Frustration and Fun rides 16th - 20th June

After the 100km ride we went to put my bike back together again and had a few issues! To start with the chain had come off and somehow got through the hook on the seat post designed to stop this happening. As is typical with such things, we then couldn't get the chain back on past this hook, so we had to unscrew it and move it to get the chain back on.

Finally, with tyres pumped back up again and not bothering to put the mudguard on, we went to set off on our ride only to find my brakes had developed a dreadfully loud squealing noise. Accompany the squealing was a nasty vibration that went all through the frame and which I could feel coming up through my saddle. Not a nice experience and after trying to adjust the brakes, but with no improvement, we decided to abandon the ride.

When I arrived home from an after work coffee with a friend the next day, I found Ant out in the garage tinkering with my bike. He'd been reading up on bike vibrations and braking issues and as a result had moved the brake blocks to try and fix it. It worked! I found the braking a bit harder, but the squealing and most thankfully, the vibration had disappeared, so we set off for a short ride to Topsham. The following day we did another quick ride to Turf. I would have stopped to use the facilities, but when we arrived the whole driveway up to the pub was full of Scouts, so we made an about turn and came home again!

On Saturday we headed out again in the direction of Exmouth and decided we'd try to find a quicker route out of Exmouth and into Budleigh. We followed a road out of Exmouth which was a great little route - more 'normal' CTC type lanes that are perfect for cycling, if a little on the hilly side! We took a wrong turn and found ourselves at Sandy Bay, but it was only a short detour and we soon found ourselves back on the road and then joined the cycle path towards Budleigh. This time Ant was pre-warned about the turning off the main road, so we headed towards the sea front. We had to guess the way from here though as we couldn't find any further cycle network signs. Luckily our instincts were correct and we soon found ourselves stopping for a snack on a bench on the sea front. From here, we decided to carry on into Otterton.

Our map indicated a cycle route to Otterton, so we found our way to the start of this route and then regretted it! Whilst off-road, it was rather bumpy and quite narrow in places, so it slowed us down. We came across a 'route closed' section of path, but as we'd seen a van go this way and not come back, we pedalled on through and saw no sign of any reason we shouldn't be there. Finally we came to the end of the path and found ourselves in Otterton, where Otterton Mill once again provided a fantastic coffee stop.

Consulting the map again we had to choose between a longer flatter route, or a more direct but hilly route. We went for the more direct route and took a different route up over the common and cut back towards Exmouth to head home from there. The climb didn't seem as tough as on the previous ride, so that was a relief! Soon we were heading home back through Woodbury again and Ant and I agreed that this was the first ride we'd been out on for ages that we'd actually really enjoyed! Rides and going out training had become a bit of a chore. Today though, everything seemed to come together - sunshine, a lovely route that went mostly to plan and a nice relaxed day on the bike. Hip hip hip hip hooray! :)