I love my 12-27!

For some of you a 12-27 will have very little significance. I have to admit that it would not have meant much to me a couple of months ago because, although I enjoy riding a bike, I don't know the first thing about maintaining them. I think that Primera must love me. As soon as anything needs doing, they are only too willing to help me out - and charge vast sums of money. So for anyone in the dark, this is what a 12-27 looks like:

Impressed? I suspect that I might have to work a bit harder on some of you? This little beauty is the 'cassette' part of the gears on a bike. It consists of 9 (in this case) cogs, with the number of teeth gradually increasing from 12 on the smallest cog to 27 on the largest. And the point is that, before yesterday, I only had a 12-25. Still not impressed? What this means is that I now have one slightly lower gear than I had before. And that means those steep hills are just a little less hard to get up. I decided to make the change in view of some of the big hills that are on the agenda for the next 3 months or so.

And today, I had the first chance to try it out. I joined the CTC 'Saturday Sixty' ride. I hasten to add that the 'sixty' refers to miles, not age. This went from Wimborne to Compton Abbas airfield where there is a cafe to refuel the tanks, and then along the Chalke Valley. This road has amazing views from the top of the hills with some very pretty villages - here I cite Broad Chalke as an example (see photo). A short while after this village, there is a big hill, known to the CTC group as 'sleeping policemen hill' - it has speed humps in it. But it is quite a long hill and gets steep in parts. Hence the opportunity to try out the 27 for the first time. It works like a dream. I would have certainly made it on the 25, but the 27 felt really comfortable. So I am looking forward to the ride in Sheffield that John Bush has planned for us in two weeks time!

From there we crossed the Salisbury to Blandford Road and headed back to Fordingbridge. At this point 3 of us headed back to Wimborne via Verwood and the others continued down to Christchurch. Back at Wimborne, the mileage device read 60 miles exactly, at an average of 15.4 mph while moving.

A good morning's exercise to go with the 60 miles last Monday. Next Saturday I am expecting to meet up with a number of people I have been in touch with through the facebook page Motor Neurone Together We Stand so won't be able to get a ride. But the following week is the test in Sheffield which John says is going to sort us out.

Once again, thank you for all the support that you have given so far. Further support will be so much appreciated.Click here to go to my JustGiving page.