My bike is still out of action after a disastrous ride two weekends ago, four miles in we took a byway from Steventon to Appleford along the back of the power station, all the heavy plant machinery from the gravel pits had destroyed the path and in a poor effort to repair the damage had appeared to throw down a combination of sand and gravel, all this did was make the mud really sticky, so we soon ended up off the bikes and pushing, the clods of earth that had built up in the brakes, gear mechs and around the frame and forks meant that the wheels weren't turning. Once we we're clear with the help of sticks, cleared the worst of the muck and released the brake cables on my bike, we managed to limp the seven miles home.  needles to say, I spent to rest of the day and a chunk of Sunday dismantling Helen's bike, washing it and putting it back together, didn't quite get the job finished so it was back to the car for the commute to work. Due to dark winter evenings no work happened on the bikes until the following weekend where another Saturday was spent on bike maintenance, Helen's back in working order except for a small gear alignment issue but usable for to work commute so stripped mine down, washed it and realised I'd need new brake blocks and chain link pins for the shimano chain. Almost a week on and the bike's still in bits and my order from wiggle has gone missing so looks like this weekend will be the third in row without a ride, very very frustrating! Glad I'm now spinning twice a week to keep me ticking over.
