Long walk home.

28°C, strong, humid sun, turning into thunderstorms later.

Ride to work day: set off early this morning giving time for a more relaxed pace. At the end of the day, I got the bike out and found a flat tyre. After changing the inner tube, the tyre was reluctant to take much pressure.

After a mile or so, it was obvious that I’d have to walk. At 3 miles, I got to a garage and phoned for a taxi. I baulked at £45 to go 11 miles no way! So off I went. As the hours rolled by, the clouds thickened and began to rumble. By the time I was passing Hesketth Bank, there were frequent lightning strikes including at least 20 ground-strikes.

Cracks

17°C, bright sun and light easterly.

Chapel near Holmes.

The frame is cracked, I’m pretty sure. There is nothing to the touch inside the seat-tube, but the welds on the outside have many. It’s where the top-tube joins that’s the problem.

One of many.

At least I can easily get the Racelite back on the road. There’s a few changes it needs. The handlebars are too low and too deep. They are old Cinelli 66-44 bars from the 90s. The reach is too deep such that they are unusable on the hooks.

Mallorca ride on a Ridley Fenix.

28°C full sun

Fornalutz by the fountain

Ridley Fenix, 11(cable) gears with disc brakes. Last year I had the Di2 electric shift version and this time – cable shift. I’d think I rather prefer this one. The shifts were crisp and perfect. There was much else to like too. Steering was nimble due to a short frame, to get the fit this one has a longish stem meaning it fit me well. As before, those brakes were amazing, they’d stop a car.
Today’s route was identical to last summer’s. I even called in the same deli for a snack at Port de Soller. Better though was riding without feeling ill. I doet up last august while struggling with an achey cold. The climbs are long slogs, hence the low average speed.