Every other month it seems…  changing brake pads.   This time I had fitted brake pads with replaceable rubber, so I didn’t actually have to do much more than remove the holding pin, slide out the worn pad, slide in the new one, replace pin, do small adjustments.    There is one steep hill I have to go down each day on my commute to work, the sort of hill you can’t zoom down because of the junctions and the cars/pedestrians who never see you.  Two times I’ve gone past an ambulance dealing with someone who hasn’t taken the hill with caution and a car driver hasn’t seen them as they either turn into or out of the junction while the person on the bike is unable to stop.   Because of this, I take the hill slow going down, always ready to stop (which actually is how I ride all the time).   I judge when it is time to replace the brakes when I find I am speeding up as I go down the hill with the brakes fully on instead of slowing down.   That time was this week.