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.

I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 17.09km, time: 58:32, pace: 3:26min/km, speed: 17.52km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2391907526

Started on the favourite canal loop for a tea-time ride. It soon became obvious that energy was missing. Clearly, I’m unwell. So after 5 miles, I turned back.

Bright sun and westerly wind. 19°C.

I rode the Kona Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 77.83km, time: 03:51:47, pace: 2:59min/km, speed: 20.15km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2302108298

Today, I broke the saddle. It’s the same break that they always have- immediately behind the clamp on one rail. I never really liked that seat anyway. Later, I rode along a canal from Rufford to join the Leeds-Liverpool canal.​

Another fault has developed recently, the gear change is worse and adjustment makes no difference. The barrel adjuster is at its limit. In fact, it’s beyond. The adjuster is screwed out entirely. Unfortunately, it won’t screw back in. Perhaps the thread is damaged.

15°C, Brisk SE wind, mostly sunny, entirely dry.

I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 72.78km, time: 04:10:50, pace: 3:27min/km, speed: 17.41km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2160239831

It’s all dried and cracked out there. Even molehills are as hard as stone. The big feature of the day is wind. A strong, dry south-easterly, which can only dry out the land more.
The vibration is hard on the hands. Suspension, at least on the front would solve this. The beach was firm too. Overall, average speed was low today. Partly that’s the conditions, you can’t ride off-road as quickly. The other part is that my fitness isn’t as good this year.

11°C, sunny with strong W, dry.
I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 62.68km, time: 03:11:43, pace: 3:04min/km, speed: 19.62km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2127494444

Overnight rain dampened the ground somewhat. It dried up during the day.
HDR; although I like the hdr effect on photos like this, it is only an effect. The app uses a kind of bass-relief method rather than genuine multi-exposure merging to create the high dynamic range. It might be interesting to try out the techniques with my new Fuji X-10. It’s a compact camera capable to taking multiple exposure at the same instant. This way, the merge should work without any smudges caused by movement.