Peaky Knees#

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:30:23 +0000

On Saturday we skated to Cambridge: another in Alex's "let's go to the countryside" series, this time we started at Hertford North railway station (roads south of there are not pleasant skating) and headed roughly northwards, give or take, on some roads that were a true pleasure to skate and a few that were distinctly awful. But, that's skating - one of the few oportunities to say "take the rough with the smooth" and mean it literally. 70km or so, we reckon.

I was lacking a bit of zip at the time, which I attributed to two pints and half a bottle of wine and only four hours sleep the previous night. Now I have knee pain walking down stairs, which is probably Natures's way of telling me I'm not as skate fit as i was before my boots went for repair and maybe should have eased into it a bit more gradually.

My plan back in the spring to upgrade my bike gear shifters to Ergo took another step for the expensive yesterday, when I finally decided that I had enough new bits of bicycle to make it worth getting a frame to hang it all on, then putting the old bits back on the old bike. Tifosi CK4 should be here tomorrow, but goodness only knows where my BB and brake calipers (ordered two weeks ago) have got to. The Royal Mail certainly don't. Still need handlebars, saddle, pedals, and then to stare hard at the old bike and decide what parts are necessary to make it a fixer.

This weekend I'm trying Audax for the first time: 100km of hills in mid-Sussex. Hope my knees are better by then.