Out with the new and in with the old.....

As 'summer' reaches drought conditions here in the midlands I decided to get my 'new' bike out. Gary has been using his regularly but so far I've stuck with my older bike. But with the roads here bone dry and, in some places, bubbling under the intense heat, it seemed right and proper to roll out the new bike. I like the way the new bike is called 'The New Bike' - I suspect that is how it will remain, at least until I buy another new bike - a bit like the 'new bloke' at work or Ronnie Wood in The Rolling Stones.

'New bike' makes its 2012 debut

But isn't it warm? - and the sky so perfectly clear. It is superb for riding at the moment and after picking up Gary's car yesterday (new MOT secured) we went for a ride taking in some hills. There was a slight misunderstanding about meeting times which resulted in me being about 5 miles in the other direction from where Gary was at our allotted meet up time - but we'll pass over that. When we finally found each other we headed out towards the mountains, bandit country and more or less immediately we were climbing - up towards the radio mast just outside Austrey, and then to Austrey itself , then the climb up towards Orton on the Hill (surely a one in 4??). Gary thought his back wheel was rubbing so we stopped to investigate, sure enough there was a slight bulge on his tyre - closer examination revealed the tyre had split next to the rim - definitely a new tyre needed. Gary let out some pressure from the tyre and we moved on if a little slower. We went through Warton and then back into Austrey and another climb back up to the mast. From there we retraced our route through to Appleby Magna and then to Snarestone. By the time I got home I'd covered 36 miles, and I could feel those hills in my legs.