Åsa – Page 24 – Forza Åsa

I for International or “WIMA – connecting people”

After a summer that never seems to end, I’m now settled in the South of England for a while. I’m house sitting for WIMA-friends who are travelling in Africa. Following that the last weekend camping up at Haggs Bank was a wee bit cold in the morning hours, I’m happy for the comfort of a house – although I especially appreciate the terrace and I bring my books out to study in the sun as often as possible.

Being settled in one place also means that I can take part in activities more easily and last weekend was an exciting one. Double events were taking place in Brighton so I packed up and went over to stay with Sue, from WIMA. The shop, On the Wheel, were having an opening event and she was prepping for a stall so I came along and helped. We spent the day chatting to female riders, members and non-members alike, about biking and all our activities within the organisation. I truly appreciate these meetings, it is one of many reasons why I’m happy to represent WIMA as vice-president! I was once asked if i get paid and the answer is, simply, it isn’t a paid job – it is a lifestyle 🙂

WIMA members - old and new at the On the Wheel opening — WIMA members – old and new at the On the Wheel opening

In addition to this, a group from WIMA Belgium was over for a short holiday and we took the opportunity to meet up with them for dinner on Friday. It is a funny thing with WIMA, even though we had not met previously we connected instantly – it is the power of the sisterhood of WIMA, all these friends that you have not yet met!

English pub dinner with WIMAs from Belgium, GB and Sweden

A great little ride escorting the Belgian WIMAs towards Dover - lovely to meet you and thanks for insisting to pay for the meal! — A great little ride escorting the Belgian WIMAs towards Dover – lovely to meet you and thanks for insisting to pay for the meal!

Sue and I chilling out on Brighton seafront after a hectic weekend – thanks a lot for hosting me this ace weekend!

Now I’m back in the house and my focus is getting ready for my birthday-charity run supporting Pikilily – a project in Tanzania run by WIMA GB member and world traveller Claire Elsdon. I will post the details by tonight, stay tuned!

Horizons Unlimited Adventure Days at Haggs Bank

My tent is cleaned and packed away, no more camping this year. I’ve spent last weekend at Haggs Bank in the North Pennines having a great time at Horizons Unlimiteds travellers meet. Although the meet was mainly geared towards the off-road riders, there were activities for everyone. An initial evening with bonfire, beer and band was followed by an action packed Saturday. First, I signed up for the Beginners Off Road ride, but I had second thoughts when I saw the first and easiest of the hills we were to ride. No way the little gravel riding and occasional green laning I have done was enough preparation for that incline on loose gravel. The Kawasaki Versys is a top-heavy bike with road tyres and I have a charity run coming up so I can’t afford to hurt myself. I made my excuses and went for a solitary road ride and lunch in the sun instead.

To further fill my afternoon, I signed up for a 3 hour mine tour and suited up in wellies, overalls, hard hat and headlamp. We were a group of 8 participants, four adults, three children and me, who after a security briefing on how dangerous mines are, went into the darkness. The deepening water was sloshing around our wellies as we got deeper and deeper into the mine. It would be almost knee high at the deepest section and we were prepared that for one passage we would have to crawl. After a shade over 5 minutes, the youngest boy said he didn’t feel safe and wanted to go back. “I can go with him” I heard myself say. In that instant I knew that I could probably continue but chances were I would panic and it would be no fun at all. Happily we returned to the sunlight, not all fears need to be challenged and we were both pleased to be above ground chatting about old times when people worked in the mines day in and day out for decades, even children smaller than my young companion. Five minutes was enough for me, after all it was a beautiful day – too beautiful to spend underground. I went for some up-hill running instead, taking in the view over the fields – a view that goes on for ever and ever. What a fantastic location to kickstart my running training for the charity run. I added some yoga in the sunset outside my tent before joining the crowd drinking beer by the bonfire listening to the band.

Sunday was the Beamish Trophy Trail and I fully enjoyed seeing the riders take on the challenge of climbing the hill next to the campsite – an extraordinary effort on these old beautiful machines. For the rest of the day I studied Spanish in my tent as people left and the campsite grew quiet.

One of the many contestants taking on this challenging strech of the Beamish Trophy Trail — One of the many contestants taking on this challenging stretch of the Beamish Trophy Trail

It was a fantastic end to my season – or so I thought, it seems like the season never ends here. Next weekend I’ll go to Brighton and help at the WIMA stall at “On the Wheel”.

Prepping for Scotland

We’re getting ready for our Scottish tour and are looking over our bikes, Lazy Cat and Koneko. Having made the vow to learn to do more things on my own, I started off with changing the brake pads as prescribed by the garage in London. Having taken the pads, out I noticed that it wasn’t necessary to change them yet. My riding style is rather smooth and I don’t brake much so the pads are good for a bit longer – I wish I had checked first before ordering new pads but nevermind, now I have them for when I need them.

Checking the breakpads. — Checking the brakepads.

We then also checked the air pressure on both bikes. In Sweden, I noticed that Lazy Cat had low pressure in the rear, only 1.9 bar instead of 2.5 plus some extra for luggage, this was surprising. I don’t know how the pressure had dropped that much since the tyre was put on, but of course, I should have checked earlier. Now my new tyre is beginning to go square, which is upsetting. Now I checked it again and made a promise to monitor the tyres better in the future. An even larger surprise was that Christopher’s bike, Koneko, had high tyre pressure in the front tyre and very low in the rear. Quite puzzling but luckily we could sort it out easily using Christopher’s dad’s compressor.

New promise, check tyre preassure often — New promise, check tyre pressure often

Another thing we sorted out was an old crack in Koneko’s mudguard which was glued but seemed a bit weak, so Christopher decided to fortify it. In addition, we also adjusted the clutch on Koneko and tightened the chain on Lazy Cat. Loosening the wheel nut proved to be difficult and it became a family project to get it loosened. The key that came with the bike was bent in the process. A long pipe was brought out to give enough levering power to finally loosen it and, with the help of my central stand substitute, I could then tighten the chain without problem.

As an extra feature, Koneko is now provided with a power socket with the help of Christopher’s dad who is a wizard in electronics and electrics. Now we can hopefully charge all our devices better, bearing in mind that Christopher is bringing his big DSLR camera and I need my laptop for my online university course. We also have a power pack, which will make charging my phone in public places unnecessary and I know that many of my friends will appreciate this.

Lastly, I like to mention and give a special thanks to the guys on the Kawasaki Versys forum who have provided very useful information and, among other things, gave me the idea for the central stand substitute.

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