My favourite ride of the week

This is going to be my savior - the Friday coffee ride!  I really look forward to them.

This morning I rode in on my own as Craig and Muffy were away. 

I was pretty excited as I was wearing my new bike nicks which are fantastic.  I don't have thin lovely legs, so I like to have bike nicks that are a bit longer to the knee and I also like them high up on the waist so as to prevent the 'plumbers crack'.  Not such an easy task to find.  The other thing I really like about these nicks is that there is no grippy bits on the bottom around the legs or around the waist.  The nicks are called Neo Power Shorts by Louis Garneau.  Here is a link to them (mine are all black - no red!):


http://www.teamestrogen.com/prodLG_1050295.html

So, I was feeling pretty swish...  But then as I was approaching the lights on Coronation Drive I flicked out of my big chain ring to my small chain ring and the chain fell off the inside.  Bummer...  I knew I was going to have to get off and get my hands dirty. The problem was it had actually fallen off the little guide that I had broken previously on the rear derailer.  So I had my bike upside down on the side of the road wrestling and swearing and thinking that I was going to be late.  Finally I sorted it out, but not without getting a gumby mark on my leg and arm as well as covering both hands with thick black grease.  My new white gloves had grease on them and my white handlebar tape and frame were covered in grease.  I was not looking too swish now...

Anyway, I hot tailed it and made the ride in time.  It was funny because the only other girl that was coming on the 'girls' ride was Merinda and she thought that we were riding with the boys and Faye.  The look of utter relief when I told her we were NOT riding with them was gold!

We had a lovely ride, although it must have been the day for dropped chains as Merinda dropped hers on Coronation Drive where there is nowhere to pull over, quite stressful!  Anyway, she managed to pull her bike over the fence and sort it out on the footpath.  Disaster averted.  We chatted most of the way around after that without getting too hurried or stressed.  We got overtaken by pelotons of riders, but I'm OK with that.  I've come to terms with it!

Coffee at Alberto's afterward was lovely.  The highlight of my week...