I decided to get a short run in this morning, so I did my usual 'short' route but in reverse. Doing it in that direction leaves me a long steep hill to my village. I had a plan, and as usual plans seem like a good idea at the time.
I arrived at the bottom of the hill and looked up it and put my plan into action. There is a track which runs through the trees parallel to the hill and my plan was to use that. It looked less steep than the road on the bits you can see from the road. This though is a proper off-road track for walking up in boots. It is less steep in SOME parts but in others it's a cliff. Now I've got a touring/commuter type bike, no suspension and 9 gears sitting in an upright position.
Undaunted (OK I was a bit daunted) I set off like a maniac. The track starts easy enough, to lull you into a false sense of security. Then I came to a STEEP bit, down the gears and the hamsters running around in the back wheel like good 'uns. At one point I was down to 6 mph and in 1st gear up the steepest parts, the back wheel spinning when I went through muddy puddles. 10 yards short of the top and puffing, the bleeding chain came off the front cog, that's when the hamsters came into their own. Turning the pedals kept the motor going and I made the last few yards on leccy power alone.
I was quite pleased with myself so reached down, put the chain back on and went to grab my bottle for a cool refreshing drink of whatever my wife had put in there. There it was, no bottle, it was sitting in the kitchen where I'd left it.
I got home, found the bottle, drank it all and thought: I must do that again.
Without the Electric though, I'd be walking up there, or more likely, I wouldn't be there at all.
God bless the Hamsters.
I arrived at the bottom of the hill and looked up it and put my plan into action. There is a track which runs through the trees parallel to the hill and my plan was to use that. It looked less steep than the road on the bits you can see from the road. This though is a proper off-road track for walking up in boots. It is less steep in SOME parts but in others it's a cliff. Now I've got a touring/commuter type bike, no suspension and 9 gears sitting in an upright position.
Undaunted (OK I was a bit daunted) I set off like a maniac. The track starts easy enough, to lull you into a false sense of security. Then I came to a STEEP bit, down the gears and the hamsters running around in the back wheel like good 'uns. At one point I was down to 6 mph and in 1st gear up the steepest parts, the back wheel spinning when I went through muddy puddles. 10 yards short of the top and puffing, the bleeding chain came off the front cog, that's when the hamsters came into their own. Turning the pedals kept the motor going and I made the last few yards on leccy power alone.
I was quite pleased with myself so reached down, put the chain back on and went to grab my bottle for a cool refreshing drink of whatever my wife had put in there. There it was, no bottle, it was sitting in the kitchen where I'd left it.
I got home, found the bottle, drank it all and thought: I must do that again.
Without the Electric though, I'd be walking up there, or more likely, I wouldn't be there at all.
God bless the Hamsters.
... but couldn't do that now ...
