Author Archives: essiep

Storm Barbara.

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Stormy, mild winter’s day.

A family day out ice-skating; skating in the city sounds like a nice winter thing to do but it didn’t work like that. The marquee was grossly overcrowded and filled with near deafening pop music. I was filled with the urge to run a mile. A mile wasn’t necessary because the Tate Gallery was only a few hundred metres away. That worked out well enough.
Return to the agreed 3pm spot was interrupted by a strong squally downpour. You could see the approaching white sheets of rain crossing the Mersey. I sheltered behind one of those odd looking buildings you see near docks.
There was just enough shelter to take a few photos with my new pocket camera. It’s a second-hand Fuji X-10 which I got via eBay. It has lots of fun features, panoramic, hdr, colour modes, and a sensor that can take alternative exposure shots at the same time.
Today, I played with low colour and black and white. The bin animation is a composite of the pictures taken with the best-frame feature.

Wasps’ nest

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7°C, sunny and dry. Light wind.

Remember that wasp nest in my house last summer? I decided to investigate it today. The tent was ready to pull open after I cleared the nearby ivy. The interior volume was filled with paper structures to a volume of about 1 litre. The tent gap a hard plastic tube connecting the interior and exterior walls of the building. Lining the tube was a complete layer of paper honeycomb cavities. Inside that layer was a 3 layered structure which was effectively 3 floors. Some of these floor had dead eggs or larvae.​

fascinating isn’t it? Up to last October, I heard their daily routine start at sunrise. The buzzing must have been workers ventilating the nest. All summer, there was that sinister chewing and cutting sound. None of that has affected the vent. It must be the sound of paper construction amplified in the tube.
There aren’t many dead wasps in there. Either they had already left, or the pest treatment dispersed them. I’m glad really. I like to think they lived their year’s lifecycle to its normal conclusion. They disperse after the spawning and live a more solitary life until the first frost.
The tube now has some of the honeycomb shelves back in place. Wasps don’t make nests in old sites so this should deter them next season.
I’ll never know about the other nest, it’s entirely inaccessible in that roof space.

Ninety minutes on the canal.

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  11°C, still, clear and drying out.

I rode Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 23.71km, time: 01:30:56, pace: 3:50min/km, speed: 15.64km/h.​

Towpath pause.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1912095641


The mud is soft, black and deep now. This confused the wheels who couldn’t decide whether to go the same way. The whole bike feels different when veering about on soft tyres. That aspect is fun with only a certain frisson of dread because the canal water looks deep and cold. I grinned most of the time, probably.

Punctured night.

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5°C, light NE, no rain but damp roads.
I rode mustang with MapMyRide+! Distance: 26.82km, time: 01:38:33, pace: 3:40min/km, speed: 16.33km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1891190354

It’s not always obvious what to do when you notice the first signs of a puncture. If it’s dark and there are no light-up places to fix the tyre, what do you do? This night, I decided to inflate with the pump because the deflation was slow to start with. Then ride on as far as I could before it deflated too much. Unfortunately, next time with the little pump, deflation got faster.
Stopping to re-inflate 3 times isn’t so bad, but the time between each re-inflation was getting noticably shorter. The last interval was less than a 1km. I walked the last 4km home in all (in quite a bad mood, and hungry).

Next day, I did the repairs. The thorn that was guilty, was surprisingly long and difficult to remove. These puncture-proof tyres make pulling thorns out very tricky. If you don’t get it all out, the new inner-tube goes flat immediately. Retrospectively, the choice to walk was probably about right.

Road crescents

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Dry, rather cool at 7°C with light NE breeze.

Rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 68.90km, time: 03:00:32, pace: 2:37min/km, speed: 22.90km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1886134235​

At the cafe stop.

Rode the Arrow for the first time in nearly 6 months.I’m riding the Raleigh gravel bike to work now so the Arrow has been neglected. I was beginning to think that I may not need that bike anymore

This morning, all I had to do was blow tyres up and take the carrier off, and then get on.

However, it did actually feel rather strange when I did get going. The riding position felt odd over the bars. After a few miles I rank into the right position and ‘found my legs’. That seat will have to go forward, raising it wasn’t enough. It’s okay to have differences is position on the various bikes, but this change is too much. I expect a similar feeling when starting out on the Mustang next week. At least the brakes and gear-change are good.

Conclusion, it’s going to be good to keep this bike as a specific winter ride.

Strange phenomenon, every so often, I noticed crescent shaped patches of wet road as I came home. There were dozens of them, full road width and distinct from the otherwise dry tarmac.​

Here is one, I laid my bike next to it for scale.

A change of wheels.

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9°C, grey with a light shower at the end.
I rode Paddy Wagon with MapMyRide+! Distance: 80.95km, time: 03:17:49, pace: 2:27min/km, speed: 24.55km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1864452062​

Late start because of the time it takes to fit winter wheels. While doing that, I fitted the winter tyres to the cyclo-cross bike. Thanks are getting boggy and slippery now and will remain so until about April.
Today’s side felt good. Although I averaged 16mph, it was the feel that mattered. Over 50 miles, I had energy right to the end. I wasn’t left quivering at the top of each climb and I was happy to put on a burst out of the saddle to keep the pace up.
Better than last week then.

Short cruise on the ‘cross.

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I rode the Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 26.15km, time: 01:31:07, pace: 3:29min/km, speed: 17.22km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1852682429​

At the end of a day with a groggy head. This cold outing cleared my mind somewhat.
It’s certainly time to change to winter tyres. The mud is soft enough to make gravel tyres too slippery. I can still remember how much better the Schwalbe Rocket Rons are than the original set. They are notably slower on tarmac however.