Peloton of two pushed hard but, fell apart, dramatically!

Yesterday's ride ended in disappointment for Jon and I although Gareth did really well on his hybrid bike and zig-zagged up the 'Wall' like Corinne did last year.

Things were going really well until we got to the Elan valley.  Jon and I had been taking it in turns to push the pace in a peloton of the two of us.  We overtook a number of riders - as many as double figures.  Then I punctured, broke a plastic tyre lever while I was getting the tyre off and, then, the remaining two levers snapped trying to put the tyre back on!  They must have been the ones I bought from Wilkinson.  The marshall on the motorbike was a great help with folding pliers in his penknife set.  He also had a Lidl track pump that was not so good but got the tyre pumped up.  In the struggle to get the tyre back on with the pliers I badly scratched the rim of the back tyre but it is still safe.  I lost nearly an hour, with also struggling to get the nasty thorn out of the tyre without my tweezers that I had forgotten - along with my padded pants, so I was feeling it by the end!

Within a few minutes of my breakdown, Jon broke down when his right hand gear lever and cable to the rear gears so malfunctioned that he had to abandon the race/ride!  In the process, he also lost his cycle computer.  He went back but could not find it.  Later in the afternoon, he overtook me but by sitting in the car that had rescued his bike and him from the roadside!

I ended up with the other old bods at the end of the ride but managed to overtake three of them.  One was a 72 year old who, at 68 had cycled, with his son, from Lands End to John o'Groats in only nine days.  An amazing achievement!

Tesco, Asda and the High Street

For many decades, some have been prophesying the death of the High Street - first, in the 1970s from too many building societies, then from too many charity shops and, in the last 20 to 30 years, from superstores like Tesco in Stourbridge and Asda in Halesowen.  In the early 1980s we had the rise of Merry Hill Shopping Centre.  In Halesowen, in the last decade, Lidl came and Aldi next to the new Travel Lodge on Earls Way/Whitehall Road.  However, the High Street remains as vibrant as ever, thanks to coffee shops and tea rooms, pound shops and our Farmers Markets in Halesowen and Stourbridge.  The passing of the years has shown that there is room for many small businesses and large superstores in our High Streets up and down the land.

The great thing about Merry Hill, of course, is not the free parking but the enormous car parks that make us get out of our cars and walk for really great distances for those who are normally so wedded and welded to their cars and sofas - no more parking outside the shop you want to pop into and back into the motor and away (except for High Street, Stourbridge that completely destroys my argument!).  All thanks to pedestrianisation and Merry Heaven and the nirvana of economic growth!!

I remember that Oldbury in Sandwell was a real dive in the 1960s and 70s - dilapidated and down at heel until the superstore, Sava Centre heralded the town's revival and transformation.  It, now even has Sandwell MBC's prestigious Council House.