Part 2 of the Kelpies trip.
Where were we? Ah, yes, 18 Belles on Bikes setting off for the
Kelpies
With
@ScotiaLass guiding us, we finally make it. Lovely destination, only about 30 miles on the Forth and Clyde canal from Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park, a great day out on the bike that requires some stamina though on a windy day.
The Kelpies, well, one of them with me below:
@Ellebells and I, half baked by the sun, fully battered by the wind:
Now, after a wee wander about, a spot of lunch, a zillion of pictures
you would think the matter of deciding whether to ride back or whether to take the train would be a simple one. Of course not
Various states of knackeredness had to be pondered upon.
My utterance "Look, I'm not going to ride back at 5mph, got stuff to do at home, take the train" was met with incredulous stares. "Nooo? You aren't? Why not?"
.... Harumphh!!!
What happened in the end was certainly not on the plan!
From the original group of 18, 6 of us set out to ride back home. At about 15 miles into the 30 mile return ride, miles from a train station,
@Ellebells seat post clamp split: she could not ride with her seat right into the frame, unless she would ride standing up
Searching for a makeshift solution, I break into a nearby building site, not for the first time in my life, may I add
, Katy needed a bit of wire lying behind the fence.
After retrieving it, it was of no use to us.
So Katy - lucky she was with us! - the head mechanic of
Freewheel North,
decided we would tow Michelle to her workshop in Glasgow Green, just like this:
To take this picture I had to ride ahead, stop and shoot it while they were approaching: it was like a disjointed tandem!
Suddenly a cry from Michelle: I lost my seat, I lost my seat!!!
Her saddle had turned, she could not even sit down anymore!
Amidst fits of hysterical laughter from the two of us - we almost fell off our bikes! I drop my Gonzale, run along her while she is standing up the pedals, turn the saddle the right way round
Meantime, it is getting late and a bit chilli: Michelle is wearing my jacket, while I am carrying hers in my panniers - don't ask - but we cannot stop, as Katy is towing, and ain't stopping for anybody!
At around 9mph we were actually going faster than when the wind was hitting us on our way to the Kelpies.
We had sent the other four ahead, so it was just the three of us that reached the outskirts of town at sundown, on the canal towpath were the last comic moment of this tale would happen.
Random (dishy, young) cyclist saw our plight, stops, critically inspects seat post, embarks on a technical assessment of the situation ... "I'm a bike mechanic, you know"
Inscrutable, a' la Bruce Willis in "Die even Harder", our Katy goes " Yeah, mate, I know, you got - insert name of well known Glasgow bike shop here - written allover your bike!
Could not resist, I say: Ohh, bike mechanic of blah blah, meet Katy,
head bike mechanic of Freewheel North
then, opening my jacket, showing the logo on my t-shirt "We Are The Belles on Bikes"
Next Belles adventure, Pedal on Parliament.
Will we get there for this year's event, or should we start setting out for next year's?
Mechanic on canal:
More pictures of the ride
here.
