Recycling

Over the past (nearly) month, I have been occupied by looking for, buying and then riding my new bike. My old mountain bike, which I had had for 11 years, was stolen in Cambridge. With the help of Robin, who professes to be something of an expert in these matters, I plumped for a discounted 2006 Trek 6500, sans disc brakes. It is a lovely orange colour, and I shall put up a photo at some point. I decided not to go for disc brakes because it allowed me to get better componentry for my budget, plus a lighter bike. The bike is disc ready, so upgrading later should not be a problem.

I got the bike about 2 weeks ago and I have been out on four rides. There was an interlude of about a week when I went to visit Laila and Sai. The Saturday was my birthday, and we spent it in Bath, enjoying the sunshine, ice creams, Georgian and Roman architecture, and donkeys. We also called in at Taunton and Cheddar Gorge. I never realised that the Gorge would be so dramatic! I then stayed in Stoke for a few days, before calling in to see Jonathan in Bolton. A great trip and wonderful to see everyone again and catch up. It's reassuring that we never change much.

Anyway, after the four rides, the bike is still going well, but I have yet to figure out how to properly clean grit off the chain. Must buy some accessories! Paraphenalia and upgrade purchases are one of the joys of cycling. The only gripe I have is with the forks. They are Manitou Axel Elite with 80mm travel. That's not much travel, and so far I have only been able to get about 60mm out of them. I'm not a mad cyclist, but I do some drop offs and hops, and I have ploughed the front end in occasionally. Surely, I should have got more out of them than this? Plus the fork feels quite stiff. I'm not greatly experienced with forks, but I think a 100mm+ fork with plusher ride will be my next big upgrade, whenever I can afford it.