Still pedalling, but not as often as I should.
12November 15, 2015 by welshcyclist
It’s been a long time now, but posting to my blog became a bit stale for me. Cycle commuting, as I do, to and from work, with only one feasible route, means I don’t get to see a lot. Especially now, that autumn is with us, and winter literally round the corner, all I see is the path ahead, that my lights outline for me. Whoops, I do, occasionally, see the odd owl, as it sweeps silently across the road just above me, plenty of rabbits, feeding at the road sides, a fox scurrying at my approach, or perhaps a badger snuffling along the hedgerows. Yes, I know I am so lucky to hear and see these sights, even only occasionally, as I wend my way up and down the B4242.
Even the pictures, I sometimes take, tend to be much the same, the same waterfalls, the same canal scenes and so on. Sadly, I am far too slow to catch, these wildlife scenes that open up before me, as I pedal. Oh, how I wish I had the skills other bloggers have, such as Tootlepedal, Lovely Bicycle and many more, who while blogging everyday, never fail to bring a freshness to each post. Always interesting and inviting. With photgraphs to match
You may ask, what caused me now to attempt this post?
An email that arrived in my inbox today. It was a reminder that “Tim’s cycling blog” had a new post. I haven’t seen a post from Tim for it seems ages, so I went over and had a peep. I liked it that Tim and I have something in common, we commute by bicycle, but do not like the maintenance nitty gritty side of it.
He had actually cleaned his “Bluebell”, for the second time this year, a record for him. I commented that my “Betty” had had only one deep clean so far this year, though I occasionally use a brush and wet rag on her to stop her becoming a disgrace to be seen on. Well, it struck a chord with me, so here I am typing, painfully slowly.
Here is my “Betty”, picture today in a very damp and windy back yard.
Despite, a distinctly harsh regime of maintenance, i.e ., very little, she looks quite good, don’t you think?
A wonderful simple machine that rarely lets me down, I have to thank the builders, Raleigh made “Betty”, on a production line in China, but a decade on she still is doing the business for me. You can’t ask for more?
Cheers, to you my reader.
Welshcyclist's Weblog 
I’m glad to see someone read my post and it motivated you a little. I have plans to blog a little more, but at the moment it’s a bit of a dull commute with only bad driving to write about (and I prefer not to write about that).
I wish I’d have taken a photo of Bluebell now… It was raining, so maybe keeping my phone in my pocket made more sense.
Keep peddling and enjoying keeping fit the cheapest way possible.
Bad driving is a major pain, and quite frankly seems to get worse as the numbers of cyclists in my part of the world increases. A while ago it was the odd cyclist the driving fraternity had to put up with, now as they rev up behind me looking for the smallest margin to pass, it’s as though they groan, “oh no, not another one!”
Cycling is still a thing that only odd people do around here, it’s not increasing in popularity that I’ve noticed. The driving has always been awful and gets worse with worse weather too.
It is good to get a post from you even if it is only occasionally, I sympathise with the problems of commuting as a source of interesting and original photos. Just think of all the time you will have when you are retired!
Hi there, Tootlepedal, you would not believe this, but I swear it is true. When I first started work, I was a computer operator, that was way back in 1970. Then I went to live in Eire, where I worked on the first real time integrated warehouse/retail computer set up in the British Isles. Yet, nowadays, I have an incredible problem with getting to grips with this old notebook of mine, and WordPress, that we both use for blogging. I have just discovered how to read other comments on my blog posts other than those notified to my email inbox. Hence, I am replying to your comment now. I think, I was just feeling a bit glum, when I complained about the problems I face, i.e., a lack of interesting sources for my blog. As I said in the post, I am extremely lucky, not only being able to commute by bike, but there really is a lot to see and enjoy. I must strive to use a lot more imaginative approach to blogging. Time, is a problem, but what do they say about really good footballers? They seem to have a lot more time on the ball. Sadly, currently, I don’t seem to have that extra time on the ball, I just have to work at it. Adding to my time constrictions, I recently joined our village rugby club choir, practise twice a week, shifts allowing. Cheers, and thanks for keeping me in the loop.
Joining a choir is a very good use of time and a perfectly good excuse for not wasting time blogging. 🙂
Sorry, Tootlepedal, just one more thing, I will be looking at the options for retirement, tentatively and with a lot apprehension, over the next couple of weeks. I am hoping the maths will add up, may have to go on till 66, 67, 68, but is that tempting fate? Cheers, I’ll hope to keep pedalling no matter what, and the same for you.
I can guarantee that if sensibly used, retirement will bring you great joy so I hope that it comes as soon as possible.
Bikes looking good…it’s not about miles and interest, its about doing 🙂 and you are still doing 🙂
Hey there jobby889, thanks for reading my blog.
Loved reading the post. Your old bike is similar in vintage to my British Eagle. It has given me great service and, like yours, hasn’t had the care it deserved. I thought it had reached the end of the line a month ago but a local bike shop who isn’t interested in ripping off customer gave it a new lease of life for £35. I can’t speak highly enough of good local bike shops.
One of the joys of climbing on my bike is the memories of childhood it evokes. The never-to-be-forgotten thrill and freedom that riding a bike gave. Priceless!
Please keep up the blogging – it’s appreciated.
You are so right scunepo, but I wouldn’t dare attempting some of the things I did on my home built bike, 50 years or so ago! I remember when BMX’s came out, long after I’d finished riding a bike, how the youngsters back then thought they’d reinvented riding the bike. I was riding mine over building sites, jumping footings, riding up and down planks etc., all on an ordinary bike, way before the BMX was on the scene. Of course, falling, crashing, landing on one’s head wasn’t a problem, because we just got up, shook ourselves off and went back for more. Having said that, I am truly in awe of the things that today’s riders perform, those massive quadruple loops etc., far too dangerous for me to have even pondered back in my teens. Memories of that freedom, sat in the saddle racing about, great stuff. Cheers.