This land is mine

All mine! Except that there's nothing to which you can lock your bike: no Sheffield stands, no wheelbenders, not even a raggedy old fencepost. Quite what the manager's expectation of visiting cyclists is, I don't know, except perhaps to wait for them to start looking around for a hidden Candid Camera. This is a beautifully converted car parking space at the Wetherby Whaler, a fish and chip restaurant on the outskirts of York. I don't imagine they get many cyclists turning up, considering that the restaurant is just off the rather busy A1237. I suppose one could park a velomobile in the space, or perhaps a group of cyclists could create a mass tangle of bicycles all locked to each other. There is a plus side, the fish and chips at this place is really good.

It's early days but I've done a fair few miles on the Helios with its new tyres, and I can tell the difference over the Stelvios already. They're a wee bit more grippy and they definitely ride tarmac better. What their longevity is like remains to be seen, but they're standard equipment on current Windcheetahs so I'm hoping for good things. I'm also suddenly enjoying the Helios all over again and I'm having a minor crisis: the Stealthmachine is by far and away the most comfortable bike I've ridden, ever, but the Helios is such a fun little bike and if I can sort out my comfort in cycling shorts, I might yet ride it for Pedal for Scotland after all.

One other reason for this enthusiasm is that, fingers crossed, I've sorted the incessant creak-creak-creak of the seatpost as I pedal. I resolved, once and for all, to check everything that could be a factor: the saddle clamp bolts, both seatposts, the shim into which the seatpost fits, the frame tube into which the shim fits. I looked at the wear pattern on each component, I looked for any major or minor surface defects and sanded them smooth, I cleaned everything with white spirit and greased everything except the seatpost-shim inferface. Well something worked anyway. The commute the next day saw the seatpost making no sounds at all, but an entirely new creaking sound developed from another part of the bike! I think this might be the infamous Re-bar joint, but I thought I'd fixed that months ago. So, more tinkering required then.