Cycling Again

I used to love cycling and started with cycling to the school bus stop when I was 11, to the village to hang out with friends all through my young teens. Cycling miles to visit a boyfriend  when I was 16, and to work from one end of Stowmarket to the other in my early twenties. Cycling with one child and then two children on bike seats all through the 1980s. Then after 1992 at the smallholding when we often only had one vehicle I biked the 2½ miles to Saxmundham or Leiston for shopping every week, I had baskets back and front. At Clay Cottage I biked the six mile loop for exercise quite often, especially during covid. 

Cycling was always much easier than walking.

So why did I give up cycling 2 years ago after cycling everywhere for nearly 60 years?  My old bike (bought in 1992 I think) was steel frame, very heavy and very front heavy. It had a puncture in 2022 which BiL repaired for me but not for several months, then we had that heat wave when it was too hot to bike anywhere, then somehow the bike slid down when I was trying to get on it back in 2023 and it landed on top of me and I was put right off. I did try again once but not with any enthusiasm or confidence.  The bike was left in the garage getting rusty and I sold it for £10 last year when my knee was painful and I thought I wouldn't be able to bike again but my knee is 99% better now and cycling is good exercise.

So I'd been trying to decide all winter if I should get a) an electric tricycle or b) a non electric tricycle and neither have good reports from the cycle shop in Diss, in fact they stopped selling both because people kept having problems and they had to keep sending out their van to collect the trikes - you can't fit a trike in the back of a car or on a bike rack! You also can't get out of the way on narrow lanes or push a trike up hill.

 As it wasn't through loss of balance that I stopped cycling,  I didn't really need a trike at all, and an electric bike didn't really appeal - they are heavy and not always reliable and I'd no plans to do huge long bike rides so why not just get a new lightweight cycle - they are aluminium nowadays, with a lower 'step-over' and I could have the seat a bit lower. 

That's what I did.

My first try out was wobbly, I only went a couple of metres, the seat was too low and I had to find an allen key to adjust it up. After getting that sorted I went a mile along the flattest road near home and back again, practising braking and getting off and changing gear. The brakes are certainly very effective! The bike just has 6 gears on a special turning bit on the handlebar, very easy to change gear and the wheels are really big so each push of the pedals goes a long way.

I found the large fluffy sheepskin saddle cover that was on my old bike, it's shedding wool as if a mouse has been at it! I elastic band-ed it to the smaller saddle, but what's really needed is a squishier, larger saddle and a new cover. I really knew I'd been sitting on a solid seat after 2 miles!

Next day I did the same 2 miles again, much less wobbly, this bike is so lightweight, I was flying along- why on earth didn't I do this a few years ago??

Next day I went a bit further and down a little lane and up a no through road to a farm and back again which was just over three miles. The gears are so good I was able to cycle up one of our small Suffolk hills that I used to have to walk up with my old bike.

I don't intend to cycle miles but there are a couple of loops I can ride out of the village and back again, to get back to cycling 6 miles -  It's all very exciting! 

Back Tomorrow

The End of the Week

 Eldest Daughter and the two Grandsons in Surrey were due on Tuesday for a three night stay. We were planning to get all the cousins together for a couple of trips out, to the seaside and RSPB Minsmere maybe.

She rang me Easter Sunday to say both boys had picked up tummy bugs. Oh Dear. The nearly 10 year old recovered in a day but the 4 year old wasn't so lucky. No chance of them travelling up on Tuesday after all.

Luckily YGS recovered and so they were able to come on Wednesday. We soon got the two Surrey boys  meeting up with their three Suffolk cousins in my bungalow = chaos.

 

Just one trip out, meeting up at Aldeburgh for a picnic, sailing boats on the boating pond, loading the beach stones into toy dumper trucks for the two youngest while the three eldest zoomed up and down a slope on two - much too small balance bikes - belonging to the two youngest - weird, but it kept them amused for ages.

Ice creams for all!  By chance they are sitting here in age order, Eldest Granddaughter is still taller than Eldest Grandson, but he's catching up.

After much too short a time they were off back to Surrey.

Now it will be a quiet weekend, car boot sales of course - weather permitting. Plus I must get the electric propagator onto the windowsill in the spare room and get some seeds started. 

And reading..............

Several people said they'd enjoyed reading 'The Eights' by Joanna Miller when it was in my library book photo and I did too. I'd  found details of it on a blog and a vlog and it had good reports.

It is the first book by this author and on a blog someone commented they hoped there was a sequel and it certainly sets itself up for more of the story.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its 1,000 year history, the world's most famous university has admitted female students.

This is the story of four women, all very different, who find themselves in adjoining rooms in their first weeks at university. It follows them through their first year, their secrets, fears and hopes for the future - just two years after the war which still casts a long shadow. 

 

Have a good weekend folks, I'll be back Monday 

 

Cleaning.

In the list of things I don't buy on yesterdays post I mentioned that I don't buy many branded cleaning products. 

My cleaning things are these below.

 For the few bits of washing up that I do in the sink I still have some Ecover Washing up liquid - in the 5 litre container  that's very well travelled as it's lasted years. I decant into a small bottle for the kitchen windowsill. The spray bottle is window cleaner which is white vinegar, washing up liquid and filtered water. 

Beside the spray bottle is Ecover general purpose cleaner which I use on the floors. Only a little is needed so it lasts ages.

The big tub back right is soda washing crystals that I use in the washing machine along with a Smol capsule. The soda gets rid of any smells and keeps the machine clean too. I've now cancelled my Smol subscription as they've started charging for packaging and delivery. I'll be trying another eco-friendly manufacturer next time I need some.

In front of the tub of soda crystals is my kitchen salt, used to scrub my wooden chopping board and to put down the kitchen  sink plughole sometimes -  with boiling water. 

The dishwasher tabs are in the box in the centre, again I've just cancelled my subscription and will be trying Ocean Saver company or going back to Ecover.

In the pottery tub standing on the Smol laundry tab box is bicarb (bought in bulk) which I use as a mild abrasive for cleaning sink and wash basins.

The other things that I use are dishwasher salt as it's such a hard water area, Harpic loo cleaner ditto the hard water - nothing else I've tried works. Sometimes I use Oust limescale remover stuff recommended  for cleaning the coffee machine.  (You know you live in a hard-water area when water left in a glass leaves a ring of scale after just a couple of days!)

Now and again I have to buy some vicious drain un-clogger for the en-suite basin as the builders used a right angle drain to take the waste out through the wall and I don't think it slopes enough. Too complicated and too late to do anything about it now - the company are no longer in business!

I'm sure some will think this is still too many bought products, but it suits me. 

Thanks everyone for comments - family here - so apologies for not replying to comments....bit busy.