Paddy Wagon: mechanicals.

Kona Paddy Wagon, 14C, no rain but muddy, light SSE wind.

It has a new chain but it doesn’t ride well over the teeth. Under load, each tooth clicks.  I should have changed the rear cog (and I expect the chainring has gone also). Last time this happened, I couldn’t get the cog off with the chain-whip. Fixie cogs screw on, but as you ride them, the thread tightens. By tyhe time the teeth are worm out, the cog is too tight to remove. The bike shop had to practicaly break the cog off in a vice, it was that bad.

Furthermore, the rear tyre has a slow puncture that didn’t bubble in the bucket so I replaced the valve. Yet, it still slowly deflates.

November has been an odd month, it started and ended warm with an icy week 3. That makes acclimatising difficult.

Fixie: a cautious ride

12°C, no wind or rain or sun.

Tendonitis: it’s flared up again but is currently waning. So the idea was to do a 2 hour ride on the flat while there’s no wind. On turning north from Rufford, a group of cyclists tagged on. Then one took the lead to up the pace. I held on without too much difficulty.

They were quite complimentary about.my keeping pace. They were on nice modern Ridley carbon bikes and me a 14 year old steel single-speed. I don’t suppose they realise that a single speed is more efficient when the cadence, gearing and incline are ideal.

The above data is wrong because the app paused after the cafe stop. The total distance should be 52km.

Bad weather soon.

6°C, light NW breeze, dry and light.

Better get some miles in. We’re expecting cold wintery weather this coming week. There may be snow. It’s only a few weeks to equinox and I’d like 1,000 miles by then. After this, I have 20 miles to go.

Tendonitis is still a problem. It clears and returns unpredictably. Cycling seems to help leading the stiffness reduced after a ride. Some days, but still limp.

No.2, volumetric cloud.

6°C, light W, cold but clear and dry (mostly).

Volumetric cloud.

Set out in a morning of sun with a grey cloud looming. The forecast promised 0% chance of rain but there it was. A small cloud but slow moving. I turned back home to get a better raincoat. The rain was slow enough to stay in for lunch and then go back out. The rest of the day was very good. Also, I used the green machines.

The roads are cleared.

Kona Paddy Wagon; 15°C, sunny with light Northerly.

I didn’t put it there.

The Queen’s funeral is today and we get a bank holiday. This has cleared the roads and, pretty much, the only people you see are dog walkers and cyclists. Rather like a cup final, this makes for an excellent cycling day. It means I don’t have to avoid those routes that carry tricky traffic . I also means no cafes are open nor any shops. I got lucky though, about half way there was a petrol station where I got snacks.