Trixy lives up to her name!

On Monday we planned to get back on our training schedule and got ready to ride to Exmouth again. Unfortunately, Trixy had other ideas. My braking and vibrating issue had come back and despite some efforts to adjust the brakes, all we succeeded in doing was jamming the rear brake on... Not a helpful start to the week. So on Tuesday it was into the Bike Shed to plead for some emergency help! They duly offered to look at it for me during the afternoon and I went back again after work to pck Trixy up. A spring in the brake had broken, so they'd had to build a new one for me, but it was all sorted. Hoorah.

Just down the road I discovered the braking / vibrating issues hadn't been resolved! So, back I went with Trixy for some more adjustments. Off down the road again and the problem was still there...so back to the Bike Shed I went! After further adjustments and a small trial ride out the back, it was thought the issue was sorted...but once I took it down a hill again, the vibrating was no better. By this time the Bike Shed had closed so I gingerly continued home and went back to the Bike Shed again on Wednesday. A thorough cleaning of the rims and a scrub of the brake pads finally seemed to sort things out. Apparently my new brake blocks may be too 'grabby' for my rims...so I'll just have to see how I go.

Since then Trixy has (touch wood!) been fine! So - after a quick trip home to change and pick up Ant, we headed out to Bickleigh. Despite some very threatening clouds ahead, the rain held off and we sat outside at the Fisherman's Cott for dinner. Very nice indeed! It was getting chilly on the ride back, but I sooned warmed up after a couple of short hill climbs and the weather was looking brighter again back towards Exeter.

On Thursday evening we headed down to Exmouth. We had a good run down there but I was getting hungry when we arrived and hoped to get a quick bite to eat on the sea front. Apart from the pub, everything else was closed, so rather than sit and wait to order something at the pub, or detour into the town centre, we decided to head back into Lympstone and pick up something at the village shop. This had been open on our way past, but when we got back, we discovered it closes at 8pm...it was now 8:25pm! Digging into my emergency supplies, we shared a bag of Minstrels at the roadside, took a deep breath and headed home - where we finally got to have a nice big dinner!