My Dad tinkering with Ernie
It’s been a while since I last posted something original on my blog and it’s been a while since I’ve been cycling around Winchester on Ernie. The riding hasn’t stopped however and I continue to cycle on Ernie all over the place. This post is about the adventure’s we’ve had thus far.
The first few weeks I rode Ernie from Chippenham to Calne to try and maintain my fitness levels and I even commuted with him to Swindon. However, I somehow injured my knee and this stopped me from riding for at least a week- from that point onwards I had to take it easy. Once my knee got better I began riding again from Chippenham to Calne on my last few days of placement. On the last day I raced a couple of students on mountain bikes and was winning until I reached a cattle grid… Ernie doesn’t cope well on such big ruts. I also did some tune-ups (well my dad did most of the crucial stuff); Ernie’s chain was cleaned thoroughly and re-oiled, the gearing mechanism was tweaked as it had been playing up, the brakes were made to be more responsive and the handlebar/fork stem was tightened. Since these tweaks the performance of Ernie has greatly improved.
Riding around Calne has been pretty easy as it’s completely flat… compared to Winchester. I feel a bit more noticed with such a bike especially when folding it up outside of shops. In Winchester people were getting pretty used to seeing folding bikes but the locals around here find it bewildering. Taking Ernie to work at a holiday club has been funny as the staff have all been having rides. The cover has been necessary when Ernie has been stored because of the dangers of paint and glue being dripped on him.
I do need to do more riding as my fitness and my weightloss may be coming to an end at the rate I’m going. There are three routes I can cycle that I like. One is to go to Chippenham and back, another is to go around the Calne bypass and the third takes me around country lanes to Quemerford end. Here’s a map of Calne to demonstrate:
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I am looking forward to returning to Winchester though… and so is Ernie :-S
