Aikido; other stuff

Last night I was at Aikido again. Because rolling of any sort wore me out so quickly on Monday, this time I saved it for near the end. I still ended up spending the last 10 minutes doing ki breathing because I was just too exhausted, but that's okay.

I'm now sortof sad there is no Aikido on Monday because of the bank holiday. Being back at it both days this week has made me realise how much I enjoy it, and how good it is for my brain.

Today I will be mostly doing bicycle-related things - getting some cheap lights (in the long run I would like to get this for the front and this for the back, and also perhaps something helmet-mounted that takes standard batteries for the front - partly for safety reasons, and partly to indulge my love blinkenlichten), and a pressure gauge and perhaps a pump (I am borrowing one for the moment), filling up the tyres and going for a longer test ride. And finding my maps, damnit.

Oh, and I need to stop by ASDA and Robert Dyas to look for new shower hose and head, because our shower hose has come away from the shower head. Might look for some sort of fixative to get the grey water sorted out, too.

The neighbours want us to move 'personal belongings' away from the fence so that it can be replaced next weekend. Would that be the plants, then, or the compost heap? I'm not really sure what to do here. There's some stuff I can move, and that I will move, but plants that are in the ground are not for moving, and the compost heap is more than I can safely manage (and I've been meaning to get a proper wossname for it for ages anyway). I hope they put the fence where the old one was before it broke, not along the edge of their shed which is technically in bits of our garden now. Bah.

I'm thinking I probably will make a rack pack for the Strida. Things I will want it to have, for my reference:
-big central pocket with drawstring and flap over top
-waterproofness (possibly best achieved by one big flap that goes over the top?)
-little pockets for always-bicycle stuff like pump, spare tubes, spare lights/batteries (a pair of these?), lock, cycle maps, leg bands (for visibility rather than keeping trousers in - I can tuck my trousers into my socks quite well, thanks), that really annoying allan key, other stuff I might think of.
-'lastic on the outside for strapping the helmet to it
-some kind of good carrying handle and stowable shoulder strap in case I want to take it off the bicycle and use it as a bag
-a good way of attaching to the rack; I'm thinking straps with clips and also some vel-cro

bicycle lights

Hm.

Having seen them in the shop I think I like these lights; good side visibility, and so on. But they're a little beyond my means right now, so this afternoon it was off to Decathlon for something more affordable.

I took 50 minutes to get from home to Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, via the Thames Path... I got off my bicycle and walked several times when the path borrowed busy roads where I'm not allowed to cycle on the pavement but didn't feel safe in the traffic, and I wasn't making any special effort to hurry, and there was a bit of a headwind. I figure it would have taken me 90 minutes if I had walked the whole way, although I'm sure there was a time when I would have been able to do it much, much faster. I didn't really have any trouble with arm tension or pain, which is good.

I have lights - ordinary ones, and some tiny LED ones that take evil non-rechargeable CR2032 batteries to carry for emergency backup, and bungee netting. And gloves, because they were cheap and my palms were getting sore from gripping the handlebars.

Looked at panniers and so on, but all the hangy-down panniers looked like they'd just get in the way of the pedals, and there wasn't a huge selection at Decathlon, and even if those things weren't a problem I'm not exactly made of money at the moment and I've spent enough on bikestuff today.

I'm now thinking "rigid box of some sort plus bungee netting" as a way of using the rack. If the rigid box happened to be clear plastic, I could put my (sadly non-waterproof) battery-powered EL light in it for added geeky brightness... and line it with some sort of bag to stop things rattling around too much or being seen as a temptation, although I'll take it with me if I leave the bike locked up somewhere. I could glue non-slip grippy stuff onto the bottom to help it not slide around. Something that will take A4 things easily would be best. But in the meantime, I have the bungee netting, and that plus a cloth shopping bag (with plastic stashed inside in case of rain) should serve my needs nicely.

I also looked at those under-seat pouch things, but the vel-cro on them was not long enough to go around the plastic seat-mounting attachment thing on the Strida, and I'm damned if I'm going to pay money for something and then have to modify it when I have all the materials to make one from scratch right here. Perhaps I shall crochet one. It isn't urgent.

Took the train from Canada Water to Canary Wharf, then walked home from Canary Wharf - it was getting a bit too dark to ride, and there were lots of cars, and I was tired and didn't want to get squished by doing something stupid. I learned that taking the Strida on public transport is really not very hard at all - easier than taking my horn, in fact, because I don't have to lift it as much. I also learned that walking that much is still a bad idea, and I probably need to put my orthotics in my trainers if I'm not going to have hurty feet.

I did not buy metallic pink handlerbar streamers, because they didn't have any, and because even if they had I would have felt Teh Guilt about buying them. Instead I shall make some out of plastic bags from Superdrug and sparkly rexlace. I mean, handlebar streamers are basically hairfalls but not as long or thick.

I rode my bicycle.

:)))))