I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 54.12mi, time: 03:47:00, pace: 4:12min/mi, speed: 14.31mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1372582069
Dry salty roads, and a cold northerly.
Speed rose as time went by, and I turned for good only because I was cold. Wrong clothes.
It takes hours to warn up once home if you have been cold for along time. Days like these, I need a hot bath. The shower doesn’t do it.
5°C clear light N, chilly.
I missed the funeral but went along to help clear John’s things. Today, all we needed to do was identify what could be kept, sold or disposed of. Stuff will go to jeweller’s, eBay and into our houses.
John was an engineer by trade. He started his career in maintaining Sunderland flying boats. There are dozens of pictures, models and books about that aircraft. Similarly the other passion of his, two Velocette motorbikes. Again, models in display cabinets, magazines and books in every room.
The motorbikes are in beautiful condition and only need a bit of pressure in the tyres. I couldn’t find the pump amongst all the tools however.
Those tools were amazing by themselves, Tig welder, lathes, drill stands and intricate pieces like tap and die sets. That workshop was very cramped. No doubt, John was expert in their use. He wired his own house, a natural thing to do if that’s how your mind works.
In a drawer was this object. It’s probably his apprentice piece. If would have made this when about 19 or 20 years old. That puts it shortly after WWII.
Apprentice piece.
I rode The Jake CX with MapMyRide+! Distance: 10.39mi, time: 01:46:36, pace: 10:16min/mi, speed: 5.85mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1371496079
Cold and deep mud, only once did I stop to run around the mud patches. The others, I powered though. Not once did I grind to a halt, nor fall off. Result!
Then a puncture.
The pump let me down, it barely offered any pressure so that after vigorous pumping, the tyre had lower pressure than before.
I will take it apart to see whether it is too dirty to keep pressure. Maybe, it’s just crap.
By now, the pressure is so low that I couldn’t ride, that meant a 4 mile walk home.
Good job that I like walking.
I rode the ‘paddy wagon’ with MapMyRide+! Distance: 28.20mi, time: 01:54:46, pace: 4:04min/mi, speed: 14.7mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1363319339
Took the flattest route. Warm-up was a full 12 miles. Yes, it took that long before I felt sort of normal. All that time a little voice told me I should go home.
I blame yesterday’s irregular food. I ate plenty in the morning, but didn’t have a proper evening meal.
The same thing gap happened in the past when I had chips for supper. I don’t have chips any more. Pizza is nearly as bad.
I look quite pale in the mirror.
6°C, dry with white cloud.
BBC: A Death Row Tale: The Fear of 13.
Quite the most moving thing I have seen on TV for many years.
Credit: Storyville.
Practically a single scene play with just the narrator. If tells his own story in a beguiling manner the revealed gem after gem.
I put the recording on late on a Friday evening thinking I could watch half and finish in the morning.
A man on death row, a drug addict, a car theif was sentenced to death for a rape and murder. He sits in a darkened room, under a single light and tells his story.
In this story, there are frequent glimmers of optimism and unwavering hope. He used the time to teach himself to read properly, to enjoy reading and became articulate. More than that, he’s eloquent.
Yarris tells a story of horror, obvious human rights violations and poetry. Not wistful romantic poetry, this is beauty within a life in a hell. Men in a confined space with a dreadful end story, behaviour is animal. Here is hope.
There are a few edits where outside images break up scenes, the unfolding story evolves and unfolds beautifully. Through my own personal tiredness. .I was pinned to this. Half an hour in, resuming in the morning was out of the question.
My hope is that I can this film on disc, I want to go back to this sometimes. There are themes here for me personally. This is a public space, so I’m not saying now.
Although I’m no criminal, I can take something from this story. There are profound messages about life here. Take a look.
5°C, negligible N breeze. Clear sky white dry salty roads.
Commute with MapMyRide+! Distance: 25.08mi, time: 01:43:03, pace: 4:07min/mi, speed: 14.60mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1360056929
Strange encounter: the ride home took me through Weeford. Weeford has a short part climb which is a bit narrow. Tonight, a cyclist started the hill before me with a weave to the right. His bike has a big plastic bag hanging by the back wheel. I called ‘on your left’ so I could pass as he swerved right. But at the last moment, he veered left forcing me to swerve right. ‘Okay, on your right’ I corrected.
Then, as I overtook, I said ‘good grief’. The guy is a hazard, mainly to himself, and to others.
As I rode up the hill, a tirade began:
‘Excuse me, what did you say?’
More incoherent shouting, the word ‘light’ came out. The shouting continued as I got to the top of the hill. Bizarre.
It’s no good to me to discuss the matter, I don’t care what the nutter thinks. He’s probably plucking bits of his bag out of the rear spokes as I write.
If he’s that annoyed then shut up, and get up the hill much faster.
That wasn’t the only encounter tonight. On Rosemary Hill Road, I passed a guy with no lights of any sort. At least he wore a tabard, but otherwise- darkness, car headlights often don’t reach high enough.
We stopped on a red and I said: ‘you ought to get lights,’ he said ‘I know’.
Let’s hope he does. Nobody wants to pass a cyclist lying in the road with a coat over his face one night.
12°C, grey, clearing to sun later; very strong WSW.
I rode Paddy Wagon with MapMyRide+! Distance: 52.68mi, time: 03:49:16, pace: 4:21min/mi, speed: 13.79mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1354437681
Furious howling wind, a tempest even. I tried to select a route that makes the most of the wind direction. Ideally, yet want to come home with a tail-wind. That’s not possible here, upwind is out to sea. Second choice then like a sailor, choose cross-winds. For most of the day, it worked well. The return leg ayr very hard though. Flat, for exposed moors offered no shelves from hurts over 40mph. There was I, standing on pedals, head down trying to offer a small profile, still only able to make 9mph. How my muscles burnt, and how my legs complained.
I map glad to get home.
Geology: stopped in Crossens for a reason you’ll have to guess at. There is a prominent bolder outside a water-works. It was easy to identify as granite. The large square crystals were clear as there is very little weathering on this bolder. It has a plaque:
Crossens erratic.
I rode Fixed with MapMyRide+! Distance: 34.53mi, time: 02:25:45, pace: 4:13min/mi, speed: 14.21mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1352912209
That was an early one, 8am start; which is unusual for me in February.
This rain marks the start of a long finger of wet weather that stretches thousands of miles across the Atlantic. It’s one of those dreadful fronts that runs parallel to the wind direction bringing non-stop rain for days and days.
That was the bad bit. The good bit was the hill climbs. Two this time.
The biggest spike is Bannister Hill; the one before- the village of Dalton. I can’t recall ever doing both climbs in the same ride.
I got home feeling pretty good too.
Note to self:1, take more early morning rides.
2, learn how to make my own flaplack.
4°C, bright but rain later.
New tent; for wild camping. It’s similar to erect to my old faithful Tempest 300. The idea is to pack this into my 65 litre pack and use for wild camping. I shalln’t wait for the Diamond Challenge trip, with the first excuse, I’ll go. That means keep the big pack ready to go. The carry mat I used in the bivvy last year seems heavy, perhaps one of those cheap foam mats with foil on one side could be strapped to the pack.
It matters whether to lie foil up or downwards. In the bivvy, it should be upwards so you can turn over in the night without the mat sliding away.
Fun times lie ahead.
7°C, brisk SW, mostly clear with some showers.
I rode Fixed Paddy-Wagon with MapMyRide+! Distance: 9.60mi, time: 36:30, pace: 3:48min/mi, speed: 15.78mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/1350870575
Not much time, so had a quick blast with the fixed. Cold wind blew from the southern approaches, on a short one, that doesn’t really figure.
Today has not been an example of a well used day. This ride did blow the cobwebs away. Without cycling, I would have lost my marbles long ago.
Micycle 