After 16,781.5km of faithful service over slightly less than 2 years and 10 months, the time has come to retire my Raleigh. I realized something was really wrong when I cycled to school on Tuesday. It was to be the bike’s last. As had been in the past, the bike did not break down in the middle of nowhere – it got me home and when I checked for the source of malfunction, a sense of dread washed over me. There it was, the cable on the verge of snapping for the third time in months.
I imagined the cable snapping 30km from home. With a rapid-rise system, I would take hours to spin home. I was immediately thankful for its reliability over the years despite my continued abuse. I will miss the days when I took it everywhere. Round island, Bintan, KL, Genting, you name it. It was the do-it-all bike which never gave me any problems when I was out there in the middle of nowhere.
The next time I am out mountain biking, I would probably be on a different system. Then again, nothing lasts forever. Time to start anew. And look forward to a faster and more controllable platform.
Total distance for the week: 224km
No comments:
Post a Comment