12°C, light rain, N.
What is that thing? I features in the background of some of my beach shots. From a distance, especially in poor conditions, it can look sinister.
This rain is an escape from the severe storms south:
This picture is from much later, so glad I got out in time. Those heavy.rains have caused havoc in the south. Think of the DofE groups out in that
16°C, blazing sun with crisp shadows.
A gentle outing along the coast. Much of the ground has dried out, that thick gummy mud has set leaving soft loose sand in places. This was a pleasant relaxing ride.
Those dark bands are coal. Yes, it surprised me but they may date from the last war. Further up the coast are bands of rounded house bricks. Apparently, they were Ribble from the Liverpool blitz.
13-16°C, light wind and dry.
A decent ride with variety in hills and flatlands. Home commitments left me with too little time to ride 100km which wouldn’t be much extra effort. Shame.
Sunny and warm week.In an attempt to make up for last week, I’ve been out at least once a day. Over the last 2 weeks, I’ve somehow gained 2 kilos in weight.
20°C, clear blue with negligible SW.
Five day in a row I have ridden. I can feel it now so the average speed is down noticeably.
The photo is a dereluct house in Formby. Looks like it is a project now.
20°C light SE, deep blue.
Out on the Paddy-Wagon on the summer wheels. The route is flat but the variety comes from downwind zooms and climbing into the wind.
Rode back with a guy who told be about some of his achievements: 2nd in national champs for cyclo-cross, 360 miles in a 24hr TT. Best bit, he will be 80 later this year.
That was a good ride for me, comfortable and quick.
19°C, milky sin, warm dry with medium E breeze.
Gravel Roads: this route never strayed far from home but was a decent outing. These gravel roads may need tougher tyres, winter CX tyres are fine on wet grass but some of the stones are sharp.
16°C, moderare E breeze, sunny and dry.
Tried some new routes towards Leyland. I made some mistakes and had to backtrack several times. The default Google map didn’t offer info on rights of way. That’s my excuse and I paid the price by riding on gravel tracks on 23c road tyres in the hope of picking up a decent ride soon. Quite a few of those rough track surfaces were bolstered by building Ribble. They were reasonably level bit glinting ceramic shards were visible. I feared a puncture.
Nevermind, it was one.ofnthose comfortable days where riding at speed was easy. Very enjoyable.
Perhaps tomorrow I should take the cross bike out.
6°C, E wind, sunny and dry.
Cold with a piercing E wind. The ground is hard now so a bike with some suspension would help. There are sections where the ridges in the dyke forced me to get off and walk. It’s gorgeous here with a feeling of vast space.
After this section, I headed along the Southport sea wall to the green machines. There are only 4 that I use. Anchor points are visible in the concrete ground, at least 4 have been removed over the years. I can’t imagine them being replaced even with a local coastal funding package from the lottery fund.
10°C, brisk NW, bright sun.
Rode the RSPB route in vright sunshine. That SSW leg takes you through a field of sheep. They were all ewes, many with lambs, tiny lambs.
Then I saw one motionless, on her side. I stopped and she wriggled. She couldn’t get up. Her huge pregnant belly stopped her righting herself. Ewes can easily die like that so I got off. I walked round to her back on the downhill side right her. Now she really wriggled and kicked obviously getting distressed. Quickly with two handfuls of willy fur I turned her over and she got her feet. After only a short trot, she turned and looked back. Perhaps she thought she was a gonna.
Soon, a farmer came on a quad bike. He was grateful when I explained what happened. I did the right thing.
Micycle 