Wheel Dealer

This has been a day to remember. A day filled with laughter and catching up on other people's news. A day filled with sunshine and beautiful scenery. A day filled with warmth and the comfort of companionship.

His Lordship and I made the safari by bus from Edinburgh to Campsie Glen in the shadow of the Campsie Hills to meet up with cycling friends for coffee and lunch.

We sat in the little cafe there from 11am until 3pm unheeding of the passing hours and talking the talk of hardened cyclists: fixed wheels, clipless pedals, tricycles, cranks, brakes, anecdotes of accidents, fluorescent clothing and belligerent motorists.

There were jokes aplenty and the helpless laughter was better than any medicine
to raise the spirits.
The only pity was that we missed the sunshine outside, which shone on the backdrop of the hills and lit up the dramatic Crow Road slicing up the side of them at a jaw dropping angle.

I have been invited on several occasions in the past to pit my fitness again this road, but so far I have escaped the challenge. I saw a tiny dot of a cyclist wending his way slowly up this morning and instantly felt sorry for him


Since it must be two years since I was last in this little hamlet, I had to visit the bike shop and the cycle clothing store to chat with Alastair Gow who sits all day building bike wheels and Jeanette who has a shop packed with colourful bike apparel.

The inside of Alastair's shop beggars belief. It is very hard to find a spot on the floor to actually stand so packed is it with wheels, machinery, spokes and general clobber.

The stories abound of how he knows exactly which drawer houses the sought after screw, washer or nut despite the obvious muddle and mayhem.
In addition, there are always other people in with him chatting; I even had a chat about lenses and processing RAW Images with one of his helpers.

He has a reputation far beyond Glasgow and has built a wheel for me in record time considering his work schedule and did it with his constant good humour.

It was a long slow bus trip back home, but it was worth every minute for the time spent with like minded friends.

My blip is Alastair sitting in his corner with his ever present spokes.
What I couldn't fit in, the shop being tiny, is the untidy stack of wheels on the floor .