If you thought all cycle seat posts were a standardised diameter, you thought wrong.
Today’s fabulous ride, involving an impressive total of 14 tandems (including 5 bikes from our friends at Beech Holme) circumnavigating the highways and byways that wheel around Stamford Bridge, started with a slight mechanical. One seat post clamp failed (see picture) and needed replacing.
Not a problem; or so we thought. Each ride leader pack carries a spare; it’s an easy fix.
Well the remedy would have been straight forward if all our bikes had standard sized posts. Alas, the cracked clamp was smaller than our two on-hand replacements. An attempted bodge, using tape as a packing medium, failed. What were we to do? It looked as if we’d be a bike down.
But we weren’t going to be side saddled that easily.
Stamford Bridge might not have a bike shop, but fortuitously, it is home to Mark B. And in Mark’s shed were several cycles. And, on the first bike we saw, was just what we so desperately needed. A correctly sized clamp.
So, after a quick visit to the aforementioned shed we were soon pedalling away.
….. and were soon reminded why this ride is an absolute delight …. despite the road closure, which provided an end of route option which added a few extra miles; though for those of us with more demanding appetites, the lure of a more immediate sarnie proved too enticing, necessitating a straight run back to the car park.
