Fair to say that there are few sights more scary than yours truly with tools – and they needn’t be the powered variety. Turns out that spanner I had was actually a screwdriver, and I never did get to meet the Welsh chap it belonged to… (Philips). So, achieving my City & Guilds Cycle Maintenance qualification earlier today is something I feel rather more proud of than I’d ever have imagined I would. It’s also a pretty big testament to the teaching skills – and immense patience and understanding – of Dewi, my instructor at Cyclewales.net. Handy really, as we had to resort to using a hacksaw to free one of his specialist tools from my expedition cycle…
This last week up in North Wales has been really satisfying, not just for the cycle technical skills gleaned, but being on course with other touring cyclists. Lots of hints and tips exchanged by all – many from one of my fellow students, Stephen Lord, author of the ‘Adventure Cycle-touring Handbook’ (published by Trailblazer), a genuine must-read for tourers. There’s also been a good deal of friendly banter and humour – always appreciated when building wheels – very satisfying when you finish one, but it can be just a teeny weeny bit frustrating at times.
However, most impressive of all this week has been fellow City & Guilds candidate Colin from Eire – it’s one thing to build yourself a bike from scratch whilst on course, but quite another to road test it by…. errr…. riding it home from North Wales all the way to Southern Ireland – gutsy stuff!
