Brrr! Take me back to the present

November 1 2004
I'm spinning happily into Winchester on a cycle lane when a gormless child steps backwards in front of me, not looking. Where are my Greg Goode skid stops when I need them? I deathgrip the brakes and go down heavily, hip and shoulder. Just knock the kid off his feet but I'm in worse shape. Shit, 25 years of riding and this is only the second crash I've had to take to the police.

November 6 2004
The LeVeL hubs are on their way, and I spend Sunday afternoon plumbing in the new LeVeL page.

November 7 2004

Shoulder still rather painful, but here's the real stuff from Justin Hoy, a hillclimber who now has a near-complete set of Hubjub-sourced EAI sprockets depending on the level of agony he intends to inflict on himself. Can't tell if that's one of ours on the back. Nice bike, Justin.

November 11 2004
Yesterday I gave up and took the shoulder to the doctor, who tells me he thinks it's a posterior dislocation. Great. Today I visited the hospital for X-rays. After observing the Two Minute Silence the mutton-chop-whiskered radiographer stands me in front of some whirring German machinery and withdraws to a safe distance. Later he hands me films in a red plastic envelope for the delectation of A&E. 'How is it?' I ask. 'Looks a bit suspicious, like,' he replies in a Welsh lilt. It turns out to be a hairline crack right across the head of the bone. I get a sling, an appointment with the bone doctors, and an instruction to lay off the computer for a few weeks. As if.

November 12 2004
LeVeL stock arrives, rears, fronts, and converter kits. The very first sale, one of the scarce flip-flops, goes out. Hooray!

November 14 2004
Nice email from Pete cc'd en route to the FG Gallery, one of the earliest Hubjub clients and still a faithful correspondent. And look at this Colnago!

November 18 2004
Proper word from what A&E call an osteopod, a senior bone doctor. It isn't a fracture but a weird kind of injury that has no common name, where tensed ligaments pull tiny fragments off the face of the bone. It will take weeks to heal, but at least it isn't a dislocaton. The new upmarket sling is pretty comfortable, but I'm missing doing my usual 15miles a day.

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