Lethargic Man (anag.)

Today, cycling to work, I got to the top of a hill and found my front brakes had frozen into position. I don't think I've ever had that happen before. (They merely required a little extra pressure to release them, but I had a job to get the padlock of my bike chain open when I reached work!)

I saw a number of cyclist cycling on snow. I'm not sure whether they're braver than me or just more foolhardy. I tried that once and came off. (Fortunately, because I landed on snow not tarmac, rather than doing severe damage to myself, I merely skidded along for about fifteen feet, then picked myself and my bike up and cycled off again, unhurt save for minor bruising.)

Speaking about which, it's occurred to me I've never posted about my spare bike. A while ago, I got myself a cheapie folding bike as a spare (folding because I'm pushed for space for it), so I wouldn't be grounded when my main bike was in for repairs, and I could also take it out to places where I would be concerned about leaving my main bike, even chained and D-locked.

The bike was first-hand (though not well adjusted, and I managed to completely trash the derailleur settings trying to adjust them), and looked very shiny:

( 'Before' piccy )

As my bike-savvy cow-orker Iain pointed out, a likewise bike-savvy potential thief would realise it was a cheap bike and wouldn't fetch much, but a non-bike-savvy potential thief would just look at it and think "shiny!", so I decided to do something about it with duct tape and white paint:

( 'After' piccy )

Seems a shame to have to do this, but I'd rather have a rubbish-looking like than one screaming out "nick me!"

Now all I've got to do is get around to fixing the light fittings on. (Which so far I've failed to do over the course of several months, but to date I've only needed it once, and that before the days got short...)