On My Bike

My garden needs professional attention, I need a new bathroom and my galley kitchen needs updating but instead of spending money on all that I bought a new bike instead. This is no ordinary bike though. Its very hilly round West Dorset and I don't enjoy the pain of struggling up these hills, so my new bike has a battery! I cycle as normal but when faced with a horrid steep hill I click a button and the power kicks in and up I go. I still have to pedal, it isn't an engine, and thankfully its silent. There's an 'eco' button that combines 60% pedal power and 40% battery and when I pedal without the power I am a human dynamo and recharge the battery using my own energy. It has seven gears, from flat to steep. The first time I went out on it I was gear crazy and rushed through them too fast and my chain fell of and I had to take it back to the shop to be fixed. But I'm more measured with them now and go up and down the gears one at a time. Like driving a car really.

This is a busy tourist area and before 'power,' cycling around roundabouts with cars coming at me from all directions terrified me - but now I click the power button and sail round roundabouts as fast as any motor. The best is when Morty is struggling up a hill and I'm right behind him and he yells 'Overtake me' and I zoom past him and have to wait for him at the top. Before 'power' I was the one pushing my bike up a hill rather than kill myself with the strain.

The photo was taken at The Hive beach cafe in Burton Bradstock. We cycled there, about four miles, had a Greek salad lunch, then cycled into town, had a beer in the Bull Hotel courtyard and then home. The Bull Hotel has had a complete makeover, calling itself a boutique hotel. This has caused much amusement locally as the majority of people in town thought this meant it was a hotel with shops!

Fully charged my bike will travel about 40 miles but so far I haven't had to recharge it because of my own pedalling topping it up. So if you see a wild haired blonde racing up hills on a bike and laughing then you'll know that it's me.