Lovely weekend and nice dry roads so itching to get out. I had lots to do yesterday and a few things to finish off but as we are still in lockdown and I can't really vary the rides too much after all this time I would vary what I take out. So as I was working on the changing the tandems handlebars I thought, 'I might just throw all the Arabesque stuff back on the Ventoux Flying Scot and take that out. Shouldn't take too long, I had most of the morning to organise as Caleb wanted us all to go and have a picnic at his horse seen as it was such a nice day. It is also the only time he and Heather can leave the yard as they are still shielding. So a plan was hatched that I would build the Flying Scot and I would meet them up there.
..... well, it didn't quite work out as the only thing that was holding me back was I couldn't find the safe place where I had put the top tube cable clamps. I even tried the Dia Compe BMX ones I have in the loft, but no, they were a slightly bigger size. Almost out of time, what will I ride now? I pulled the Mercian King of Mercia tourer out the loft and gave it the once over and thought, it will do.
I ended up riding up to the farm where Calebs tiny pony is and having a nice lunch next to the watering hole with the horses. Afterwards I said to Heather I would take a longer way back but shouldn't be too long. Well the Mercian was riding so nicely, smooth, slick and setup lovely that I spent the next few hours wandering the counties back roads before taking the scenic coastal route home. This one rides really lovely and seems to fit a bit better and the geometry suites nicely as well. Oh well, maybe I painted the wrong Mercian ;)
What a great way things ended up as I am so glad I took the Mercian out, such a nice riding machine and it was just one of those satisfying rides.
As it was I made it home to set up the pizza oven once again for a lovely dinner with the family. Think I am ready to face another week now.
Hope you all had a nice weekend and hopefully had some nice weather.
Jamie
