Getting My Hands Dirty fixing Bikes

I've just finished a three-session bike maintenance course, that was run out of the Brunswick Neighbourhood House. It was run by a guy called John who is heavily involved in the Melbourne bike scene, and who it turns out knows a number of people I know. He's also heavily involved with the CERES bike shed, a place I will have to visit more. If you look at some of the pictures from the bike shed, our tutor John can be seen!

It was great fun to actually do something analogue with tools and oil and so forth. I spend so much time sitting in front of various computers (er, as I am now) in shiny clean places, it's nice to get one's hand's dirty.

We did lots of basic stuff - how to get a tyre off, and back on again - and some more complicated stuff like regreasing bearings. In fact, aside from setting up gear cables and building or re-aligning (truing) a wheel, I could almost build a bike from parts! Almost! We have a rusty BMX in the back garden which I'm going to experiment with. I've partially dismantled it, in fact my fingers still smell of WD-40!

There's a number of specialised bike tools, but not as many as you'd think. Modern bikes mostly need only hex keys, spanners and screwdrivers. However, there are some clever tools one does need, like the chain tool for splitting a chain, and the pedal wrench for, you guessed it, removing pedals. I'm going to start a small collection of bike tools. I was looking at one of the many sets of tools one can buy, up to a huge professional set I came across that retailed for over AU$1,800, but I realised that in fact I have a good proportion of the tools I need already. And many of the things I need, like bearing grease, can be had from any hardware store.

If I manage to get the BMX fixed - once I work out how to get the cranks off and do something about the rust - I'm going to try and build a spare bike for myself, probably based around a mountain bike frame. We'll see what happens after that :-)

Hey Presto, the Girlfriend's Horse

Deb's horse, Hey Presto (who I keep calling a pony - he's a small horse but not that small) is not well, as previously noted. Blood tests taken by the vet indicate he doesn't have a condition that is treatable, and likely has a brain tumour. So Deb has made an appointment to have him put down in about two weeks.... :-(

He's been deteriorating progressively for a few months now. It started when Deb tried to ride him earlier this year, and he wouldn't stop properly or turn left. She thought it was wilful, but her riding teacher came out to check him out and couldn't get him to remember anything at all. Later the vet checked him out, and noted that he was losing vision in his right eye - which is consistent with him having a tumour on his left side, and hence not having much coordination on that side.

He's got even worse in the last few weeks. He's having difficultly eating. We'll give him a pile of hay, and he'll walk up to it, and miss it. He knows there's something there he's supposed to be doing, but he can't quite aim for it and when he does stop, he can only really eat hay that's on his left side. So he's slowly losing weight.

I don't see him very often, but even I can see the difference in him. A year or two back, he'd get all excited when we turned up, he'd come trotting up the paddock when we arrived, snorting happily. Then gently head-butting to see if we had carrots or an apple for him - and trotting off if he wasn't happy with the treats we provided.

Now, he acts almost as if he's drunk. He's clearly disoriented, and stumbles about, often circling to the left. It's really sad to watch, like seeing an aging relative not really knowing where they are...

A couple of weekends ago, I took my rather nice Pentax SLR (yes, a film camera) and some black and white film out there to take some final pictures of him, and of him with Deb. I'm actually very pleased with how the pictures came out - see them here on flickr. This is why I still have a film camera and still take actually photos!

Deb is visiting him every day, and I'll be off to see him again this weekend.