Oh bugger!

To compound our misery a little, it turns out the bent rim was only one of the problems with our tandem. The pannier rack (As pictured) ain't in great shape either.

As you can see, it has been bent badly enough to actually have a split in it. It's kind of annoying to buy a brand new bike and not be able to use it because some ignorant worker at some point along the line of its getting here has taken absolutely no care over it whatsoever.

There were two black marks on the inside of the box, suggesting it had been damaged since being boxed. Whilst it's possible that could have been someone at Dawes (Between boxing and shipping) or Spa Cycles (I think it was sent to them and they, in turn, sent it on to me) I really don't imagine either of them are to blame (I could be wrong but I doubt it). More likely than not, it was some arsehole in one of the courier companies who didn't give a damn about how one of their packages was treated and knew fine well they had dropped/driven into/kicked etc. something hard enough to damage it. It must have been quite a dunt to flatten part of a rim and bend the pannier rack. It all scares me a bit as I might discover there are other, more subtle, problems with the bicycle as a result of this incident. I hope I don't find anything else wrong with it, especially whilst speeding downhill.

It's all very frustrating and I hope it can all get remedied soon. We've been really dying to try out our tandem and it's annoying having the frame sitting there without being able to use it. Aaaargh!

Woe is me/us!

Well, our Galaxy Twin and Horizon arrived yesterday and, as you'll expect, I was exceptionally excited.

I unpacked the Horizon (They were both boxed and required a reasonable amount of assembly) and spent an hour or so assembling it then dragged in the big box containing the Galaxy Twin. I was a bit confused about assembling it as there were bits I wasn't used to having on a bike (There were no instructions either) but I pressed on and, after a couple of hours, had it together. I was exceptionally grateful to Kirby Girl for her patient 'holding the bike up' when I asked, forgiving me for being grumpy and for having bought me a workstand last Christmas.

Imagine my dismay when it turned out the rear wheel had a big dent in it (I know. I should have noticed it much earlier). There was a flat section of rim about two to three inches in length. Alas, this meant we had to return the back wheel to Spa Cycles and are now waiting for a replacement. I was so impatient about getting our tandem and really excited about going out for a cycle on it and now we're going to have to wait for a replacement wheel before we can do anything. It's not like I can just shove a normal wheel in. The tandem has 48 spoke wheels for good reason.

I know I've got a new bike to have a spin on for tomorrow's little jaunt (Weather permitting) but I really wanted our tandem and I feel like a child whose toys have been taken away.

Tandem thoughts

We received a phone call from John at Spa Cycles yesterday (Which was very considerate customer service I thought) to tell us our tandem (And my winter bike) will/should arrive with us this Friday coming. It's now Wednesday and it seems as if time has ground to a halt.

It's amazing quite how excited I am by the prospect of a tandem arriving. I don't know quite what I imagine the tandem's impact is going to be upon my life but I guess I'll find out once it arrives. Realistically, it'll probably be a novelty initially and we'll be out on it a reasonable amount because it's something new and we're excited about it but, in the long run, I wonder how it's going to work out. I imagine it'll be good as it shall let us both (Myself and Kirby Girl) cycle together with no waiting around and both of us getting to push ourselves as much as we like. A lot of the success hinges on how considerate I am as a 'Captain' (I'm well into all that tandem terminology I can tell you). If I get up to my usual grumpy complaining, I can forget about tandems in the long run as I'll put Kirby Girl off within the first few journeys. If I'm out of character and act in a considerate manner, it could be the start of something beautiful.

Dawsey, Dawsey

Well as you can see from the previous posts, myself and 3Ply are getting a Dawes tandem - I say getting quite deliberately as I am contributing not a penny towards the bike, so thanks go to Mr Stagliano for his generosity. I am looking forward to getting it and it will be lovely to actually be within talking distance of 3Ply for the whole journey - I'm sure it will be quite a relief for 3Ply not to have to wait for me on a regular basis as I struggle along, instead I will be struggling along directly behind him. Of course I am a little nervous about the possibilty of falling over and as a bit of a wuss, the speedy decent aspect causes me a bit of fear, but I think I'll get used to it. It will mean putting a lot of faith in Mr S, but that's no problem as he is a fine and safe cyclist - I'm hoping I can sit back and enjoy the scenery, maybe helping to pedal the odd time, if I feel like it!

Before you say anything 3Ply, the answer is no!!

Taking the plunge

Goodness me but that's a cliched post title and photo to go with it. Still, it's good to see someone so happy to be forcing faeces round the U-bend of her lavatory. It could be worse, when I 'googled' the words 'plunging' and 'plunge' (To get a photo) there were various fisting themed images in my results.

As one may imagine, this post isn't about toilets, actual plunging of any kind or indeed fisting. Rather, it's to say we've gone ahead and ordered our (First?) tandem today. We plumped for the Dawes Galaxy Twin, from Spa Cycles, after all. Whilst some had recommended a Landescape tandem, the price difference (Most likely starting off at £1600) was too much for serious consideration. We had to stick to the ceiling price we had decided upon. Otherwise, where would it lead? I mean, there's always a better bike than the one you've got 'just that little bit more expensive', unless you own the best and most expensive bike in the world (For the couple of weeks it has that title). No, Dawes Galaxy Twin it is.

Now we've got some 'falling off when attempting to stop', 'remembering it takes longer to get out of T-junctions' and 'scary fast descending while our brakes smoke' to look forward to. I'm excited about this like a child on Christmas Day. Things all being right and proper, it should reach our front door (Or maybe the side door) near the end of next week.

Sheldon Brown has some interesting and informative articles on tandems. In particular, his guide to starting and stopping a tandem was of interest to me. Come to think of it, is there anything cycle related the man doesn't know? I only pray (Although not really as I'm not religious) his guides will save me from scrapes and potential breakages.

Ooh, I could crush a grape!

Much like Stu Francis when he would exclaim about his grape crushing desires, I'm furious beyond the ken of mortal man/insanely irate/angry/slightly peeved/in reality don't really care much but thought I would grump anyway about Thorn bicycle manufacturers.

As you might have noticed me mention dozens of times, we're probably getting a tandem in the near future. As Thorn seems to be quite a big name in the world of tandems (At least as much as someone can be given their limited appeal) I was having a browse through their website and was a bit pissed off with the way they worded their writings.

Now, this isn't so much about Thorn individually as my dislike for certain forms of advertising and general self-promotion. There's a part of their brochure which is entitled 'Who could now seriously choose 700c for tandems?'. Funnily enough, Thorn doesn't make any 700c wheeled tandems and the wording of that title may as well be 'You're nothing but a dickwad if you choose anything other than a 26" wheel tandem'. They also mention about other companies using 'inappropriate' components on their tandems and how 700c tyre side wall failure is 'very common' and 'dangerous' with many 700c wheeled tandems. What the hell does 'very common' mean? That's just scaremongering. To me 'very common' would be 'practically every journey' but it could mean 'one in every couple of hundred tandems experience this' to someone else. What a load of bollocks! I just can't stand companies trying to scare people into buying their products and I also don't like that crap about slagging off other companies. If your company isn't good enough to stand on the merit of its own product(s), you shouldn't be making anything. It really bugs me when a company has to resort to putting down the competition (Even if not directly by name) in order to make sales. I know it's a 'cut-throat business' and all but that's just pathetic.

Nonetheless (Despite all my moaning) I imagine Thorn makes pretty good bikes, even if I reckon there is a bit of 'paying for the name' with them.

The Evil Tread: Dead by Dawes

Okay, so it's a contrived and appalling title but I'm apologising to nobody. It is vaguely cycling related as, continuing part of last Wednesday's babbling novel, we're getting that bit closer to getting a tandem now. We're still (Sigh) waiting to hear back about the second-hand tandem we've expressed an interest in and, if we're not getting it, we'll get a Dawes Galaxy Twin from Spa Cycles.

Part of me kind of hopes the 'first refusal' person wants the second-hand tandem as that would make things simple for us and force us into buying the new tandem. I think the second-hand tandem is a six speed triple whereas the Dawes would be a nine speed triple and those extra gears might come in handy when my excess weight, lack of fitness, local hills and tandem uphill toughness all combine. To be honest, I'm not even sure a lowest gear of front 28/32 rear would be low enough for me. I guess (If we get the Dawes) we could try it and change the chainset if we find a 48/38/28 is too big for my puny yet overweight body. Something a couple of teeth down in each chainring might be more suitable for my high cadence and low ability, especially if we're planning to do any touring on it whatsoever.

At the moment, Spa Cycles is selling the Dawes Galaxy Twin for £1015 GBP (Plus £30 GBP, I think, shipping). Whilst I think that's a pretty big load to shell out on a bicycle, it's about £300 GBP or more less than the retail, which most places seem to charge and I'm hopeful we would use a tandem quite a bit. I guess I'll only know if we would use it once we've got one but I think it's a low risk to take. Besides, compared to the price of some tandems, it's chump change. As you may be able to tell, I'm not one for taking risks. Mister Sensible/Bland, that's me.

Spa Cycles might be making a few pounds out of me and my cycling compadres. Asides from the prospective tandem situation, I'm trying to convince my Dad into getting a touring compact double chainset and I'm considering getting a Dawes Horizon for winter usage. Again, they seem the cheapest for it, at £340 GBP (Plus £20 GBP shipping, which I imagine/hope would be covered in the tandem's shipping if I was getting it).

I've heard Dawes 'isn't the company it once was' and such tales from the elder statesmen of cycling but the specs of the two bikes I'm interested in look pretty good for the price and I'm not concerned whether someone in England, Czechoslovakia or the far east make and assemble parts of my proposed bike. Admittedly, there are a some components of the Horizon's I'm not especially enthralled by. For example, the Horizon's Rigida wheel rims don't instill me with huge amounts of confidence. Kirby Girl and I have owned two bicycles with Rigida rims and both of us had problems with spokes breaking. Hopefully it's just been bad luck. We both found the spokes stopped breaking when we had our wheels rebuilt and I know a local man who does good wheelbuilding for a low price. All in all, I think both bikes would fit our needs and I hope to get everything sorted out within the next week or two.

It would be good having the Horizon here so my Dad could use it if he's up for a cycling visit. He's a little shorter than me but I normally cycle on a 54cm frame, he uses a 52cm and the Horizon comes in 53cm so it all works out. Like me, he's a big fan of low gears.

Enough of my thoughts and witters. I'll leave it there. As always, thanks for taking the time to read this. I know it's a bit of a slog to get through. I've you've any worthwhile options for tandems and winter bikes with low gears and good storage, please comment below and let me know.

Big fat lazy swine etc.

Again I've been very slack and slovenly when it comes to my writing here but I've also been extremely lazy this year when it comes to my cycling. Having hoped to get somewhere around eight or nine thousand miles on my bike this year and at least five, I've totalled up just under two thousand so far and don't have a single century to my name.

I know it's not a matter of mileage and is rather a matter of fun but I've found it difficult to motivate myself into cycling the way I feel I should be. Maybe that's part of the problem for me, thinking I 'should' be doing anything. Surely I 'should' be cycling as much as I damn well please and not worrying not much.

Something my lack of cycling (and exercise in general) has helped create is an increase in my weight. I've not been particularly skinny or fat for the past few years but I managed to get to a healthy 164 lbs/11 stones 10 lbs/74.4 Kgs last summer and was able to eat pretty much whatever I felt like. I've increased in mass and now exert 177 lbs/12 stones 9 lbs/80.3 Kgs on our bathroom scales. Blasted gravity! Putting on about 13 lbs/5.9 Kgs in weight isn't so good and is something I should really be trying to remedy. It's not like I'm enormous or anything. I'm 5'10"/1.78m and the weight I am isn't absolutely awful but it'll get that way if it continues as it has over the last year. My plan is to keep realistic weight loss goals of a couple of pounds/a kilo every month or two. So long as the weight is gradually going down and not increasing, that would be super. I'm probably a bit less puny than I was when I was 164 lbs/11 stone 10 lbs/74.4 Kgs (I'm starting to wish I hadn't bothered converting my weight between imperial and metric) so something around the 168 lbs/12 stones/76.2 Kgs area would be good. If I can get myself into an exercise routine, keep an eye on my diet (The flapjacks from Holland & Barrett don't help my cause) and let myself have more fun doing something good for me, I reckon I'll be close to my goal around early summer 2007. Wish me luck! Now what can I do for crow's feet and stray eyebrow hairs...

I was having a look at the Routes section of the PunctureRepairKit website and (And this could be said for the website in general) it hasn't been an amazing success. As it stands, there are still only two routes in there and they're both just wee routes I wrote myself. I had hoped it would flourish into a database of sorts filled with routes from all over the globe. So much for that idea. I guess I kind of lost interest in PunctureRepairKit. I wanted to set it up and get some input from other people to keep the information fresh and interesting but that's not happened. That sounds like I'm being bitter but that's not the case at all. It's my own doing for not having enough knowledge to do an impressive website or trying to advertise it properly (I wouldn't know how) and I haven't bothered my lazy bottom updating it in almost a year. Ah well, never mind.

For the first time in ages, I was out for a wee scoot there on Sunday with Kirby Girl and my Dad and, rather annoyingly, I skidded over and fell on my arse. It wasn't really my fault and didn't do much other than scrape the side of my right pedal, rip my bar tape (Which was almost brand new) and scuff the top-back of my right thigh. Thankfully it didn't damage my frame or wheels and my bib tights (Which were getting their first outing) survived without any damage other than getting muddy but it was annoying. I had slowed down to take a right turn into a t-junction and was giving it a wide sweep so I could be safe and, lo and behold, the back wheel of my bike skidded out and I ended up sliding across the road. Upon inspection, the area of the road I had skidded on had a thin layer of oil on the top of it. It's annoying some twat spilled their oil over the road and left it there, even if it was only by neglecting their car to the extent of it leaking oil, but there's no point in my moaning about it. I'm just glad my bike and I were okay and that it was me who skidded on it, rather than either of my cycling partners for the day.

Continuing on this overlong entry (I've a lot of missed time to make up), Kirby Girl and I are thinking of buying a tandem in the near future. We know a guy selling one but someone else has first right of refusal on it. If 'someone else' decides he doesn't want it, we'll be straight in to have a look and most likely get it. It's very exciting for me. I've never even ridden a tandem before. That conjurs up thoughts like 'What the hell do you think you're doing buying one if you've never ridden one before?' but I'll not let logic stop me and am determined to purchase a tandem of some description. I'm not going to spend huge amounts of money on the likes of a Santana titanium bike (I had no idea Carlos was a cyclist) at over £8000 GBP. At most I reckon something like a Dawes Galaxy Twin could be an option but, even then, I would rather pay considerably less if possible. It's that conundrum of whether you spend a fairly large amount of money on a bike you may not like or buy something cheap to start with. The problems with the latter option are the cheap version might not be as enjoyable and you might find you don't enjoy it primarily because you're using low quality equipment or you find you love it and want a better tandem, having already spent a few hundred pounds on the cheap one. Obviously the problem with a more expensive tandem would be buying it and finding we don't like using a tandem. I reckon we're pretty likely to enjoy using a tandem and it's a worthwhile risk. Even if Kirby Girl wasn't so into it, I think my Dad would be happy to 'stoke' (I'm reserving the 'Captain' role as I'm selfish and inconsiderate) when he's up and that would mean it should get a reasonable amount of usage. Hopefully we'll be able to kind of do both (Getting a decent tandem for cheap) if 'someone else' decides against buying the second-hand tandem I mentioned earlier. I've not seen the tandem but the guy selling it is part owner of a bike shop and, from my dealings with him in the past, I wouldn't imagine him owning anything substandard. Whilst wittering about tandems (tandi?), I should give the (Out of my price range) Hase Pino a mention. It's an odd looking beast of a tandem but seems like a really good idea. I've never ridden a recumbent either and it's quite an attractive proposition, although the £2000+ GBP price tag (For the most basic model) puts me off rather a lot. Something which worries me a bit about a tandem is my own lack of fitness and that whole 'tandems are crap uphill' thing. It can be tough enough for me to get uphill on my own bike at times (Which has a front:30/29:rear lowest gear, although I very rarely drop below 30/23 or 30/26 as my lowest gear makes a funny 'poinging' noise when I'm in it) so I'm worried I'll be totally useless on a tandem. I was having a read at Sheldon Brown's information on tandems and it's good stuff. I'm sure some of it will come in useful when/if we get a tandem. I'm all excited at the thought of getting one now I've been wittering on about it so very much.

The only other bicycle related thing I've to write about is my getting a 'winter bike'. I don't want the componentry on my beloved bicycle to get all screwed up over the winter, so getting something else to ride then could be a good idea. I had been using my Peugeot but Kirby Girl needs a bike for winter too, the frame on the Peugeot is a bit small for me and would suit her better and I'm greedy and would like another bike. It'll need to be something I can put mudguards on (And not RaceBlade type mudguards as they're not so good) and I would much prefer being able to stick my rack pack on it (As opposed to not being able to) too. I need somewhere to keep my camera, muffins and sandwiches so 'no pannier rack' is not an option. I shall have to investigate further. I was thinking of something along the lines of a Fuji Ace (If they're still made) but may get something different as Kirby Girl already has a Fuji Ace and there's something a bit keen about two people having exactly the same bike, just like we already do with our audax type bikes. Oh dear!

Well, that's me pretty much caught up. Sorry to keep you so long and thanks very much for taking the time to read this. All the best everyone/anyone.