Category Archives: Cycling

Tipulidae

Posted on by
Reply
19°C, Ç=67miles, clear

I have a theory, and it’s all about crane flys. It occured to me this morning on a dogwalk. Walking through the grass clouds of those oddly lanky harmless souls would take flight. The big question has been "why" and "what the…"? Now I can settle in the conformtable knowledge that there may be an explanation.

My theory is this: It’s their mating season and they do it in grassy/pasture fields. To get the best chance of finding a mate they need to be seen which they do by standing above the blades of grass, holding on with their long long legs. they cancatch several plants’ tops and hold themselves higher. The game is that to stand the best chance of getting a mate, climb higher than the others. I bet these creatures only live as comedy flying insects for a few days after living as some kind of larvae first.

Why have i set this post under the "cycling" category? This is the kind of thing I like to think about as I cycle along.

Giraffes love malteasers

Posted on by
Reply
25°C, foggy start, after- cloudless and hot. Ç=73.3 miles

What a splendid day, September is good at this- crisp, warm, low humidity and another noticable change in the landscape. All the harvests are in, but there is green growing amongst the stubble. England at its best.
I was joined in a cafe by a retired couple from Armitage who were fine company. The whole thing felt natural, even when they told me about Giraffes taking malteasers. The cycing was easy- such that I got home feeling that there was at least another 15 miles or more in my legs.

Blast

Posted on by
Reply
22°C, sun & strong winds, Cy.66 miles

Æsthetically, an interesting day. Ragged clouds racing from the sothwest driving bulkier cumulous with those intricate crinkly edges, and the hedgerows. The hedgerow’s colours are different at this end of summer, deep velvety reds/blues and violets in berries hidden by darkening foliage. Wind exposes them though. We discussed the merits of helmets, only considered because of the number of mossy branches that shatter onto the road in a shower of splinters as you ride along. A slight hazard mixed in with acorns rolling downwind or downhill.

Sparrows & finches

Posted on by
Reply
18°C, high cloud; Ç=42miles

Puzzling behaviour, when disturbed flocks of finches fly along in front of a scarey cyclist- in the same direction. We travelled at least 200 yds with about a dozen little birds just in front and to my sides. Odd- why not just fly across and behind?  On further thought, parhaps they have a good reason to do it this way. They presumably have to keep to field boundaries, their best protection would be in hedgrows and avoid the open middle of fields where they’d been seen easily by a high-up predator. I saw a few hawks today (namely a Kestrel and another I couldn’t identify). Anyway, that means that I, being that cyclist would be travelling along parallel to the hedges would follow along their favoured routes of safe escape. So there we were, terrified birds and charmed me.
Maybe they weren’t scared off, maybe they were just embarassed about getting caught bathing in a puddle.

Following with trust & optimism

Posted on by
Reply
20°C, turned out nice, strong W

Riding home today on a fast A road that sweeps in curves roughly in parallel to the Trent river. About 100yds I spotted a bird running across the road, a juvenile pheasant, large & lanky but still with stubby wings. I heaved a sigh of releif as it made it to my side, then I could see just as a car cleared that another was following. This one was struck squarely but a large 4×4, with a crunch itbecame a tumbling rag or diminishing life, only the legs left with any movement after the vehicle passed at over 50mph. That bird had followed it (sibling?) with trust and it’s whole life before it.
 
That’s the bit that disturbs me, the bludgeoning of noble qualities. It’s death was quick and probably painless as it looked like concussion from the way it rebounded under the vehicle. I felt just as bad after watching The Trawlermen on TV, tragic for those fish.
 
I always get rather perturbed when animals get killed on the road, but I have to confess here, it’s not that much worse when I see people killed
 
Otherwise a rather good day.
…It doesn’t matter

Gibbons

Posted on by
Reply
27°C, cloud & sun

Twycross: cycled past from the west, the sound of the primates could be heard from near to Orton-on-the-hill, which must be nearly two miles away. There were chimps, howler monkeys as well as other sounds that I didn’t recognise. The sound was less obvious near the zoo so I turned around to go back for another listen. That kept me fascinated for quite a while, enough to vow to make a proper visit there next week. From over the hedge it was clear that there were few people there;  dissappointingly I could see no Elephants either.

get rolling

Posted on by
Reply
20°C, clearing

Hit the road: why such a slow start today? Get-up-&-go stayed in bed today – though I didn’t. Quite why eludes me right now.
One of the Ladies has peed on the kitchen floor.
Oh well, the bike is ready out there.
…later..54 miles done with ease. Funny how the outbreak of some sunshine can change everything.

Blazing Sunday

Posted on by
Reply
32°C, hot sun, low humidity

Sunday run: Leave for cycling early before it gets too hot. It was only in the last 20 miles or so of seventy that the heat became noticable.
 
Beethoven: I’ve discovered Beethoven as of yesterday. At the Cathederal was a performance by the BBC philharmonic of Mozart ( non-plussed as usual), Beethoven with some stunning violin solos, and lastly Prokoviev (who made a great entry only to get quickly boring).
 
Linseed: just quickly added another more opaque layer to the shoulder, titanium white covers much better than the zinc does. Notice all the colour banding has gone, the blends are much more integrated now. Colour balance is all wrong on this photo, but it doesn’t really matter until the final shot is uploaded.

Bus shelter

Posted on by
Reply
Thursday:24°C, thunderous storms

Electrical storm: It doesn’t take long for a big punchy storm to build up. Today’s ones are quite slow moving, slow enough to allow the rain to turn roads into rivers. I hid in a bus-shelter to avoid the lightning strikes- which never came in the end. The bus-stop was across the road from the one I hid in last year to avoid a morning storm.
 
the photos below was part of a series where it was clear how they billow up. When scrolling through the folder of photos the movement is clear- perhaps a project for the weekend.
 

July, the thrips

Posted on by
Reply
30°C, humid

70.3 miles in the heat. Some places must have been at 40°C, especially near fields of straw. I have that cough referred to in a post a few weeks ago. It’s said to be caused by an ozone haze, but I bet there is straw dust involved too.
Thrips must lead an interesting life, as adults they look like little bits of rubber left after using a pencil rubber. There must be vast numbers of them, they form clouds under trees, and stick to jerseys and car radiators in large numbers. I’m nearly puzzled by them as much as I am by Crane Flys.