Category Archives: Cycling

Cabled

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16°C, showers.

vinetrumpetAnother one that I can’t name. It’s a climber with coiled up tendrils that hold onto other plants. The flowers are striking, though only about 1/2 inch long, shaped like little pitcher plants.

Gears’ index: I removed the cables and cleaned out every little connector, end stop and so on. It feels smooth now and the gear changes work properly. Caution though, they’ve been perfect while changing gears in the shed in the past. But on a longer ride, difficulty develops. Frustrating and mystifying in equal measure.

still no indexing

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20C, Sun.

Carpet cleaning machine: Rug-doctor is surprisingly effective. It’s noisy and can’t get into the pokiest corners of my attic but it does turn the soapy water into the appearance of old cold coffee. Strangely satisfying, in a domestic way.

Campag-8 gears still don’t index, even after replacing the cassette today. I’m just as puzzled and annoyed by this problem as the last time I posted about this. I really don’t want to upgrade the drivetrain to 10-speed or worse to get a slick gear-change. Those systems are fiddly, difficult to tune and unnecessary.  There is really no need for more than 8 gears (x2) on my bike. I’m not just saying that just because I’m a single-speed bike rider.

What is the solution to this?

Indexing

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18C, Sun+ 1 shower, Sth wind, RA:60 miles

Summer bike: I used to regard this as my ‘best’ bike, it’s more difficult now while the gears persist in playing up. They still don’t index properly across the middle of the 8 cogs. It’s the middle three that give all the trouble, changing gear is fine at first, but after a few hundred yards the chain jumps onto the smaller cog. There could be a number of reasons for this:

  • Worn cogs
  • dropout alignment
  • snagging inside the (new) cables
  • dragging cable sheath underneath the handlebar tape

I remain baffled and slightly irritated by this. It’s going to take yet more time & money to fix. Oh well, next weekend I’ll ride the fixed-wheel.

electrical skies

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21°C, close & warm, storms brewing.

Nearly two months of dry, now the lightening.
It has been a bad day for amphibians. He was only crossing to get to a stream, I tried to help. On the ride to work, he was flopping in the other lane. I grasped the brakes and put the bike down, turned and waited for the traffic to clear. the first few straddled him, then I looked left to check it was clear & looked back. Now he was lying on his back, all limp & lifeless. Damn, bad start to the day. I grieved quietly for him all day. I really wanted to save him.

Large globe raindrops now tap on glass and crackle in growing puddles. I shall go and listen.

Alternative Voting system has been rejected by voters tonight. Why, was it too complex? Did so few do the maths? I’ve waited 20 years to see some semblance of democracy appear in British politics: it seems that this nation will get the politicians it deserves. Don’t forget that Britain’s favourite newspaper is the Daily Mail.

cooling 49 miles

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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.

Riding in the o-zone

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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.

Geraniacae

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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.

First thousand

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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.

Fix the Fixed

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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.

Driest March, then this.

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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.