Arrow, 9°C, brisk Southerly, dry until the last few miles.
Rode out to a park that’s new to me in Birkdale.
There are a reasonable variety of machines in a useful place. The one pictured (right) has a much lighter leverage than others in Sefton. And the pull-down machine is absent. 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐ Would use again, recommended.
8°C, milky sun and strong southwest wind.
Grabbed the Mustang gravel bike for a ride and it came out with a puncture. So much for I destructible Marathon + tyres. I may have hit something on last night’s ride in the dark.
Instead, I went out on the Jake CX. Then had another problem. The rear tyre went down after 6 miles. It’s got a Slime self sealing tube to I stopped to re-inflate it. The pressure held but was rather low. I struggle to get it firmer than 40psi (which is a bit low for my weight). Remarkably, the pressure held. For the next ten miles. They keep a stirrup pump in the cafe so I bumped it up to 70psi. It stayed so the ride was back to normal.
However, the return was into a growing gale. There were gusts up to 40mph and I crawled along at 8mph. Nonetheless, the sun still shone.
8°C, moderate S, dry but damp.
It’s tough riding into the wind for long periods on a single-speed. The muscle burn builds up and slows you down.
6-9°C brisk SW wind, clear and sunny.
It’s been a while since the last bike ride. Icy weather has stopped me venturing out. Some days were so bad, I daren’t even go for a run. That means the default is the gym or at home, the turbo. I get ratty at these times and feel a constant fizzy agitated feeling in my limbs.
Back to normal now.
I’ve left the turbo up so I can get on each day. I hate riding the turbo.
Kona Jake, 5°C, light E, light overcast.
Icy weather is due in a few days. Let’s wait and see the best way to deal with running on frosty ground in the mornings. Meanwhile, I’ll bank some hours riding. This is the 4th day in a row with 25+ miles. I’ve got layers sorted out now so getting cold isn’t such a problem.
10°C, light at first then rain. Heavy rain to return, included hail.
Kona Jake: missed exercise recently so set off thinking the forecast was exaggerated. I was cold on arriving at the cafe and got pelted with hail on the return.
16°C, strong wind.
Rode the Arrow because it’s too windy to use the single speed bike. The route worked well: head out downwind and come back along a route sheltered by more hedges.
Mustang: grey damp and no wind
Pushed back the ride to get some maintenance done. The Zing has a new chain that I failed to fit. Shimano chains have a single-use pin to close the chain. I broke it. The Jake also has a new KMC chain which was easy to fit but there’s a problem. The cassette is worn out on about 4 cogs. It’s the original on a 2015 bike, so that’s a decent life. The jockey wheels were almost toothless. Changed them too.
Great, an hour’s work and now 2 bikes are unrideable. At least I got a run this morning.
Micycle 