I want to ride my bicycle…

I bought a bicycle a few weeks ago – I have wanted one for years, but in Lochgoilhead the choice was between a single track road up a very steep hill with forestry lorries barrelling along it, or very rough paths which were at best uncomfortable, and at worst suitable only for skilled mountain bikers.

So arriving here, I thought one would be fun for cycling to the local swimming pool (it is half an hours’ walk away which is a bit tedious if you just want a quick swim) and also possibly for doing the Fife Pilgrim Way (more on this later).  I ordered one from a big retailer and it went wrong from beginning to end.  For a start off (and this was really my fault) I managed to get the delivery address set to Donich Lodge, because although the address on my credit card was correct, I had had an account on their site some time ago which I had forgotten about.  A day after ordering (and long before delivery) I realized what I had done and corrected it with their support line.  All well I thought – and then it was actually delivered there.  The people we sold the house to were on holiday, and their friends who were looking after the cats were using it as a holiday base so were out all day.  This took three weeks and many many telephone calls to sort out, but it finally turned up here.  Unbuilt.

Now (I did not know this) but bikes come in various stages of completeness, there is “box of bits” and there is “road ready bike” – but there is also a sort of semi-built stage where the bike has the gears and the chain and all the complicated bits attached, but the rear wheel off, the handle bars reversed and the pedals not attached – these parts you do yourself.  I have tried doing this myself and ended up after six stressful hours with a bike where the brakes didn’t work properly.  So we had to drive to Dundee with the bike still in its box to get a proper technician to build it.

Finally this morning I went for my first ride – I wheeled it over to the park because I didn’t want my first wobbly attempt in 10 years to be on the A911.  I thought it would be quiet at 8am on a Sunday but in fact this seems to be rush hour for dog walkers.  I wobbled past one lady and then stopped to let her past – when I remarked that I was learning to ride it she said (very nicely) that I should have L plates on.  Anyway – I did much better once I put it up to third gear – and after half an hour I was doing ok.

R (very cruelly I thought) filmed my very first attempt.  I am not putting it on the Internet.