Albert Ross, or Albatros, a Stormy Petrel.
Albert Ross is a bicycle, a Cheltenham Pedersen dating from March 1986. It was bought direct from the factory as a frame and forks, and fitted out with wheels, gears, handlebars, brakes and panniers for a long-distance ride.
Albert and rider left England in April 1986 to visit the lands of the midnight sun, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. For six months they lived outdoors by the roadside, in woods and forests and abandoned huts, blown by the winds, washed by the rain, and baked by the sun.
They reached the Nordkapp, the most northerly point of land in Norway, and indeed Europe, at the end of June 1986. Then, they had to get home again. Norway was not an easy place for a bicycle, and the winds that haunted them made it even less hospitable. They sojourned in Hell for a fortnight, endured the tail end of Hurricane Charlie in Flakk Fjord, and after the long-awaited money had arrived, rode south and headed back to the lands where it gets dark at night and winds last only a day or so.
In late September 1986, Albert returned to England, and the mass of panniers were taken off. For the next 20 years, Albert was firstly ridden around London, Poole, Bracknell, and Woodley, before coming to Wiltshire and languishing quietly, inside away from the wind and the rain, outside under a cover, then outside without a cover, and finally in a stores together with a collection of motor cars and old computers.
In May 2007, after a fit of remorse, and a strong reminder from the wind, the rider started to refurbish Albert. This blog is about Albert then and now. It is also about the wind that always blows in your face, won’t leave your papers alone, and searches you out through the chinks and crannies as you try to hide from it. Once the wind knows who you are you cane never quite escape from it.
Chaos theory says that a butterfly beating its wings in Africa can cause a hurricane across the Atlantic. Chaos theory is about the individual, about a multitude of individuals. The appealing thing about chaos theory is that it allows room for the individual to be a part of the planet, to actually affect things. A second theory, that of order, says that only large comglomerations and corporations can affect the world, they are almighty, and should be worshipped; more importantly, you should buy their products and invest in them.
Albert Ross the Cheltenham Pedersen is a hand-built bicycle, made by a small company who existed for only a few months. When Albert and I came back to England the company was no more. Other Pedersen bicycles were also being built in Denmark, and a web search will show you that one such company is still in existence, building Pedersens.
As I found out this weekend Problems come in threes, some of Albert’s equipment is obsolete. The wheels, for example, the most fundamental accessory on any bicycle, are of a size no longer stocked in a typical cycle shop. This might not seem too much of a problem, since a well-built wheel can last as long as the bicycle, but the tyres that fit onto those wheels need replacing every now and then, and 21 years ago it proved to be hard to find 27″ tyres in Norway and Sweden. How much more difficult is it likely to be today?
And so Albert is due for his first refurnishment; new rims, of the popular 700c range, which will allow for stronger and more comfortable tyres to be fitted. The potholed and poorly maintained lanes around where I live are not pleasant when felt through the narrow section of a 27 by 1 1/4 inch tyre.
