Author Archives: essiep

Morning commute

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-4°C, clear, no thaw yet.

I could not pass this view this morning on the slow commute today. Breath-taking, it forced me to exclaim. I pulled over into a snowbound bus-stop and got a few shots.

snowFog-commute

Later, this winter demonstrated its darker side. On the crest of a hump-backed bridge I lost all grip. The road-speed was low but I could not slow on the descent side of the bridge. A car in front became the object of my fears, I really don’t want to stove the front of my car in, or the back of anyone else’s for that matter. I could not slow, but I could steer a bit so I headed for the oncoming side of the road. The grip seemed better there and I stopped as that terrible grinding sound from the anti-skid brakes juddering ceased. No crash then.

Home later: 50 minutes on the turbo. It keeps me warm and is preparation for the first ride of the year, which may be on Friday. I am obsessively referring to weather reports, many times a day.

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Still no ride

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-2°C, thick snow everywhere.

2nd Snowday: it’s the 21st of January and I still have yet to ride a bike this year. Of this, I have never known.
At least I did a few turbo sessions this weekend, 70 mins today and a long walk with Rosie in the deep snow.

Back to work tomorrow.

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Turbo effect

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-2°C re-frozen snow. No thaw.
40 minutes on the turbo, plus other stuff as a warm-down. Not much, but it’s an encouraging start. I had no trouble keeping warm in the evening nor overnight. Such is the effect of exercise, it keep you warm for days.
There is bit more snow to come, and this wintry weather is said to last two weeks. Grief.
image

Worst drive home.

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-3°C, heavy snow.
That was the worst drive home I can remember. It took one whole hour to do the first mile. There was almost grid-lock in all the built up areas because of this snow. I could see gritting lorries but the road was coated in a lumpy layer of glassy compressed snow.
In all the Journey took 2 1/2 hours. Just for security, I pulled over to get extra petrol on a stretch of road where the car was doing 9 mpg.
This land does look lovely though.
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Looming snow.

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-2°C. Snow soon.
A cold week with a front that wants to push it away as much as we all do. There will be snow, but probably not enough to close work I think. There are many hopeful souls out there though.
I’ve been on my turbo, that signifies the end of the longest lived cold I can remember; the despair. 17th of January and I have not ridden a bike this year yet.

Huff and puff

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1°C, clear & still
Back to work tomorrow, energy is returning along with my voice. Out goes the despair of getting another damned cold straight after the previous one.
Half an hour on the turbo plus some weights and stretches, that did nicely. Shame the mild winter has given way to such hard frost and ice.
Racing bike repairs are under-way: new headset= in, new pedals= on.
The wheel rebuild awaits, I have to post that one off though.
My Commuting bike could do with a new saddle, only because I don’t like this one. It’s not the right shape. I spend enough hours on it to easily justify the cost- about £45.

Back to back.

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7°C, sunshine.
The Doc says I probably have a second cold straight after the first. Unlucky, but not a serious worry. Presumably, there is no reason that you couldn’t be infected with two colds at once.
Snow is on its way, though it may not fall here. The Mirror paper predicts -15C and blizzards, though view predict that every time the temperature dips a little. Nobody believes them any more. Well, no-one worth mentioning does.

City Station

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Long cold.

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2°C, cold penetrating fog.
Still ill. All this started on the 7th of Dec. That makes it a month. Or is was it two colds separated by 5 days around Christmas. There is a shard of comfort when I hear that there are so many others with long persistent chest and throat infections.
There is no end in sight yet. I have taken the day off since 1/ my voice nearly failed yesterday & I am timetabled for more lessons today, 2/ I took the dog for her early morning outing by I saw purple spots before my eyes the whole time.

Will the world’s end begin like this.

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Router (dsl-g624m) dropouts

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9°C, calm & grey.
Still ill as the line in the Smiths song goes, but I’m bored with talking about it.
My router is probably the cause of poor internet connections at home. The latest stage in this sorry, tedious saga is a new firmware.
Every time I try something, the smartphone & laptop connect and I am filled with optimism. Then after streaming media, like a online video (my favourtite is Vimeo), the waiting sign comes up and it eventually time-outs.
Another idea is that the routes is failing, perhaps a mechanical failure. Often the connection fails after some time watching BBCi Player. Perhaps the heat can stress a weak component or solder joint.
The only solution to that is a full replacement.