belt. The last time I'd done any form of long distance was the time I mentioned in the last blog. And that was 150 miles, give or take, over a two day stretch. We cycled more the second day, mainly because of the determination not to have to rough it for a second night but also to say we did the trek in two days. So I was looking at doing around about the 60 mile mark given I'd not done any training for a long time.

I'd actually attempted to do a circular route of Môn before but my trusty bike literally fell apart after passing Wylfa. The derailleur just snapped in half as I was climbing a hill (which was lucky because if I had be going down hill I'd have seriously injured myself I think). Had to get my Mam to pick me up which got me thinking:

Dilemma One: What the hell do I do when I'm in the back end of nowhere. Miles away from civilisation and thousands of miles from being picked up by a disgruntled relative.The only answer I can come up with so far is have a more expensive/reliable bike which I maintain better.

When trying to replace the rear mech with my Dad it turned out I had a dead link on my chain. You could see that a rivet had come out slightly and snagged the mech and not only ripped it off the bike but had snapped a few spokes on the rear wheel. Joy. I hate the possibility of an expensive accident. It turned out not that expensive in the end. My Dad took it to the guys at Evolution Bikes in Bangor who finished replacing the rear mech, reattached the gear cable, replaced the broken/missing spokes and trued the wheel for about £35. Thanks Guys!

Then, after getting the bike back, I made another attempt at cycling round the island. But this time the weather got the better of me. I was totally unprepared. The forecast said there'd slight showers. So I had my trusted Pac-a-mac with me. What I got was a torrential downpour of biblical proportions coupled with hail stones the size of gravel. I was only 40 minutes into my journey but thought "sod this" , turning around and going home whilst wishing my bike could turn into a pedallo. Or a kayak.

Dilemma Two: How do you prepare for any eventuality when you've got limited space and weight on a bike. I don't have an answer for this yet..

To be continued...