Maintenance

Well, the house is gradually looking more like my home. It's a bitter-sweet feeling. I finally feel less empty while I'm here, but equally, I still think of it as "our" home. I almost don't want to give up that feeling.

I had a whopping 3 hrs sleep last night. Was wide awake at 2am. Listened to lots of episodes of A Brief History of Mathematics, which despite being interesting, tends to send me back to sleep within 10 mins. So, at 4am, I wandered downstairs in my Rab down coat, made a hot milk and settled down to read and listen to music. I also spotted that CRC were having a big sale, so accidentally bought some new waterproof overshoes for when I finally have a road bike again.

I think I dozed off briefly at 7ish, to be woken by next door's builders arriving at 7.15. Harumph.

Never mind. I'd been putting off washing and maintaining my bikes all week. Time to get wet. Downhill bike first - quick hose, soapy water, 5 mins and done. It wasn't too bad actually. Notice that both sets of pads are nearly to the metal, and the brakes probably need a bleed. I keep debating selling this bike. I barely ride it. I love it to pieces, and I've time I do spend time on it, I come home with the biggest grin... but... I like to ride my bikes. Not push them up hills, not sit in a truck getting bounced around. If I lived in the Alps, or even Fort William/Glen Coe, I'd be on the gondola every week. Sadly, pushing up a track in Wharncliff or similar doesn't really do it for me. I'm just worried that I won't get a great deal for it, but I would love a 5-6inch fun bike that I can play on DH courses with, but also ride up big mountains when the want takes me. Wonder if Brant at Shedfire will give me a new Nukeproof Mega if I keep mentioning it in my blog often enough? I can but dream...

More Mountain Biking Videos

2nd up... CX bike. Nice and easy. Nowt to do other than a thorough clean, although I did notice the brake blocks have worn a lot over the last week or so. Time to get some more ready to swap in.

3rd up... the On-One. This was hidden under a thick layer of clay-mud from Cannock a week or so back. Would have been better with archaeological brushes and tools to uncover the bike underneath. Bottom bracket was seized, and I had a new one ready to swap in, but after a bit of cleaning and regreasing, it was actually running relatively smoothly again. Score. The On-One is currently set up in fully rigid guise. This was not meant to be a long term thing. I like to ride my bikes downhill as fast I am capable. Rigid forks are not always particularly conducive to this... but my Rock Shox Revelations died earlier in the year and they are back with Fishers awaiting a new MoCo cartridge under warrantee. I bought the rigid forks as a stop gap. They've been more fun than I was expecting, and actually don't hinder speed too much, unless it is really rough. Looking forward to getting some nice bolt-through 140mm travel back though.

So... bikes cleaned, repaired as far as possible... and now settled into their new home. As I have the house all to myself, I've converted the "dressing room" into the "bike room".

Bike maintenance done. Time for some personal maintenance. I've been meaning to get my hair cut for at least a couple of weeks... it has got to the so wild it doesn't even look it's deliberately meant to be like that stage. Just need a cup of tea first...