12°C, brisk SW. Dry but grey.
Quite fancy a ride in the woods today. That would be ideal, ride up to Cannock Chase. Ride in the woods for an hour, then finish in the cafe. Only one thing stopping me- the bike.
What about one of these?

That is the Kona Jake. Supplied with chunky tyres, disk brakes and am aluminium frame. The only caveat is that it weighs no less than my other bikes. If I am to spend all that money, it could be under 10kg. But that’s not a main priority: fit, strength and stiffness come before.
There are plenty of places to ride here, bridal paths, Cannock Chase and canals. I am quite thrilled on reading the local map.
And another thing, I miss my country air. Either I need a CX bike, or…
.a dog.
Category Archives: Cycling
Battle the wind.
Fixed Gear ride MapMyRide+! Distance: 35.49mi, time: 02:33:45, pace: 4:20min/mi, speed: 13.85mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/769929141
Slow ride in brisk wind even with the lower gear. At least I swapped the winter wheels over which have a 17t cog. The return stretch would have been dreadful in that wind.

Riding fixed.
Sunny but cold start. 7~13°C, light wind.
Cycle: rode fixed with MapMyRide+! Distance: 57.6mi, time: 03:37:03, pace: 3:46min/mi, speed: 15.92mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/763041455
Feeling back to normal stop grumbling.

14*8
13°C later, after a chilly start. SE4, dry.
Fixed, tracked with MapMyRide+! Distance: 41.25mi, time: 02:35:00, pace: 3:45min/mi, speed: 15.97mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/755680611
Avoided the worst hills and rode a steady pace. Nothing remarkable then.
weight is back where it should be at this time of year, 14stone 8lbs.

Commute.
19°C, light wind and sky. Night drawing in.
rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 16.45mi, time: 01:05:40, pace: 3:59min/mi, speed: 15.03mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/750800701
Yes, energy is back. The fizz is anyway. Another week and my legs should feel stronger. For now, I shall ride short routes.

Doodle from a work file.
Besides, I am off to read my book. It’s Montserrat’s Cruel Sea. The language is fascinating; naval terminology and 1940’s speech.
Comeback,
17°C, SW2, sunny dry.
Tracked fixed with MapMyRide+! Distance: 13.82mi, time: 55:43, pace: 4:02min/mi, speed: 14.89mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/747252003
Slow ride to recover, it’s been two weeks since I last rode home from work. Not fully restored, but if I ease back in…

Black facias
18°C NW2, crystal clear blue.
Bike ride,tracked with MapMyRide! Distance: 54.64mi, time: 03:25:38, pace: 3:46min/mi, speed: 15.94mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/722467783
Conscious of cadence, I rode in a lower gear and spun quickly with low pressure. Often, I see novice riders who are pushing too low a gear. I feel like telling them “change down and you’ll go faster”.
Such a beautiful day for a ride, the warm sunlight offset slightly cool air, visibility was vast and shadows crisp.
late start after working on the house until 2pm. The facias were all flakey with bare wood or yellow gloss visible. It looked terrible and troubled me like a stone in my shoe. It doesn’t sound much but I feel most satisfied. One part was quite inaccessible even with a long ladder. I finished by reaching out of the window. That was blind painting. I ran down to the garden to look after each bit. Most of it was done by touch, already wet sections feel more slippery under brush. There is only one small area that is out of reach.
That was quite a big job that started with something minor. In the living room, a strand of ivy has reached into the room and was growing up the wallpaper.
Done.
Happy now.
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Scrumping ride.
18°C no wind, grey sky.
Distance: 18.27mi, time: 01:10:46, pace: 3:52min/mi, speed: 15.49mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/718843607
This app is becoming very unreliable. This morning, it took 9 minutes to load, including many re-starts and a phone re-boot. This afternoon was no better.
Cycling jerseys usually have three pockets in the back. Today, I discovered that they are ideal if you have picked apples. These apples are from a tree that I pass every day coming home. It’s an old tree covered in lichen, surely a sign that the tree is clean of sprays.
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New term, ride 1.
18°C, E3. Sunny.
Tracked with MapMyRide! Distance: 24.99mi, time: 01:31:54, pace: 3:41min/mi, speed: 16.31mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/715974499
Back to work, first ride home in this new term. Sitting all day in work does not help my tendon recover. This last two weeks has seen considerable improvement. It’s still stiff, but I can bear my weight easily. Couldn’t do that last term. I must get up and about more at work, even with long periods of admin. The swelling has mostly gone down, so both pretty much match.
Some splits were good today, but traffic spoilt others.
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26 mile refresher
Sat. 17C, grey, WNW4, dry.
Warm-up ride for tomorrow, an hour & a half ride through routes not used by me for years.
Looked at Specialized and Giant bikes. They both do cross machines that are commute-adaptable. The Giant does not look great, perhaps unnecessarily heavy too. The Specialized may be a difficult fit for a rack.
Both makes used a mountain bike wheel-set, 29er wheels are The same size as road bikes.
So they’re standard sizes, that opens the possibility to buying a second set of wheels, one for summer…
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