Day 22
Days remaining 212

The running thing. A tough road.

More on the boat tomorrow cos it's nearly time to stick the deck down... but today the fitness programme kicked my arse.

I'm happy to report that I have dropped a couple of kg so far to be pretty stable at 73, and I can do a couple of laps of the 2.2 mile circuit I use on my bike pretty easily without sweating, but as I knew it would, the running is getting harder, so considering the sensible route I did a bit more bike work - that is until I had a bit of an Off - with knock on effects as you can see above!!

Some of the loop I use is road, some is bridleway, and some is just a muddy track down the edge of the field. This goes down to the back of the marina (the one at the join of the Orwell and the Stour) and as any lad of any age would, I was kind of going for it... Big ring at the front, about 5/9 or 6/9 at the back and as it was downhill and pretty easy going, I was pushing... Big grin... Getting fit is fun!

The bike was always slipping a little here and there, but then it started to slide - not particularly violently so I kept pedalling and briefly thought to myself that I'd control it without slowing, but it kept sliding and me pedalling wasn't helping with reducing the rear wheel's tendency to overtake the back whenever I applied any steering effort, so I stopped the latter and concentrated on keeping the wheels in the right order... Which with a bit of reverse lock and a fair bit of luck, I managed to do...

It was as I say, downhill so I was still going pretty quick, but felt that some of the speed had come off dealing with the sliding issue, and seeings the next bit was uphill, I went to change down... So with pressure still on the pedals, I pop to the middle ring and to compensate a bit and not end up pedalling uncontrollably quickly, I simultaneously changed up through 6 to 7 or 8 on the back....

This however.... (bikers have already clocked it) meant the chain went very slack for a second, and maybe that was the start of it, but something went ping at the back (later to be found to be the parallel casting on the back of the rear mech) and the chain jammed or something and the next thing I know is the rear wheel has locked and I am properly sliding - sideways and around, with my weight thrown forwards as I come off the pedals...  and into a very muddy ditch.... With a broken bike....

I scraped most of the mud off (of myself) and walked my bike home sort of chuckling that I had got away without hurting myself, and only my pride was bruised.... But I guess it's a long road, this fitness thing... and as until the new mech arrives it's 100% running, that means for me it's a tough one....

D