2°C, brisk N wind, dry and sunny. Significant wind-chill.
I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 45.80km, time: 02:41:30, pace: 3:32min/km, speed: 17.01km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2599320025​

Today, I reversed the beach route for variety. A strong wind ran along the coast from kid north so I wasn’t deflected as much. The sand does turn to impossible soft patches without much warning. Sometimes easy sometimes you get bogged mown. Some was hidden under a moving veil of drifting sand. Wider tyres would help greatly but for now, lower pressure would too. I fell once and rolled out on the soft sand.
Actually, that’s the first time I’ve fallen in quite a few years. Good that it happened onto sand. Riding along with the drifting sand is a good sensation.
There are interesting structures standing on this beach. Amidst the shifting sand banks are darker shelves of more solid, peaty sand. It’s starting to consolidate into rock. Some of these strata lay in the beach, others were cut from dunes and showed clearly in the banks. Are these evidence of beach raising? Were they darkened by vegetation during interglacial periods when sea-level was lower?

7°C, dry with strong NW wind.
I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 60.49km, time: 03:11:18, pace: 3:10min/km, speed: 18.97km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2592835927​

9°C, brisk W but dry at least.
Rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 43.42km, time: 02:35:16, pace: 3:35min/km, speed: 16.78km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2580371377

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The beach at Formby shelves off at a very shallow angle to the west. It’s firm in parts and very soft in others. A few times I ground to a stop and at other times I struggled with the ripples. These were quite firm but steered the bike along the dominant line of the ripples. I found myself riding in arcs.​

This screen shot of Google Maps shows the track crossing blue sea. I hate to disappoint you, but the blue edge marks the average tide line. In other words, I didn’t really ride in the sea. Sorry.

14°C, sunny and strong W wind.
I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 57.86km, time: 03:38:32, pace: 3:47min/km, speed: 15.89km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2499624422

Monday afternoon on The Chase is quiet with only a few dog walkers. Actually, it’s brilliant, I saw only two other cyclists too. Not only that, but I’m getting better at this too. Precarious descents don’t seem as steep as my confidence grows.​

The nicest ride back home is along the canal. Here is a picture of a very narrow tunnel. I wouldn’t like to try this on a mountain bike with wide bars.

13°C, grey with soft but bearable ground.

I rode The Jake wth MapMyRide+! Distance: 24.24km, time: 01:22:07, pace: 3:23min/km, speed: 17.71km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2489252846​

The usual route with today. I raised the pace on ground that allowed some give. Previous times here, the ground was so hard that jarring slowed the pace. It was a full start however. So, I put the lights on. That led to something odd on the canal. A guy steering a barge shouted at me “would you switch off the flashing light, it’s distracting me“.

How peculiar. If I did that, by the time I’d pressed the button, I would have ridden past the boat. He wouldn’t see any benefit by then. So why should I bother?
I didn’t.