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.

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.

Bright winter sun 6°C, brisk S.

I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 26.48km, time: 01:51:48, pace: 4:13min/km, speed: 14.21km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2676806983

A fine muddy, squelchy start along the canal into early low sun. At 6 or 7 miles, the squelching turned to a soggy back wheel. A puncture.

Since its a Slime inner-tube, I tried pumping it up in the hope it would seal itself. It soon went flat again and left me in the open with a heavy shower threatening. I decided to run for a while. At the next bridge, under shelter, I had a go at changing the tube. The new tube went flat in only 100m. No choice but to put the slime tube back in. That didn’t hold much pressure either. So onto the next bridge. Much further this time, well over a mile of running.

There are deeper puddles to wash wheel and hands. Then, a minibus from an autism charity pulled up. It had a trailer of bikes in tow. The driver lent me a track pump which is so much easier than a stupid little frame pump.

I got a good 2 miles on that 60psi. When it ran flat, I ran again. The last few miles was repeated re-inflations. Along the way was police looking for an abandoned railway’station and a friendly cyclist who offered a tube.

I arrived home, arms shaking from all that pumping (stop sniggering at the back).

Now the bike is in the garage cleaned and gears tuned, the tyre has decided to hold pressure now, how about doing that on the trail?. I don’t trust it though.

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.