The last three days have been great.  Rod and Shiona's has been the perfect place to rest up and get all the bits of maintenance done that is needed when traveling over a period of time.

I took the chance to get the chain rings and sprockets replaced on the bicycles.  The old ones had over twenty three thousand kilometers on them and still had a lot of life left in them but my chain needed replacing and Leigh's would soon need to be replaced as well.  I didn't see any point in putting new chains on old chain rings and sprockets so the whole lot got done.  One of the benefits of Rohloff hubbed bicycles is the incredibly long lifespans of the drive train.  Chains (given that the correct ones are fitted) last about ten thousand kilometers and the chain rings and sprockets at least double that.  The chain rings and sprockets can be flipped around and then worn down the the opposite end.  I flipped them at around fifteen thousand kilometers and I guess they would have lasted until at least twenty five thousand without any issue.  Being here in the UK the spares were at hand so it was worthwhile to do it now.

I also replaced the shifter cables on my bike.  I had replaced Leigh's back in Worcester after the one cable frayed and jammed after her fall .  It is recommended that they get replaced around twenty thousand kilometers so it was close enough to the usual service interval.

Apart from that, we got a lot of work done.  Rod has a PhD in software engineering so it great talking to him because I learn all the time.  He has an incredibly wide knowledge and some incredibly deep knowledge in his areas of specialty and I always end up taking some of his ideas away with me.  Shiona worked with us almost thirty years ago and we have been friends for more than half our lives.  We end up talking about anything under the sun and easily visit topics that, in other situations, might be considered sensitive.  It is difficult to explain how comfortable we feel in their company.