May 30th 2009: How can you loose a cycle helmet?

I have lost my cycle helmet, I can't find it anywhere? I had it Saturday lunchtime when I returned to the house but now I can't find it. I wonder if I put it on the roof of the car Saturday then drove off?

Friday I cycled to work on my old Peugeot 501 as the weather was good. As I haven't cycled for some time all my access rights to the car park had been revoked and I had to arrange for these to be renewed. Also, I got a slow puncture on the way home. Close inspection of the tyre revealed it is on its last legs being the original supplied with the bike in the 1980s.

Things are a bit tense in the house as my son has a week of exams coming up and there is quite a lot of revision to be done over the coming week. My wife and I seem to be the ones doing the revision (well, mostly my wife, it has added 5 years to her) whilst my son tried to talk, moan, whinge, or delay his way out of it.

I went out riding early on Saturday morning with M. We rode out to Windsor Great Park and back, 50 miles round trip, including coffee stop in the sun in the park, just under 4 hours and back dead on curfew. My wife was in the car with the engine running as I pulled up. I threw the bike in the house, jumped in the car and drove off to drop my son at a birthday party (something I was mandated to do as a condition of going out).

Later on we picked him up and drove on to Bognor.

The ride to Windsor was flat and the park itself is magnificent. Note to self to go back and explore properly with my son and his bike. It was nice not having to worry about hills, cols or mountains. I sat behind M sheltering from the headwind on the way back whilst his legs pumped the pedals like steam pistons.

Sunday we spent the day on the beach at Bognor. My son was in the water for hours and we built a sand castle on the beach. We watched later in the afternoon as the tide washed it away.

I went into Corridori, the bike shop, Saturday afternoon to buy a white jersey after dropping my son at the party in Kingswood. They were very busy. They have some nice Bianchi clothing in stock, but not having a Bianchi I had to opt for the white jersey from Specialized.

Monday, my wife agreed to do the school run so after fixing the puncture I again took my life in my hands and cycled in to the City to work. I obviously hadn't done a good job on the repair as when I went to cycle home the tyre was flat (note, I hadn't replaced the old tyre). I could not be bothered to repair it there and then and so I simply pumped it up and hoped it would last until I got home, and fortunately it did.