I think I’ve finally been won over by Reggie’s handlebars. The new ones have just passed a 16 km test; they are comfortable, in a better position (the old ones were too far away from me!), have much more room for hands on the horizontal bar and enable me to control the bike with much greater stability (small movements have much less impact on direction). But the short ride that I have just finished – down the A4 to Sonning, up through Playhatch and into the Oxfordshire countryside before joining my daily commute route down through Caversham and back home to the centre of Reading – was much more than simply testing out the new bars. It was Reggie’s first real ride. Last week’s tentative cycle up and down the straight road leading to Microsoft was so tame that if it were an animal in the zoo it would be roaming around in the cafe. Today’s was a bit more meaty; not quite a caged tiger of a ride but certainly one that would need a waist-high fence to separate it from the punters. Enough of the extended metaphor.

The front mud guard rattles a little bit and I am trying to get used to using the small indicators to help with gear changes rather than looking down at the cogs. Not having cleated shoes is going to start to be tiresome. It’s a bit like having a five-speed gearbox but only being able to use four of them. I’ve discussed shoes before on here and had set my eyes on some Diadora MTB shoes but they seem to be out of stock everywhere. Annoying. There is a shop in London that is the national distributor – I may give them a ring.

Other than that, Reggie was purring like a pussy and ate up the two small hills as if they were tasty rodents for breakfast. I am happy!

Note: Reggie is the name I’m trying out; Reggie Ridgeback that is. It may change. 🙂