New Home For Me And Zen

Blog Date - 18 May 2015

As well as moving myself to a new home my bike had to move home too. It has until now been very happily residing in Ren's shed. But sadly he has been given an eviction notice and has to leave. That is my bike not Ren.

Ren has become increasingly frustrated at having to juggle 3 bikes out of the shed each and every time he wants to move just one. The original plan was always for my bike to stay at Ren's for only a short time but I managed a good year and half before Zen the bike finally got his notice.

I have a new home and a shed to put my bike into so no excuses really not to finally depart from the safety of Ren's shed to my own. But I really, really do not want to go. Why? 

1) Well I do not like riding alone I like company. It makes me happy and makes me feel safer to have another rider with me. 
2) If the weather is horrendous or it is dark it is no trouble jumping in the car and then travelling to Ren's house. The bike can then be chosen to be ridden or not. If the bike is at my end and I want to ride it while at Ren's I will have no choice but to ride it there and back come what may.
3) I am shit at directions and with no Sat Nav on my bike I am scared of getting horribly lost.
4) The last reason is purely emotional and has no practical thoughts behind it. I feel a connection to Ren by having my bike at his house. Like it is something we share together. I like to think he cares for my baby while I am not with it. He has far greater mechanical knowledge than I ever hope to have so I know Zen is safe in his hands. I know, I know it makes much more sense, both for Ren and myself, to have MY bike at MY house but sometimes feelings are heart ruled not head and I cannot shake this bereft feeling at taking Zen home with me. I don't know maybe it is the house move that has made me feel unsettled maybe it is other things messing with my head at the moment but this bike move just makes me feel uncomfortable. 

But the shed at my end is duly erected and the day arrives for me to bring Zen home. I drive in my car to Ren's. The plan is to ride back with Ren the first time both on our own bikes, leave my bike at mine and then return to Ren's as pillion on his bike and then collect the car.

Seems simple enough but as I have already told you I am not happy about this move and I am stressed at the prospect of very soon having to ride solo. So I ride badly locking up the bloody back wheel for goodness sake by braking way to hard at the first traffic lights. This is something I have only done once before and that was in the wet. I am riding like a novice and my heart is thumping. I have a word with myself and try to calm down a bit. 

I have done the route home a few time as practice beforehand. But as it has been sometime since a rode this way I feel a little unsure. I lead ok almost making one wrong turn but correcting myself when I see Ren behind me indicating in the opposite direction. I try to shake off the feeling that this bike move is somehow a bad thing for my relationship with Ren. Not having my bike at his house is hardly a declaration that I myself am no longer welcome either is it? Is this a ending tied in with a new beginning? Look Sharon just because Ren is driven mad by no space in his shed by your bike does not mean he wants you as well as the bike out of his hair. ?? This is not a rejection of you it is a practical and positive move. It frees Ren up to travel as he wishes without having to concern himself about what I am going to do about my bike. It will give me unlimited access to my own bike as and when I wish from the comfort of my own back garden. But yet little miss gloom cloud still hovers, the little wee beastie is not ready to leave me alone yet. I guess then only time will tell if this little worry cloud is just a load of nonsense or not. It is a wait and see I guess.

Once at mine the first problem encountered is that my back gate is narrower than I thought. Getting my bike in through  it with its wide handlebars proves quite tricky. But that is only the beginning the real problem starts when I try to get my bike into the shed.

The shed is on a patio area at the bottom of the garden. To get the bike to the shed I either have to get it across the grass or along a little gravel path that leads to the patio area. The gravel path proves itself to be a complete non starter. The wheels of the bike just sink into the gravel and stick fast. The grass at first appears ok until I realise how uneven it actually is and the bike finds a rut and gets nicely stuck in.

By this time I have spent ages pulling and pushing and manoeuvring the bike around and I am getting tired. But I refuse all help from Ren because I have to know I can do this myself. Ren will not be here next time around. Next time around it will be me alone so I have to be the one to do it. I am frustrated at my own lack of strength and unusually for me I am annoyed at my lack of height.

So grass no, gravel no .... so how to get bike into shed hmmmm. I decide to dig up the gravel. There is a weed suppressing sheet under the gravel so maybe the bike will roll better across that. The gravel is deeper than it looks and it takes a lot of shovelling between us to clear it. It is rather heavy work and it all adds to sap my strength even further.

With the gravel cleared I can finally push the bike to the shed. Way hey, but that is not the end of the problems. Once again the doors are narrow making it difficult to get the bike through and there is also a lip across the door which the doors slide open and shut on. It is no a huge lip but with little strength left it stops me in my tracks. It take a few very unsteady and wobbly attempts before I finally get the bike over the lip and through the doors.

Well that only took around 2 hours and I only nearly dropped the bike half a dozen time.... not to bad then .....urghh.

Zen all tucked up  ... or rather squashed into his new home

That night as I go upstairs to bed and closed my blinds I look out into my garden and upon my shed. Suddenly I feel better and more positive, it is a nice feeling knowing my bike is tucked up close to me in my shed in my garden. But I am always unsure about claiming to be a modern independent woman because although it is good to know you can go it alone I fear it can make you try too hard.  So I hope I do not forget to ask for help and I hope my friends and family don't ever forget to offer. It is good to be able to go it alone, it is even better to accept help if and when needed and have that assistance offered to you.

It is clear that if it rains the weed suppressing membrane along the path will just turn to mush so I will have to find some boards for a temporary measure. Long term I will have to sort out having the path  flagged and possibly when and if finances allow consider a wider gate and a bigger shed. But lets not be down hearted these things are all doable. I will find the solution so I can get my bike in and out of my garden without either taking 2 hours or dropping it. I already like having my bike here after only one night and it is already feeling not too bad at all. I just now need to learn how to enjoy solo riding.

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