Sunday, August 24, 2008
OF BIKES AND BIRDS............
When I bought my loverly new bike I must have ticked the box that said "Would you like to receive extra dramas at no extra cost?"
After receiving the call last week with an offer of a new bike I told the dude at the shop that I will come in on Saturday and discuss the issue with him.
Two days later I get a phone call from the same dude telling me that for whatever reason they managed to get the shifter cable back into my bike frame.
Amazing what you can achieve when you have a crack at it.
So that Friday ( a week ago ) I drove to the bike shop after work and picked up the yellow two wheeled equivalent of a melodramatic diva.
That weekend I picked up Snorkmaiden's cold and didn't really get a chance to take the bike for a test ride.
Monday night we're having dinner when an almighty bang disrupted our meal. For all intents and purposes I honestly thought someone had thrown a concrete block at our door.
My second thought was that it was the schizophrenic man who lives across from us as he has been known to slam doors in the middle of the night.
It wasn't until the next morning when I found my bike with a flat rear tyre that it dawned on me.
The inner tube had exploded popping the tyre off the rim.
90 pounds per square inch makes a lot of bang let me tell you.
Wednesday I dropped the dysfunctional machine off at the bike shop to get a new tube fitted as it was obviously defective.
Today I took it for the first real proper run, a 42 km round trip to the bay and back with Snorkmaiden on Ruby, her redilicious road bike.
The bike went well. Nothing went wrong with it. It did everything exactly like it was supposed to.
About 300m from our destination I discovered that my bike possessed some form of telepathic communication ability with our fine feathered avian friends.
Coming into a roundabout I noticed some seagulls taking to the air and one particular one catching an updraft in a sweeping arc, it's flight path about to intersect my line.
It was all too late when I noticed that this bird was wearing goggles, leather helmet and a scarf flapping in the breeze.
Last thing I remember was hearing "Bombs away!" and seeing something getting closer and closer, it's shape indistinguishable and then splat.
Right in the middle of the handlebar was a fat baby chuck green and liquid white seagull shit, well most of it anyway.
The rest had ricocheted onto my left knee.
I was pretty lucky really, had I been a fraction of a second quicker I would have been munching on bird turd.
Thankfully the trip home was a lot less dramatic, although it did take it out of me. A couple of times my legs went to jelly and I was forced to get right down to the lowest gear on one hill.
Can't wait to see what the next outing will bring.....
.
After receiving the call last week with an offer of a new bike I told the dude at the shop that I will come in on Saturday and discuss the issue with him.
Two days later I get a phone call from the same dude telling me that for whatever reason they managed to get the shifter cable back into my bike frame.
Amazing what you can achieve when you have a crack at it.
So that Friday ( a week ago ) I drove to the bike shop after work and picked up the yellow two wheeled equivalent of a melodramatic diva.
That weekend I picked up Snorkmaiden's cold and didn't really get a chance to take the bike for a test ride.
Monday night we're having dinner when an almighty bang disrupted our meal. For all intents and purposes I honestly thought someone had thrown a concrete block at our door.
My second thought was that it was the schizophrenic man who lives across from us as he has been known to slam doors in the middle of the night.
It wasn't until the next morning when I found my bike with a flat rear tyre that it dawned on me.
The inner tube had exploded popping the tyre off the rim.
90 pounds per square inch makes a lot of bang let me tell you.
Wednesday I dropped the dysfunctional machine off at the bike shop to get a new tube fitted as it was obviously defective.
Today I took it for the first real proper run, a 42 km round trip to the bay and back with Snorkmaiden on Ruby, her redilicious road bike.
The bike went well. Nothing went wrong with it. It did everything exactly like it was supposed to.
About 300m from our destination I discovered that my bike possessed some form of telepathic communication ability with our fine feathered avian friends.
Coming into a roundabout I noticed some seagulls taking to the air and one particular one catching an updraft in a sweeping arc, it's flight path about to intersect my line.
It was all too late when I noticed that this bird was wearing goggles, leather helmet and a scarf flapping in the breeze.
Last thing I remember was hearing "Bombs away!" and seeing something getting closer and closer, it's shape indistinguishable and then splat.
Right in the middle of the handlebar was a fat baby chuck green and liquid white seagull shit, well most of it anyway.
The rest had ricocheted onto my left knee.
I was pretty lucky really, had I been a fraction of a second quicker I would have been munching on bird turd.
Thankfully the trip home was a lot less dramatic, although it did take it out of me. A couple of times my legs went to jelly and I was forced to get right down to the lowest gear on one hill.
Can't wait to see what the next outing will bring.....
.
