so nearly lost it....

well this would normally be under race report but as you'll see i have a new thread here. i went to race today and was away nice and early befiore 7am. my trailer has a pair of cheap tyres which my ex-boss had put on for me. i had asked for HD 8-ply but got the cheapest pair in the UK called 'camac' unfortunately.

50 miles into my journey i have a puncture in the off-side trailer tyre. and pull off at the roundabout, into a cul-de-sac and take the time when waking the nearest folk to 'chat' with him.

i called the AA (a breakdown service here) and they explained that even though my card says i'm a member i had never renwed my membership (to which i was naturally enough: "flabbergasted"). membershiop when in difficulty is £130 instead of the normal £70 and even though i tried to 'cough up' the battery on my mobile went flat. bollocks!

anyway, i've had a puncture or two lately and repaired them, exhausted from long hours at work i've got old glue etc for my patches to stick and it dried oout completely on wednesday, i must get some more....for the UK has a new law that tubes are out (legally)and 'plugs' are back in - for all road vehicles except.......trailers!!!!! alas on a trailer tyre, we don't have the 'ribbed well' that keeps the tyre 'out' and so we have tubes still...work that one out!

i then set off on a journey....

the man sends me into holbeach, to 'wests' and the man there says kwik fit in spalding. i go to spalding and the first 5 people i talk too can't speak english. we get more like texas everyday!

i find kwik fit but they're closed so i visit the other 2 centres in spalding to check as well as a motoring centre that opens at 9am. the lad says that halfords do tubes, i should know i worked there till recently! so i go there. " no we don't" is their reply. well at least while i'm here i'll get a bicycle repair kit.

i decide to go back to the trailer and take off the wheel in the 40 or minutes i'll have to wait for kwik-fit to open.

i then turn up at a roundabout that looks like a crossroads, i have so much on my mind that i turned hard right onto the roundabout the wrong way and realised what i'd done seconds later. much to everyone elses and my amusement!

but i have nothing to hold the axle off the ground so i walk down a farmers field behind some houses and luckily find some bricks holding a fence up. i wave for the owner to meet me in his garden and i ask to borrow them to which he kindly agrees. i then remove the wheel.

so back to kwik fit but: 'don't stock tubes!!!!' or indeed the tyres or a puncture repair kit.

so i decide that i need to try and get to a proper shop of sorts and maybe a trailer centre. this time upon leaving spalding i get the roundabout right. and upon spying a garage that i think is open i pull in - but it isn't and rejoin the traffic. i look ahead of me and i can see at the front odf some 10 vehicles a hillman imp, mk1 ford escort, an e-type jag, ford prefect, zodiac, mgbgt and right infront of me a 600 dominator. right at the front are 4 lambretta scooters decked out 'quadrophenia' style. i look in my mirror and i can see a police car but luckily it's a 1958 mg magnet!!!!! police? -not!

i visit a caavan site in crowland that doesn't say even at the gate that it's a 'caravan centre' i also get wrong directions and eventually after interupting a football match i head for peterborough and find another caravan and kwik centre. i borrow the mechanics phone complete with nude photo of the girlfreind on the screen and then head up a sideroad where i decide to repair the puncture with my bicycle repair kit!

upon my return to the trailer the freindly man comes out and explains that whilst cutting the grass : "some thieves cased the joint" and were going to steal my bike but he stood leaning over the fence glaring at them. we had another wonderful chaty and i feel so lucky to have met this fellow biker and i am so lucky to still have my bike.

regards

Taffy

thanks lads, yeh quite a day!

no i didn't race and indeed it was 1pm before i set off back to mine. that's 5 hours after i got the puncture!


i should mention that i'd driven out into a classic bike and car parade that was making it's way to peterborough. the crowds along the side of the road were excellent! it was like being in 'la tour'. it must have been a big do because on the way home there were dozens and dozens more vehicles about and many of them were lorries which are becoming a favourite of mine.

a spare is a must, i think i have the funds somewhere. of course this tyre is out of round and the trailer is vibrating because of it now so quite a repair bill. had the trailer since new in 1982. it was a three 'trench' bike trailer but i had it converted to a flat bed with 2' sides and it's been used two or three times a week ever since. in the last month i think i've used it every single day and indeed on getting home yesterday i had to go and collect some timber.

i love this old trailer but i get the feeling the end is nigh..... even the axles are starting to tilt.

i've always considered myself unlucky on the small things and lucky on the big things in life. and keeping your bike comes into that category.

regards

Taffy

what? old and forgetful??????

i know, i know....och 'lli speak for ma sel!

regards

Taffy

froggy

i have said this to many folk: risky, bobzilla, tuts etc... my most abiding memory of the 2005 moab trip is hearing a lorry pull up behind me and seeing a pick-up!

over here we run a car and we have a trailer. if we have a pick up it's a VW rabbit with a 1600cc engine.

but i get your point.

regards

Taffy