Pin, Prickle Or Glass?

There’s no doubt about it… when we decided to sell the car and travel primarily by electric bike I knew (without a doubt) that punctures would become part of our lives. Thankfully I’ve always felt quite comfortable fixing them and even grew up with a family story about my father once getting caught out and having to fix a puncture with a postage stamp. But I ask you… SEVEN punctures in just three months? That’s definitely more than I expected!

Mind you, I’m not surprised. Have you looked at a bike lane or bike path recently? Whilst I really appreciate their introduction around the state they do seem to be cluttered with a whole stack of spiky things (broken glass, prickles, burrs and who knows what else). I don't doubt some of it is discarded rubbish but I also assume a fair stack of it is simply thrown up by cars tyres or thrown down from trees and bushes.

The first day we got punctures Steve and I were cycling along a footpath which had just had the hedge next to it trimmed. Believe it or not within the distance of ONE block we both got a flat tyre! Then once we’d fixed both of those beside the road we each had a slow one appear, caused I think from another spike picked up on the same section of footpath. That was even without spikes being visually obvious.

Then Steve got another one last week (while we were in Carramar). That unfortunately appeared while we were nipping down to the shops and had forgotten to taken a repair kit with us! Thankfully we did have a pump though, and the tyre was kind enough not go down entirely before we got home.

Our last lot were only a few days back while cycling from Mandurah train station to South Yunderup. Holes caused again, I think, by prickles from plants! Steve’s puncture insisted on being changed mid-trip (thankfully we were able to find a shady tree), whilst mine was patient enough to wait until we were going out the next day.

Does Australia have more spiky plants than the UK or is it because we often cycle on paths as well as roads?

Either way - as readers of this blog post are no doubt telling us to do - Steve has just ordered a couple of sets of puncture-resistant inner tubes (something I was never aware of before now). They even come with a two year guarantee, so here’s hoping… 

Either way, I can see my repair kit growing and quickly improving. Who knows, maybe I should put some postage stamps in it... just for good luck.

What A Surprise!

There’s no doubt that I was expecting a bit of a reaction to my last blog post (you know, the one about selling the car and buying ourselves electric bikes). But the actual response… well, it did take me a little by surprise!

There were off-hand comments and surprised faces, there were concerned phone calls, chats and emails, there were even people totally lost for words and at a complete loss of understanding to our logic. I have to admit, I found it all quite an eye-opener and inspiration - especially when it came to the unexpected, ‘Oh, what a great idea. I wish I could do that too’ comments.

So, first of all, thank you to everyone who read the post and took the time to voice their thoughts and concerns.

Secondly, in response to the main topic that’s continually coming up in conversations…

Yes, believe it or not, everything we need for our day-to-day life as house-sitters DOES fit on the bikes!

We do have a fair amount of stuff in storage. (You know, family me memorabilia and household bits we’ll need when/if we choose to settle down again.) So that cuts down our luggage dramatically, plus, we’ve done an astounding job at downsizing, and, of course, much of what we use televisions, saucepans, etc, is kindly provided by the owners of the houses we stay in.

Besides if you really think about it, we need (please note I wrote ‘need’ here, not ‘use’) exceptionally little for our daily life.

Yes, I expect there are some women out there who could never even think of existing on as few clothes and shoes as I have now. But there is a certain amount of freedom in waking up in the morning and thinking, ‘shorts or jeans?’ ‘tee-shirt or jumper?’ That’s not saying it didn’t take me a while to get used to the concept, and to having no dresses and heels! But it’s true… a girl can manage on one (or two) pairs of shoes and the occasional visit to a good Op (Thrift) shop!

The advancement of technology has also been an advantage. After all, let’s face it - computers can hold just about all the factual stuff and other bits we need, and they seem to be getting smaller by the day. Even if our eyesight isn’t allowing us to use the tinier ones!

On the topic of food - we can now gauge the exact amount of food we need for a stay. Which means we carry very little with us. This includes using up items going out of date in the fridge when we arrive and leaving our few leftovers when we go. Of course, that doesn’t also mean we haven’t been seen to have creative ‘last day’ meals or bought the odd pizza.

So, there you go… as you can see, we’ve got it all down to a routine (or pretty close). Besides packing is all part of the fun of it (except when I’m down to my last pannier and for some reason it doesn’t all fit, meaning I have to start from scratch again!)

Hope that helps and reassures.

Anybody got any more questions or concerns they'd like answered?