Between the wheels

It's been a fun-filled few weeks on the bike front. I've been busy mending things (again), reading things, meeting people, and hey, even becoming a star of the big screen. Kind of, anyway.

What galvanised me into repair mode was that I was planning to attend the York Cycle Show this year and this time I had a choice of two recumbents to ride on the day. Well, I would once I'd properly sorted the problems Speedy was having, so I was on the phone to AVD a few times to ask about bearings and kingpins. The upshot was that the DIY approach didn't sound all that difficult and would avoid me having to bring the trike down to Manchester, so I got some parts and DIYed. Out went the old metal steering bushings, in went new nylon ones, out went the tired drum brake internals, in went shiny new bits from ICE. Then I set to retrueing the front wheels which wasn't an easy job at all - the spokes hadn't been touched in at least three years. But the wheels were soon better. I made an extra layer for the seat cushion then discovered I'd run out of sticky velcro to attach it... I also repaired a mucky but good rear derailleur to substitute for the lovely and still shiny but very worn out Deore XT unit. The gear changing was becoming very imprecise and it turned out the derailleur pivots had gone wobbly, so I stole all the good bits from it and put them into the replacement derailleur. Speedy was now almost done, only needing such luxuries as a new gear lever and some tweaking of the steering joint.
I also had to attend to the little Helios because having built a nice new wheel, the miles I then put on it resulted in some of the spokes loosening up, some a little, some a lot! I perhaps hadn't tensioned the wheel enough the first time, so I spent an hour or two redoing it. Then not long after while hot-footing it across town to the garage where my car was having its MOT, I had a puncture. No biggie, but really not the best time for it to happen! I had it mended in short order and was on my way again. After attending to MOT matters I was heading over to David's house to attend to some bike matters, and got another puncture! Not only that, the sidewall of the tyre had blown apart. I had the inner tube fixed again quickly and then set to mending the tyre with a big patch which had been languishing in my repair kit for months. I ordered some new tyres that evening - Continental Grand Prix, rather than the Stelvios which have been getting a trifle annoying with their inconsistent reliability. While I was buying tyres, I chanced across a copy of Encycleopedia - from 1995 - which for £1 was too good value a piece of history not to buy.

Two events were happening on the weekend of the 24th-25th of June. One was the York show, the other was the Bicycle Film Festival. It was an idea David had, I think, to produce a short film of recumbent riders in Edinburgh, having fun and being generally enthusiastic and offbeat. Well, he asked if I was interested and I couldn't really pass up a chance like that could I? So on a very wet morning we gathered in town and went for a coffee until the rain stopped. Then the four of us, David, George the cameraman, Stuart (from the Rannoch ride last year) and I headed out for a day's filming. What a lot of fun! Take after take, round and round and round the roundabouts, swooping and swapping sides, up and down the roads (which were conveniently closed for another event). Several days of (probably frantic) editing by David and George and the video made it to the Film Festival just in time!

I didn't see the showing, of course, because I was busy driving down to York. With the Stealthmachine hugging the back of my car I cruised the 200-odd miles to the same B&B I stayed in three years before when I first went to the York show. I brought the bike this time because although Speedy was ready to go, the garage at the guest house didn't have room! Nor would my friend's little shed when I was to stay with her afterwards. So on the Sunday I rode the five miles to the event, bought myself a programme and started to get acquainted with the layout. I rode around the campsite, the cafe tent, the First Aid tent, the children's try-out bit, and ended up at the BHPC tent where I met "wobbly" John, who recognised me from Cyclefest and previous York shows. I chatted to him for a while, then went off in search of other people I knew, and ended up back at the BHPC where I met Andhar the Wheel from Aberdeen, with his little Edinburgh-born Aerobike recumbent. I made my way into the trade arena and pottered around, said hello to Peter Eland at his Velovision stand, and shortly after that, bumped into fellow forummers Tony, Alex and Joan, from ACF. We chatted for some time, then Joan and I went off to eat lunch. The rest of my afternoon was spent at Joan's tent while we disassembled it, then Tony came back and we sat talking for another hour or so. They later headed off to the railway station and I headed back to the B&B, the five miles going by very quickly indeed with a bit of a tailwind. And that was that really, not a bad day at all.

A brief few days off the bike and back home I went on another Laid Back ride with Stuart and prospective recumbenteer Mark. Having been thundered and rained on on the way out, we only went as far as Balerno for lunch. Uncharacteristically, I had spicy chicken and pasta for lunch - which was dead good actually - then we headed back in via my old stomping ground of Heriot-Watt university and its environs. I got home and with about two minutes to spare, the heavens opened again. Nevertheless it was a nice warm-up at 22 miles for me. I'm planning to do the Pedal For Scotland ride next month, given that I'm not in shape for this year's Dun Run. It's only 50-odd miles rather than 115, so shouldn't be very difficult.