A couple of weekends ago myself and a friend, Matthew, drove to Camberley just off the M3 to have a look at and buy a new bike. I say a bike but what I mean is a bike without wheels, plus it's second hand but new to me! The drive was fine apart from the possibility of being had by the police at one point but I wasn't sure how fast I was going.... ooops. Fingers crossed and touch wood, I've not had a nasty letter yet.
Anyway we arrived in Camberley parked at a church, called the chappy, and to our surprise he was across the road. It's unusual for me to find anywhere first time round. So we went into his house and were greeted by two huge Weimaraners who were lovely. One called Snatch and the other name I forget. Snatch got a little giggle to which I managed to hide from the owner who turned out to be a member of the Army and had completed various Iron Men and Triathlon competitions. I didn't want to annoy this guy for sure.
Matt and he had a lot to chat about because they are both into the heavy side of competitions whereas I'm content with fun rather than competition. So, eventually we came around to the bike and it looked great, Matt gave it his nod of approval and off we went, bike in car. Further more the bike is called a Specialized Epic, what a name!
Now I'd like to point out that I thought wheels would be relatively cheap and easy to find until we actually started to look around for them. They are not cheap, well the Fulcrum Red Metal 5's which I bought were not cheap but apparently the best value to weight to longevity ratio. Who knows if I'll ever feel the benefit of having flat spokes. They look sweet though.
Another slight issue about starting a new hobby is all the unforeseen costs and mountain biking is no exception. Being a skiier I did sort of understand that there would be some more tools and kit needed but the list is never ending with cycling. Fortunately there are only a few more items needed as I'm borrowing my mothers helmet, thanks Mum not sure if you knew that but it is a little small.
One thing has kept me rather chipper recently and I think it's to do with spending money and living in the countryside. Having never made the move to a large city where 95% of my friends are has been rather difficult but now after nearly 2 years I'm getting used to it and starting to love the relaxed life. I go mountain biking at least once a week and thankfully there are loads of trails around Dorset including Alfreds Tower which is only a few miles away.
Soon hopefully I'll be able to upload some videos of some of the trails as I've recently acquired a GoPro head cam which takes amazing videos but I broke the handlebar mount the other day and so swapping it for a chest mount which might be a little smoother, all being well.
Another new experience is using SPD pedals, these are the clip in ones that you see the Tour de France guys wearing and it takes a little while to get used to them as you're literally clipped in and can't get out unless you twist on purpose, yes I have fallen over but thankfully it was on grass and nobody was wathcing so I didn't feel like too much of a div. I bought my SPD shoes from John's Bikes in Bath and I thoroughly recommend going into to see them, my sister bought her bike from there too and she's very happy with it. Bath is also a great city to have a wonder around in.
All in all I'm very happy with the new bike although there is one problem and it's to do with space. Luckily I can keep the bike at work because there is not much space at home however I'm sure it'll find it's way there soon enough!
