16°C, confused winds, CK:49 miles
Longer ride today on the Fixed, but less energy from me. Rode for 3 hours with slightly too-thin layers on. the effect is to drain away warmth that takes hours to replenish after getting home. I’m still a little chilly now. The, admittedly light, wind blew from the west today. But looking up at clouds that moved in another direction- is that what wind-shear is?
Have I really have got another 2 days off.
c24°C, clear but anvil clouds building. CK: 40miles
Met office have issued warning of smog over the weekend. they say that the still air and bright sunshine cause gasses in fumes to react and produce ozone. It’s a problem for asthmatics and kids, this is quite interesting. It’s interesting for me on days like this where I have been out on the bike. Sometimes, when I get home I have a little cough, a strange one that feels achey in my lungs. Could this be a hint of the “tightness” that asthmatics complain of?
Riding on the 16t: as the ride wore on, it started to feel right. There were a few difficult hills but I could touch 30mph on the descents so it’s all about compromise. Overall, the average speed should be up on the 17t cog. I bet that winter rides will need that 17t again though, the difficulty is spinning out on fast descents. I never can keep the speed up in the cold weather anyway.
18°C, clear. Ck.53 miles
It’s not easy deciding which gear to put on the single-speed bike. In this hilly terrain, it’s useful to have a higher gear to make use of the descents and their higher speed. If it’s too high you can’t get up the climbs though, too low and your pegs# spin uncontrollably. On balance, I am going to revert to the 42×16 that the bike came with when I bought it last new-year.
#”Pegs” is a typo for legs, I decided to keep that one.
22°C, clear & still
I usually hope to get 1,000 miles ridden by Easter. This year I am surprised ot see how much over that figure I have accumulated. 1,455 miles since new year: 400 on the Kona fixed-gear, 75 on the race bike and the rest on the Arrow commuter. I know the holiday is as late as it can be this year, but still- not too bad eh? Rode to work yesterday pm the Fixed for the comparison, the time was within a minute of the usual. The bike felt lighter on the climbs, but limited on the descents. If ridden over 25mph, your legs spin in an uncontrollable blur; that knocks back the average some.
Grand-national, a horse race where they race around Aintree and one horse+rider wins while some of the others die or have to be destroyed because of their injuries. Today, two horses died in falls (broken necks), only about 2/3 finished. not impressed.
20°C, westerly but amazingly warm.
-Have cut the steerer-tube of the fixed gear bike. It looks all in-proportion now. Shall I ride it to work tomorrow? I just can’t decide yet. See what I think in the morning. End of term is nigh. The relief, the thought of camping, mountains, walking. The ground is alive and my pond will be done soon.
11°C, sunny but now- showers
All togged up, bike fixed and ready. Look outside- heavy shower- I can’t see the other end of it upwind. How long is the wait? All this after the driest March in 50 years.
Append: got 45 miles done. That was sandwiched between heavy showers & I escaped without needing a bike-cape on. oddnote: riding along by Fornby, a car full of blokes pass. One leans oout and shots “fixed-gear bike!”. A little startled, I was. A car passes and is moved by their interest in my gears.
Those bikes are rather fashionable amongst the grownup skateboard/bmx kids.
A good day.
13C, light SSW, some sun breaks through
Very good ride, I haven’t lost it after al those 50 milers- today’s 75 was comfortable enough. The new saddle is forgettable- that’s a good thing from a seat. My face is all warm, did the sun do this I exclaim?
Yesterday’s worry about the gears service were mostly dismissible. They still skip in the middle gears sometimes when under load but it feels like an indexing problem rather than worn cogs. It’s always a thrill to get out on that bike on the first spring ride, it just wizzed along with me grinning above.
Oh, and I think you should know- I had bread & butter pudding with custard in the cafe. A good day.
+7C, clear and falling. After a rainy start, sun & cool westerly.
Took the fixed-wheel bike up in the Lancashire hills near Chorley. I had to do something I never do- I got off and pushed. Changing down was, of course, not an option on that bike. the ride worked out well though, on the shorter climbs it was a good bike to be on. the road surfaces are bad there, more than can be blamed on the harsh winter I’d say.
-1 to +9°C, no clouds. 20 mi commute.
That new saddle is good, probably the most comfortable I have yet had. I tend to do my longest rides on the summer racing bike, so it will probably end up swapped with the other Bontrager saddle on there.
It’s wide and quite flat on top apart from a dip in the middle which is supposed to improve the blood circulation in your gentleman-vegetables.
Sun rose at 06.35 this morning, it came up a peculiar egg shape, but clearly felt better after gaining some height. the frost was hard, but did it feel less cold after some time with milder weather- I don’t know.
the old saddle reveals how it slices through clothes- this plastic edge is both sharp and ragged:
3~7C Sun. 49 miles in West Lancs.
It was like cgi, the other night. Bessie, the old dog, was lying asleep uncovered. She wakes shivering some mornings so I pulled out the fleecy blanket that I nicked form an airline. Maybe it was the acrylic, maybe her own dog-fur, but it all light up. A momentary pure white but faint glow light her up.
Micycle 