On your Bike

[CitroJim]

I've just bought another bike. I have to assemble it - a job I plan to do later today...

Watch this space

[CitroJim]

Just assembled the new bike

I now need to gift-wrap it

[mickthemaverick]

Are you planning to make Autumn Spring?

[CitroJim]

Are you planning to make Autumn Spring?

She's already more bouncy than Tigger

Her mum regularly tells me she's inherited far too many of my genes

[RichardW]

Just assembled the new bike



I now need to gift-wrap it

Brilliant Jim, she will love it, and they're so much better than stabilisers! When Dillon graduated to pedals we put the stabilisers on so he could learn to pedal, but that only lasted about 5 mins, as he immediately said "It won't go round corners!"

[CitroJim]

Brilliant Jim, she will love it, and they're so much better than stabilisers! When Dillon graduated to pedals we put the stabilisers on so he could learn to pedal, but that only lasted about 5 mins, as he immediately said "It won't go round corners!"

Ha, love it Richard and top kudos to Dillon

If autumn takes after her Auntie Sian she'll not be on this balance bike very long - Sian was riding without stabilisers just before her third birthday after watching me teach Robyn (Autumn's mum) to ride without stabilisers when she was 5 and a half. Sian made me take her stabilisers off and virtually taught herself whilst watching Robyn and I

[CitroJim]

I was told 'Good luck trying to giftwrap a bike...'...

Oh ye of little faith

[mickthemaverick]

You'd better just check you took the price tag off Jim!!

[bobins]

I once went to the trouble of wrapping a yard broom in Christmas wrapping paper. The finished article looked exactly like a yard broom wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper

[CitroJim]

I once went to the trouble of wrapping a yard broom in Christmas wrapping paper. The finished article looked exactly like a yard broom wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper

You'd better just check you took the price tag off Jim!!

All labels removed Mick I've occasionally been very embarrassed about accidentally leaving price tags on birthday cards

[myglaren]

Two birthdays this week and I may have done the same

[CitroJim]

A truly awesomely magical ride today, touring around a whole host of my happy places, many of which have special and significant memories attached to them

Given how few long rides I've ridden this year and my lack of training, I'm delighted with how I performed, not only on the ride but also managing to drive there, ride over 70 miles and drive home again Result!

Having said that about the drive, I should say it's a very familiar one to me, having driven it countless times...

[myglaren]

In 1951, Nils Gustaf Håkansson signed up for the Sverigeloppet endurance race traversing virtually the entire length of Sweden. His submission was rejected because of his age – he was 66.
Their reasoning was that he would have neither the strength nor the stamina to compete with the 50 other racers, all of whom were less than half his age.
Nevertheless, having ridden 600 miles to get to the starting line, Håkansson was there on race day in the saddle of his roadster complete with mudguards, a headlamp, front basket and panniers. He wore a homemade bib with the number 0 on it.
Due to the volume of racers, Håkansson crossed the starting line about 20 seconds after the race had started, but five days, five hours and 1,000 miles later, he crossed the finish line first – more than a day ahead of the next rider.
Håkansson had not been bound to one rule that the other ‘official’ participants were obliged to follow. As part of race regulations, competitors were expected to meet and stop at a checkpoint at the end of the day to recharge and restart the next morning.
Instead, Håkansson took just an hour’s rest before setting off again in the middle of the night. This allowed him to make up for the 10 miles he was behind after 300 miles and put a 20-mile gap between himself and the rest of the pack.
After three days and only five hours' sleep, Gustaf was leading the field by more than 120 miles. At one point the police tried to persuade him to stop for a medical examination, but he only laughed and pedalled on.
Eventually, with only 800 yards or so to go, Stålfarfar or "Steel Grandpa"; as he became known in the villages he'd passed through, came to an abrupt halt. But it wasn't sheer exhaustion that had stopped him – the old man's bicycle had suffered its first and only flat tyre.
Unperturbed, Gustaf dismounted and set towards the finish line where, with only a few yards to go, he remounted to cross the line at 2:15pm on July 7, 1951.
Despite the albeit unofficial victory, a subsequent audience with the king of Sweden, and generally being showered in fame and honour, Gustaf's greatest satisfaction came from proving wrong the doctors who had thought he was better suited in a rocking chair than he was in a saddle.
The Steel Grandpa continued to ride bicycles until his death in 1987 at the age of 102 and if that isn't a testament to the health benefits of riding a bike, then I don't know what is.
-Duncan Badine

[CitroJim]

That's awesome Steve

[CitroJim]

A properly gorgeous road up around Winter Hill, near Bolton. A truly perfect road for cycling along - very scenic, hilly, a lovely smooth surface and light traffic when we traversed it during the September Shuffle...

Next time I'll be riding along there on my bike; I believe I will not be the first FCF'er to do so

Autumn was out on her bike on Saturday