Ewe turned turtle.

Posted on 26th Mar 2019 by essiep

10°C, brisk NW, bright sun.
Rode the RSPB route in vright sunshine. That SSW leg takes you through a field of sheep. They were all ewes, many with lambs, tiny lambs.

Then I saw one motionless, on her side. I stopped and she wriggled. She couldn’t get up. Her huge pregnant belly stopped her righting herself. Ewes can easily die like that so I got off. I walked round to her back on the downhill side right her. Now she really wriggled and kicked obviously getting distressed. Quickly with two handfuls of willy fur I turned her over and she got her feet. After only a short trot, she turned and looked back. Perhaps she thought she was a gonna.

Soon, a farmer came on a quad bike. He was grateful when I explained what happened. I did the right thing.

Soft pedaling the cross.

Posted on 21st Feb 2019 by essiep

13°C, sunny with light breeze.

https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3392284945

I have a teacher’s cold (again). Since it’s an unseasonably warm sunny day, I rode the cross bike anyway. I soft-pedaled along the sea wall. The tide was high making the beach soggy. Cross tyres are too narrow to cope with we silty sand.

MapMyRide is not working properly again. It fails to share the image so here is a straight photo.

Ribble Dyke by cyclo-cross.

Posted on 15th Feb 2019 by essiep

12°C, sunny with S breeze.
Soft mud of the season made this a smoother route than last time I passed this way. What an excellent day!

I saw Egrets, heard Oyster Catchers and many others I can’t identify. The glancing light made the land very photogenic. The only thing missing is the smell of spring is, as yet, missing.

Cross the chase, December.

Posted on 8th Dec 2018 by essiep

11°C, sun and cold wind. Rain to finish.

https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3280048873

Besides that, here’s an anecedote. The bike got quite muddy on this outing so normally I’d hose it down. Today, I have no access to a hose. Instead, I used a watering can and.poured it from height. Soon it stopped with a blockage. In the nozzle was a little face poking out.

The can was stored near the bins along with another one so I swapped them. The face was a field mouse that must have drowned. A sad and sorry end. Worse though, the other watering can also had a mouse’s corpse. I think we should store the cans inverted I told mum.

Towpath in darkness

Posted on 8th Dec 2018 by essiep

8°C, clear sky with brisk W wind and cold.

https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3279276373

Here’s a first, an off-road ride in the dark . The hard contrast from the light make ruts and pits easy to spot. Last night’s rain made the surface quite squelchy, that back wheel didn’t always follow the front. I did not fall.

It’s been a fun day. First thing, I visited a geology muse in Birmingham, The Lapworth Museum. This fossil as a cast, you can see that in close-up. Bits of white plaster show between the grey. I think the grey is graphite powder that was rubbed in.

Anyway, Lapworth us a well laid out museum with plenty of interesting exhibits. I highly recommend it. There is a rock wall made of samples and a key. I played the game of guessing and then looked up each type to make a score. I got about 1/3 correct. Clearly, I need to read up on peridotite.

Dank Sunday gravel

Posted on 2nd Dec 2018 by essiep

11°C, some rain early, brighter later on, brisk SW.

https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3272450158

A sluggish ride but that doesn’t matter, it’s December. The fitness miles don’t start until January. Winter miles lead to summer smiles, as they say without cringing.

Cross Ribble Nat Trust

Posted on 16th Nov 2018 by essiep

11°C, grey but dry and calm.

Rode the Jake along the Ribble estuary. The ground was softer than last time but some sections were too broken up to ride

https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3251440075

This was a recovery ride after a persistent cold. It’s not fully cleared and nearing the end of its third week. I despair at the longevity of this one. Despair? I’m downright annoyed about it.

Canal cross 8

Posted on 2nd Nov 2018 by essiep

10°C, sunny and dry. Cold start.

https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3230913589

The cables needed a bit of adjustment to get the index right. Winter is coming so I will have a day changing cablesets on a couple of bikes. This one has suffered from the effects of sea salt.

I’m back on.

Posted on 5th Oct 2018 by essiep

11°C dull with soft drizzle.

I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 25.58km, time: 01:23:00, pace: 3:15min/km, speed: 18.49km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/3184165357

That was a whole week of cycling lost to an enigmatic virus. Now I’ve returned to normal, now work can resume on the house. Time is pressing now because the new central heating will be fitted in 2 weeks. Beforehand, I must remove the relevant radiators, strip and replace the wallpaper behind. Most pressing of all, the new radiators should be orderes in good time. I’m going for column radiators in a few key places- the living room, master bedroom and hallway.

The living room radiator is in an annoying place behind the sofa and the master bedroom’s rad is just too small,

Let down by a pump.

Posted on 18th Aug 2018 by essiep

16°C, gloomy drizzle and blustery SW

I rode Kona Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 31.86km, time: 01:32:04, pace: 2:53min/km, speed: 20.76km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/3087552775

Once I got off the track, it was obvious that the tyres were too soft. Topping up the pressure should be easy, right? The first two attempts left me with a flat tyre. Unscrewing the pump head also unscrewed and removed the valve. Annoying. Eventually, I got it in and it held some pressure, but no more than 20psi.

Its horrible riding with only 20psi, the rear wheel squelches and skids from side to side. It doesn’t feel safe at all.

Tried blnowing up a road bike tyre with the pump and it worked just fine. That probably means the problem all along was the valve is too short on this rim.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

Category Archives: cyclocross