13°C, light breeze & sunny. Warm!
Surprisingly warm for the start of December. Anyway, changing that screw-on cog was easier than I expected. Now the chain is rolling smoothly, unlike yesterday. It was so bad, I thought the chainring would need a change too. Not necessary.
Kona Paddy Wagon, 14C, no rain but muddy, light SSE wind.
It has a new chain but it doesn’t ride well over the teeth. Under load, each tooth clicks. I should have changed the rear cog (and I expect the chainring has gone also). Last time this happened, I couldn’t get the cog off with the chain-whip. Fixie cogs screw on, but as you ride them, the thread tightens. By tyhe time the teeth are worm out, the cog is too tight to remove. The bike shop had to practicaly break the cog off in a vice, it was that bad.
Furthermore, the rear tyre has a slow puncture that didn’t bubble in the bucket so I replaced the valve. Yet, it still slowly deflates.
November has been an odd month, it started and ended warm with an icy week 3. That makes acclimatising difficult.
9°C, still with some sunshine, later – must turning into fog
Mustang: We’ve had a dry & warm November so far. It’s changing now and fog marks the change. As I’m on the mustang with Schwalbe CX30 tyres. I took a route off road in parts. Near Burscough, I turned down a tow paths through the worst of the fog. Mist turned to fog very quickly but there was no mention on the weather sites (BBC & Metoffice). The last 5 miles was rather stressful with the visibility. It’s not my view but that of any following vehicles that’s a concern.
The Arrow bike is in a bit of a state. I stopped riding it when the bottom bracket stripped the threads in the frame. Today, I pulled it out to clean it up. The chain is worn and the frame looks tatty, there are spots of rust in the paint. Should I scrap it?
12°C, no wind or rain or sun.
Tendonitis: it’s flared up again but is currently waning. So the idea was to do a 2 hour ride on the flat while there’s no wind. On turning north from Rufford, a group of cyclists tagged on. Then one took the lead to up the pace. I held on without too much difficulty.
They were quite complimentary about.my keeping pace. They were on nice modern Ridley carbon bikes and me a 14 year old steel single-speed. I don’t suppose they realise that a single speed is more efficient when the cadence, gearing and incline are ideal.
The above data is wrong because the app paused after the cafe stop. The total distance should be 52km.
We’re having a very mild autumn. 12-16°C has been typical this last few weeks. Last week was half term and for a few days, I was in shorts. Now in November and still riding the summer bike.
#weirdweather.
Tendonitis has left the left Achilles tendon and relocated to the right one. Hence, all these recent rides being short (20 to 35 miles).
21°C, light SE, sunny & dry
Same route as last week and the bridge is still shut. There’s nothing visibly wrong but cracks can be tiny (if that’s the cause).
It looks like the bridge will be closed until the end of the year.
16°C, light onshore & light clouds.
There’s no squeezing past those fences. There’s no visible reason why it’s closed though. I took a detour north & under the bridge and from underneath, no visible reason.
17°C with a brisk Westerly. A few short but heavy showers raced through.
That was good, not the most impressive average speed but it felt good . There was only the faintest stiffness from the Achilles Tendonitis which is a gratifying improvement.
18°C, moderate Westerly and sunny later.
That felt good, I could have ridden more but home needs were pressing. Fine tuning the position has helped greatly, the bars are turned up a bit and the stem is shorter and higher. He aim was to ride up Bannister Lane, he nearest decent climb round here. My old fashioned, narrow gears means it’s all out of the saddle. After the summit, I usually feel refreshed.
17°C, grey and light S breeze.
The Chase was quiet and dry. I took a stop on the way home for a refresher. Last time I came.uo here, I wrecked the rear mech by the burnt out car: it’s not there any more! It must have stood there for over a decade in the firing range. Now there is only a sooty mark.
Micycle 