Easter 2015

 
It's Easter weekend and changes are In the wind. Obvious changes Include the loss of daylight savings time and the heat of summer. My enthusiasm for early starts and 250km day rides has gone with the loss of the extra daylight and trips to the beach with the canoe have also been postponed until next summer. My fitness Is good and I'm still happy to crank out 150km rides but my thoughts on competing In the Paris-Brest-Paris race next August have turned to thoughts of doubt. I still have to complete a 600km qualifier before the end of Autumn and although I feel I'm fit enough, I'm questioning whether I really want to do the Paris event enough to go through with the 600 and the winter training required to stay fit enough for the August start.

My thoughts on my upcoming tour of Scandinavia however have not faulted and my new Mercian bike frame has In the last month or so proved to be as comfortable and versatile as Its predecessor which Isn't surprising really considering that they were replicas of each other. I'm happy now also with the new colour and have asked the local Brooks Importers to get me another Brooks saddle from England. The saddle that I have ordered Is of a colour that I think will suit the pearl white of the frame better than my current brown and black saddles.
Alright, the real reason Is that a friend of mine broke his Brooks saddle so I sold him one of mine and then as I was reordering a replacement for that the I just happened to spy this other one... It'll take  month or two to arrive. How do I pay for this saddle fetish you may well ask?

No problem, I have that covered too. Just yesterday while out cycling In the southern ruralness of the Nelson area I spied a shiny somewhat foreign object In the grass verge at the side of the road. I thought at the time that It was probably another piece of chromed plastic commonly associated  with the junk that normally falls off autos as they speed by. But It had an odd shape that caught my eye and I thought It deserved a second look.....
This lovely shiny Jaguar bonnet mascot I first thought would look good next to the other trinkets on the bookshelf .

That was before I realised that If I combined It with the other old car mascot that I found many years ago, and Is still kicking about, that I could raise enough for my piece of leather saddle bling. And how satisfying flogging of auto parts for something really useful. I bet that weekend classic car buff was pissed off when he got home from his tear -up In the country to find that piece of his motor missing.
I realise that I cant go on like this , buying things and storing them in the bike shed, so I am having a clean out. From now on the emphasis will be on pottering on the house and throwing out all useless junk. In the next year anything considered to be of no Improvement to my life will go for sale second hand or to the tip. The house needs a big de clutter so that there Is room for travel and cycling stuff.

Junk of to the Second Hand Store.

The ultimate goal will be minimisation In all things except leather saddles.