Emergent day.

Posted on 16th Dec 2012 by essiep

8°C, few showers, sun, no cycling.
Recovery: a week of undefined illness has sapped most of my energy. Now it’s lifting I can’t feel the cold, and yes I know the air has dipped below 5C. So, I spent the day recovering.
I became quite geeky later in the afternoon.
Geekiness is fuelled by a feeling. It’s a feeling with deep roots, all the way back to childhood.
With a cold like mine, any activities today had to beundemanding, so I spent time looking round Google Earth. In a few places, there are circular mountain ranges that are just too perfect a circle. With a little research, it turns out that many are impact craters. Some are as young as 3.5 million years, which doesn’t sound that old, relatively, geologically. The earth is peppered with them, though some are only detected by their gravity anomalies One contributer has uploaded a .kml file that shows loads more. I was, by now, hooked.
And, this is where it gets geeky, I decided to see how they look in the flight simulator FSX. Some are quite clear, often a near circular lake, or an obvious crater. One, in far eastern Siberia, is not actually an impact crater but an eroded intrusive pipe (Kondyor Massif). Now it’s one of Russia’s biggest platinum mines.

Congo Crater Caused by Meteorite (history.com)

Penultimate

Posted on 11th Dec 2012 by essiep

-3.5°C, clear + hard frost.
Always the hardest week, next week we stop for Christmas.
Sudden temperature drop, a throaty cold and regular exhaustion. I feel the cold more when I haven’t ridden. Shame the conditions are possible, the virus impossible.
So zero miles to add from this week to a relatively low mileage year. I have only clocked up about 5,000 miles this year on the 3 bikes. Maybe a new year’s resolution idea there?
This morning, remaining coals in the grate still have warmth.

England is dirty

Posted on 2nd Dec 2012 by essiep

0°C, ice again.
weekend at home- too much marking to go away on adventures. This time of year uncovers what’s been hiding beneath lush grass all summer. English roads and lanes are bordered with unbroken lines of MacDonald’s packaging and mineral water bottles. Some of those water bottles have their sides pierced.

They are always carefully pierced in the same way. Sometimes, a plastic tube remains inserted in the side. It’s a sort of bong left by local druggies. They use this to stupify themselves and then leave with their piles of litter behind.
A bit of detective work could trace them. In the discarded shopping bags, there is often a receipt, which could track the buyer.
A few years ago, someone died in a festival tent in that field. Sometimes I find foil, but never needles. Drugs.
Such is modern life.

That’s why I’m so hungry

Posted on 7th Oct 2012 by essiep

12°C, no wind, sunny. CR˜61.4 miles.
I feel this way every week when I get back. Some slight aches, thirsty and refreshed. Above all- hungry.
The phone app says I used up 3,227 calories on this ride alone. Hence this insatiable hunger. No matter how much I eat, even with a full belly the hunger is still there.
The phone app is probably more trustworthy than the speedo that claims to record calories. It can’t because it doesn’t know my weight, nor does it record hill climbs. The app does both, so I’m inclined to believe it.
Anyway, good ride and dinner is in the oven.

Cold, come out!

Posted on 4th Oct 2012 by essiep

12°C westerly.
It’s touch & go whether I can ride in when I feel like this. Can your immune system fight a cold in the background or does it have to blow out with a full snotty headcold? Maybe an hour’s ride will decide the question.

Robotic Cicadas

Posted on 1st Oct 2012 by essiep

9°C, calm.
03.30, sounds of the city waking filter into my room. A distant train, nearer a car starts and stocks away into the night. But a strange constant leaks through during the rather passages. A higher note that leaks out between, one that pulsates like a cicada but is clearly mechanical.
Maybe later this term I can get my sleeping habits into order. Perhaps bed down later and don’t wake so wide alert at 3.

Parbold hill

Posted on 30th Sep 2012 by essiep

12°C , brisk westerly, light cloud. CK55 miles.
Saturday ride on the fixed, a good few hours ride that started with some difficulty- perhaps I didn’t have enough for supper before.
Anyway, I got up Parbold hill on the 42×16 gear without stopping. While not a very blog-worthy point, I get a lot of satisfaction from this first. Last winter, I could only make the summit with the last part on foot. Then in the 17 tooth gear I gasped to the top.
It seems that my physical energy has been liberated by that drop in work-stress.

Momentary misjudgement

Posted on 27th Sep 2012 by essiep

12C clear.
It was only a tiny slice of time, it was enough for the axe to swing its errant path. The hit only took a thin slice from my thumb. Lucky it wasn’t worse, or unlucky to happen in the first place. That makes me luck-neutral.
A cut from a sharp edge is usually less painful, and less prone to infection. My only grumble is the site of the injury- it’s on the side of my the joint just where I normally apply pressure when changing gear on the commuting bike.
Perhaps change gear like a good fixed-gear rider.

Sound in the dead of night

Posted on 19th Sep 2012 by essiep

9°C. Quiet.
Early morning, in the share change of sleep. It’s not quite silent- there is a man-made sound. A high pitched modulated note like a spinning metal wheel. Most probably a distant siren, its note wavering and reflecting from buildings on its journey to my ears.
Like so many nights, I probably need a banana & to read for a while.
Goodnight.

Dead of night

Posted on 16th Sep 2012 by essiep

13°C, very still
What a terrible night′s sleep. It’ll be over soon.
I found myself listening to the night. Distant motorcycles screamed up the A road. Closer by, an owl- but not one I recognised, only a solitary hoot- a lonely call into the still air. There was another sound, a coarser bark that was definitely not a dog. A fox I think.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

Category Archives: Health