The bike!

Look carefully at my shed....re-focus your eyes and look again! In there is the bike that will take me from Dundee to Thurso! I did think about taking it out, pumping up the tyres and going for a wee spin around the village, but it's been a while since I've sat on a bike, and with icy roads and a freezing -7degrees celsius I opted for the, "take a photo of the bike and get back indoors as quickly as you can" route.

Now, I don't want you thinking that I've spent a whole day taking one photo and writing this - no, it's been far more productive than that.

I met Andrew and walked the 3 miles around Forfar Loch, it was so cold that my thigh muscles seemed to contract and stay there so my ability to take big steps felt totally restricted and quite weird.

Then, following the advice of my friend Clare I went to meet another Andrew at The Outdoor Store (www.the-outdoorstore.co.uk/) to discuss what I was going to be doing in September and my lack of knowledge about anything with wheels. I knew he was the real deal when he started talking like Clare, using words I'd rarely heard before but I knew he too was referring to the not so grippy effect of less mountainy-bike tyres, as I started him off with the question, " would you be able to make my bike less grippy?" When another customer came in I wandered over to look at the helmets...AND I was more than a little delighted when I saw that on one size label it said 57-61cms. HA! So my 58 1/2 now seems a little less massive - I'd like to meet the person with the 61cm head, I feel I could at least empathise with them a bit. Andrew's shop was full of lots of goodies, I would've happily rummaged around for a bit longer, but I had ice-cream melting in my car so had to get home. Oh AND...he even has a colourful range of the modern day equivalent of "Mum's favourite spoons" only, the modern day version are just like a sturdy handle and would be rubbish at eating soup with but I'm sure they're excellent at getting the tyre off a bike. Andrew also mentioned a bike maintenance course that will be run in the shop this year by himself and Ron (someone else I know through Clare). I'm on a big learning curve and I've no doubt that Lance Armstrong and I will be sharing tips by the end of this event.

Andrew was great, really helpful, answered all my questions and I feel like my bike and I are in safe hands!

I then spoke with a lovely lady at SHELTER in Dundee, and hopefully I'll be meeting up with the manager there within the next week or so as it would be good to have someone with the SHELTER facts and figures with me when the press get involved.

Have a lovely weekend....more next week!
Love,

Kathleen x

"The bicycle is the most civilised of conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart." - Iris Murdoch