Wednesday 16 January 2008

Breakdown day


Today, dark and rainy, was not the morning to be suffering a failure in your mode of transport. I encountered two this morning. The first was a chap on a road bike busily going about fixing a puncture. He was off to the left of the roadside on Whalley New Road and I didn't slow to capture him working proficiently with his wheel. I reckon he was probably back on the road within minutes.

The second was this Honda, in Beechwood Road, which appears to have a broken suspension. It is literally 25 metres from Cliff Monk's garage but no one was with the car. Definitely not a 5 minute repair either.

It got me thinking about how I would have fared today, if I had a puncture on my commute. It must be about five years since I had to do that. I recalled thinking that I need to carry some latex gloves to replace the previous pair that got damaged. They are what I would consider essential to combat the road dirt, mess on the rims and the grease and other muck on the chain and dérailleur. Note to self: Find latex gloves and put in bike bag. What essential tool do you carry to help in a roadside repair and do you consider different options whether you commute or ride for leisure?

No comments: