After my day tour round Môn, the weather decided that all it wanted to do was rain and blow a gale. And I, being friend of neither decided to use this time wisely and hibernate. I'm not even joking, I spent almost every hour away from work in bed watching back to back episodes of QI.
Fast forward to the end of October and a jaunt up to Manchester to spend Halloween with Vicky. I love fancy dress and always pull out all the stop when making my own outfit. This year I went as Marvel Comics' Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) and it looked amazing if I say so myself.
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| Apocalypse and one of his four horesemen - Bubz |
A tax rebate in November meant I could start looking for the bike I was after sooner than expected. I had my heart set on a Dawes Super Galaxy or Nomad and every time I was in Manchester I popped into different cycle shops around the city to see if they had any in stock. No one did, not even Evans cycles. Then I remembered a bike shop called Harry Halls that my Dad used to visit when it was behind the Arndale centre (this was prior to the IRA bombing, I believe). I found it using Google Maps on my phone. As I entered the guy asked me straight away what I was looking for (something Evans cycles on Deansgate could try, I was left standing looking aimlessly at bikes for about twenty minutes with all [around 5] sales assistants behind the tills, needless to say I left without saying a thing - poor customer service). The guy in Harry Halls (I forget his name) was extremely helpful: I told him exactly what it was that I planned to do and what bike I was after ideally and he excitedly pointed me towards getting the Ridgeback Panorama. He said that it was a Dawes Super Galaxy in all but name. Cheaper too, but at £1,399 I told him that i would have to think about it.
The next day I was back home in Holyhead and decided to have a look for the bike that was suggested in Harry Hall's (the guy even told me what size frame I'd need for my bizarre physique) on the internet. So I typed in "Ridgeback Panorama 58cm tourer" into Google hit search, and my jaw smacked the desk. There, on the top of the search list was an eBay entry for the 2012 model (I was expecting to only to be able to afford maybe either a 2010 or 2011 model). I couldn't believe my luck. Plus, it was going for £785. What was the catch i hear you ask, nothing! The guy had bought it for commuting to work and now was moving to a distance where it would be impractical to cycle in everyday. I couldn't believe how coincidental this seemed, so I checked where he lived. I expected it to be down south and would have to get my Dad to pick the bike up on his travels, but no, he lived in Fflint which is a 3hr round trip. I was having an excitement induced panic attack about the whole thing so rang my Dad up to see what he thought. He told me I should try and go outside of eBay and pay in cash if I could get it a bit cheaper still.
I thought that would be a bit cheeky but I had nothing to lose. So I rang the guy up and asked if he still had the bike (Yes). I asked if he wanted cash and do it outside of eBay (Yes). I then cheekily asked if he would part with it for £700 (there was a brief pause then a "yeah alright, go on then"). I almost wet myself. The bike I would be cycling round the world on was not only one that was recommended by a guy who has done tours himself but i got it for half the price. We went to pick it up two days later, my Dad telling me to be cautious about scratches or dents etc. but there was nothing. Not one scuff (the eBay photos made it look that was a small scratch on the frame but it must have been either the florescent lighting in the guy's garage or the flash on his camera) . It was that 'un-used' that there wasn't even any grime on the chains and there were still bits of tape that the manufacturers put on them to protect the bikes whilst in transit. My Dad couldn't get over it. At this point he was as giddy as i was. The guy had even put a Brookes saddle on it. Saving me an extra £50-80. I couldn't believe my luck.
I took it for a spin two days later and what a bike. I've had ridden on decent bikes before but this one oozed craftsmanship. The gear changes were as fluid as anything and i seemed to be able to free-wheel forever - the ride was that smooth. The only change I would make would be to get a larger stem to suit my ridiculously long arms. Otherwise it's perfect. It was that good that i managed some impressive speeds which i recorded using Endomondo on my Samsung GSIII (the recorded speeds may be a bit out.)
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Since then, I've not been able to get on the bike for poor weather (we even had snow - in HOLYHEAD - I know!) but other things have happened.
I bought a pair of Ortlieb rear panniers. They're red. And Shiny. Second hand off eBay. As New.
I bought a Kindle Touch (I figured I would need something for me to keep sane on tour - and I love reading books)
For Christmas I got a pair of Northwave touring SPD boots and a bicycle maintenance manual.
I wanted to get a bit of cycling done in the new year but things have been as manic as before Christmas on top of that there was the aforementioned snow and usual bad weather. I was up in Manchester helping Vicky do her university work too.
Then something happened which i felt has been inevitable for some time, but I'm devastated nevertheless. Vicky and I have split up. I'm not going to go into details because that would not be fair on either party. I still love and care for her, but feel like its the right time to finally call it day between us.
I apologise the for the abridged version of a blog that spans so many months in so little detail, but in all honesty there wasn't much to write. And the more recent events have not left me a mood to write as I normally would.
Having said that, I thank you for reading this blog.
Martyn!
