Jul 27 - tuning and touring

I opted to bring my new wheel to LEL and thus have had to do some tuning here, since I didn't completely assemble the bike and ride with the wheel in Canada.  I was happy to find that the brakes didn't squeal but the shifting was off.  Without a stand, I was having a hard time making adjustments as it was quite a ways off.  Allan and I came up with a solution -- with some twine I hung the saddle from the garage ceiling, thus suspending the rear wheel and getting the shifting working properly.  The weather was crummy ... which is likely to be the case for the entire ride ... so I've only ridden it up and down the street. I'll do some more this afternoon, hopefully, once we're in Chingford close to the ride start.

After lunch we went to Knaresborough to tour the Castle and the town.  The castle itself is only remnants but the town is a nice touristy place. Down at the bottom of the steep hill runs the river with rental rowboats.  We had coffee at the Marigold Cafe.  Alan told us about the bed race which is mostly over land but also crosses the river and after our walk about the town we went to the race start/end.  His Rotary club participated with the Lyons club in being marshals at the race.

Afterwards we were given a choice of Betty's and Chinese for dinner and naturally we chose Betty's, the iconic Harrogate institution.  While I might have enjoyed the buffet at the latter, I can do a Chinese buffet anywhere ... well anywhere but up at the cottage :).

Another day almost done, we chatted and chatted, turning in around 10:30. Allan and Christine would have stayed up for a little while and caught the news. 

This morning, after breakfast, we head south to Chingford, our spot inside the M25 ring road and close to the ride start.  We're meeting Hamid and Shab for dinner, hopefully.  They arrive this morning from the US. 

Onward ... two days from now I'll be setting out for the ride start and then riding at 8am (7am now).  Weather notwithstanding, I'd like to get this underway !  I hope that it's dry to start and end each day; that always feels better.