On Yer Bike!

As a micro generator of electricity I have hankered for a while now for one of the new electric cars so that we can really begin to eat in to our farm fuel bills. However I cannot afford to be an early adopter this time and the battery technology is not quite there yet to produce a vehicle that will get the wife to work at the hospital in Truro and back on a single charge.

However, what we can afford and have been reading about with interest over the last twelve months is the quiet revolution in cycling that is the e-bike. Basically an ordinary bike with a lithium battery and very small motor attached to the crank which can give you a boost as and when you need it.

Cheating! I hear you cry (which to be fair is the reaction I get from nearly everyone). But what can I say? - as an unfit farmer the wrong side of 50 and living in one of England’s unspoiled uplands, I find that whilst I do enjoy riding a bike around I tend to spend most of the time walking as I push it up hills that would test the stamina of even a dope fuelled tour rider.

For those yet to catch up with these wonderful machines, they do not cruise you up hill and down dale at the flick of a button, but merely use the battery to give your aching limbs a boost when they need it most. The result is nothing short of amazing and once you have tried one out you will be converted. They put the fun back into casual cycling and allow you to carry on arguing with your nearest and dearest in spite of any inclines the road may throw at you.

We have now become confirmed bike anoraks and spend many happy hours boosting the profits of Halfords browsing for bits and pieces for our new machines. So much so that tomorrow we are putting our bikes on the train at Bodmin Parkway and taking them off two hours later at Tiverton Parkway with the intention of cycling most of the way home over four days.

We will be following Sustrans route three over the wilderness of Exmoor and have booked ourselves in at B&B’s every 25 or so miles. A true adventure for us oldies and the kids think we are nuts. The weather looks set fair (if that what you can call the bitingly cold Easterly wind that will follow us) and barring a snowstorm we should be ready to be picked up at Okehampton on Sunday. Let the Tour De Devon begin!

Tractor news – tractor blues…

Dedicated followers of the farm twitter and/or facebook will be aware that last month I splashed the cash on a new (to us) tractor and are doubtless(!) wondering how that is working out.

 

The old tractor was still going OK, but at over twenty years old it was beginning to show its age with a few rust holes and a couple of oil leaks. On top of that, Son No. 1 managed to smash the rear glass last year and the replacement wasn’t a perfect fit, and the cab was still littered with tiny cubes of glass.

 

More importantly it was also only two wheel drive.

 

When I bought it just over five years ago I thought this wouldn’t really be an issue as I reasoned that in the “good old days” all tractors were only 2 wheel drive. However we ask a lot more of our machines today, and it would really struggle to carry a bale up even the most gentle of slopes if the ground was at all slippy. Given the fact that it had rained solid for the last twelve months we were snookered on most days.

 

So I hunted on the web for a replacement and found a much newer 4 wheel drive model at a dealer in Devon.

 

If anyone is looking for an easy career move can I suggest tractor dealer. Bear in mind that this newer machine was over £20K.

Does it have a service history? – Don’t know

Would you service it? – No

Do you want to see our tractor to part exchange? – No, I can price it from a photo

Will you fix the seat which has obviously been extensively used by a farmer too fond of his Big Mac’s and Large Fries? – Oh OK, if you insist

 

So hands were shaken and after a couple of weeks the new beast arrives and it soon becomes obvious that in the intervening fifteen odd years there have been a few improvements made by the John Deere Tractor Corporation.

 

When you turn the key on the radio no longer blast out Radio 1 at full volume (as left by your errant son) causing you to jump out of you seat - but now comes in softly and you have to turn it up to the desired level. It also comes in on Classic FM as I have yet to let Mitchell behind the wheel.

 

There is a nifty little lever which enables you to switch the whole three tonne machine from forward to reverse in any gear without using the clutch. Unbelievable.

 

The newly repaired seat has both up-and-down and side-to-side suspension so that you are not thrown about like a pea on a drum over rough ground.

When you step on the brakes you stop.

 

Less good (perhaps) is that the cab side windows open effortlessly without you needing to grope for the catch, but crucially without you needing to notice your wallet (with £200 cash, 6 bank/credit cards and a handy list of pin numbers) floating out of the window and ending up somewhere on the verge of the Camelford to Bude road as you go to pick up your new grain trailer…