4°C, getting frosty again.
High pressure means dry but getting colder this week. So, I’m trying to grab as many miles as I can before the weather decides to call a halt. Journey times are getting better, less than 1hr 20′ round trip to work again. that first week back was shameful.
11°C, sunny bits, few wet bits.
This film had something in common with The Matrix; I started with much hope and left feeling cheated, annoyed and hating it. The lead character was fine but she threw the others into sharp contrast with their terrible over-acting. Was there some kind of competition to fill the film with every cliché of the genre? The scene with the emotional pleading in pouring rain on the bridge in London would have seen me leave the cinema had I been in one. the last time I felt such loathing for a film was The Matrix, shallow stereotypical characters, absurd but easily predictable plot.
Avoid.
7~1°C, sunny pieces
…lower the saddle too far & your knees ache.
7°C, cloud, S. wind & some rain.
That tendonitis was unnoticeable yesterday. Why was that, the new bike with new pedals or was it the old shoes? The seat is lower on that bike so I will try lowering the seat on the other bikes half an inch or so. It seems possible, though I lowered the seat in the spring, that it’s still too high. Could that be the why this tendinitis has taken so long to heal. It got worse while riding the commuting bike only. Perhaps the summer bike is set up better, but I’ll see in the early spring. these things usually result form multiple causes.
I just don’t know.
+5°C, sunny & strong onshore breeze
Better than I thought. The handling is fine, it’s reasonably nimble, though I didn’t push it on those wet black muddy Lancashire roads. the only problem I can think of is that the gearing seems rather tall. I shall get a 17 tooth cog & try it. It’s always a compromise when you only have one ratio but at least the cogs are cheap & easy to experiment with. The landscape was swept by strong westerly winds though: they’re always a struggle. I totalled 60Km with the speedo set to a 26″ wheel. Have yet to work out the equivalent 700x28c
Lancashire is a pleasant surprise, at least the planes around Formby & Southport were. The place often reminded me of the Somerset flats, the black soil, deep straight drainage ditches and the roads that follow field patterns so that there are numerous right-angle corners.
+2C, soft snow melting. Near whiteout.
There used to be a time, decades ago when in the weeks after Christmas, the streets would be filled with kids riding their new christmas bikes. Well, that has all changed, last night it was me out there riding up & down. The tradition should be kept alive.
2°C, and dropping. snow tomorrow.
Damned icy this morning, yesterday’s rain froze overnight so no cycling. Not good.
This evening rode around on the fixed; it’s weird! Kicking off and clipping in while the cranks are turning is odd. I’ve got used to coasting to a stop & standing on one pedal to get off the seat. That’s how I’ve done it over the last 25 years. This bike keeps your feet turning and it’s odd, that pumping up & down is odd and wrong. May the gods allow me to learn this without falling off. Can I learn new tricks?
+3C, light cloud but missed the solar eclipse this morning.
It’s the time of year that people consider changing their career. Here is a good article BBC: greater job satisfaction, better pay and the feeling that you’ve actually done something in a manual job. ?What would I do? Plumbing, electrician or more probably something outside- fencing perhaps. My problem is vulnerability to backache. That rules out plumbing, or probably carpentry; too much twisting about in confined spaces.
-2°C, light cloud.
Last day, bit of a rush. Fit in a tight schedule, but I may have a new bike by the end of the day: if it fits. Rode 40 miles yesterday, more today if it’s no too cold.
Later: Did 38 miles today, the cold air softened after midday.
Okay, so I got it:
It needs a bit of customising- the stem is too short, it needs lights and probably mudguards. I rode it a bit and it seems very nimble, so far I’m impressed. Well, I did buy it.
Micycle 