Category Archives: Cycling

full up

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25°C; !; no wind. Perfect conditions.
Summer is moving into it’s last phase, the colours are fading, straw is everywhere and most of the grain harvest it is in. That means no more arriving home with a deep-chest cough from the clouds of brown dust whippped up by combine-harvesters. The downside of that is that the tractors are being released for hedge-trimming- the cause of 4 punctures already this week. I’m not complaining though, it is quite rare these days toget that many flats.
Dead trees everywhere.
Where are the wasps? Most years I have clocked up a few stings by now.
I have clocked up 68 miles today, but got home unusually tired which I blame an inadequate meal yesterday for that. The last ten miles near home I could see purple spots, and I felt quite wobbly on arrival.
One spoke needs fixing.
More on the dead trees: Royal forestry Society
Tomorrow I go to Wales for a few days. There are reports of large schools of dolphins inshore so I wil pack a pair of binoculars. The dogs like the beach as much as we do.

Snakebite

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Had a snakebite puncture today. It happens when the tyre hits something that pinches the innertube against the wheel-rim. Characterised by 2 holes that are lined up and are slightly elongated in shape. Whatever it was I hit it shot sideways into a hedge, possibly a stone or whatever. So there was puncture number 4 ( of the week). Is this interesting?… er… thought not.
Try this instead:

3 punctures!

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It’s hawthorn trimming season. Farmers drive up local lanes with hedge-mowers cutting back rapidly growing hedgerows. It scatters shredded plant debris over the road-surface, some of which poke tiny little holes in bicycle tyres. Us cyclists can only carry so many spare innertubes and patches, so that after a point we have to put back in a tube that is known to be deflating the slowest, then ride the shortest route home blowing up the tyre each time it gets too soft.
fortunatley, it’s a nice day, warm, no wind and so on…
Results
Thursday is A-level results day. Time for an annual arguement that they are getting easier, or is it the teaching is getting better. I will keep an eye open for anyone saying that it’s both- easier+ better teaching. Here is a pre-amble BBC.

Sparrowchick

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72.4 miles in wind, sun & cloud. Only 20°C.
 
Coming home, passed a sparrow standing in the middle of the road. A car passed over it without causing injury but I couldn’t leave it there waiting to get crushed. Quickly turned round just as a car was approaching and another turning in a side road. I pointed to the lilttle bird and the driver stopped as she seemed to understand. The bird ran under the car when I reached out to pick it up, then it ran out the other side onto the grass verge twittering as it went. What was it thinking , perhaps it was injured & couldn’t take off.
 

Grain harvesting

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Dry (apart from few heavy showers) 21°C, light

 
The Grain harvests are well underway which can be a problem when cycling because the dust makes you cough badly for the rest of the day. It makes it sore to open your lungs fully so the last few years I have taken wide detours to avoid combine harvesters if they cause dust to drift across my path. Oh yeah, nearly forgot- it was 33.4 miles.
 
New monitor arrives tomorrow.
Family came back from Canada today, they are thoroughly disorientated by the time zones thing. the plane was four hours late so I hung around Manchester airport with little to do apart from sketch. Don’t think I was spotted though, sometimes it appears to make folks feel uncomfortable. Discretion my lad…
 
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F’nurps!

Ashbourne

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68 miles, N tailwind to return.

What a difference a tailwind makes, more appreciated when returning- a little tired  but feeling fresh still. Ashbourne is full of very noisy motor-bikes, how do they get away with that?

The new belt for the record player is a bit tight. It’s supposed to be 21½” long, this one is nearly 1¾” shorter.  The guy who sold it seems to think it’s OK like that- but it pulls the suspension over to one side. I can’t imagine how they think different tension, different thickness and springiness is acceptable. I’m going to order a genuine Linn belt as soon as possible. Besides, since the motor has less torque than it used to I will go for a service at a dealer- there is one in Aldridge. The worry is that they may suggest a new motor which is over £80 + labour.

Difficulty

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dull, 21°C; light NW winds

Cycled 62.4 miles

With some difficulty. there is a pulled muscle in my neck which bears the load of my head. I felt it over every bump and couldn’t turn my head more than 60°. That was the difficulty.
Rode along-side a gold coloured dragonfly.
I did think about my next picture, I can see it now ( etc etc..). I did want for a sketchbook when I was at a cafe, but drew it out at home anyway. No painting today.
Thinking of distant friends.

feels like Sunday

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17°C, thick clouds all over the sky.

Sixty-one miles

 
as Morrissey said " Every day is like Sunday" . Relevant because I went cycling today ( instead of yesterday), it didn’t rain today. Not much to say for collecting anecdotes, I do have that feeling that it doesn’t matter how much I eat- I’m still hungry. As I write, I eat a bowl of cerial, that’s to top up after dinner and pudding.
The cycling was easy, made a decent pace, and felt little sign of tiredness even in the last tens of miles ( of sixty).
 
Unbroken clouds today, whichis quite a change from the summer’s weather, the air is milky but distant landscapes are dark. Curious because they have been light recently, nearly as light as the low sky. No point worrying about it now. Actually, I am thinking about that next painting, it had beter be good after all that time considering before I even begin! Every so often, he gets the Peter Howson book, this may be a break from Burnt umber.
 
Today is remarkable: no coincidences, no anecdotes and nothing ironic happened. In fact (who is the guy) who said that nothing is ironic in Alanis Morrissette’s song "Ironic", the only ironic thing about it is that it contains no irony, just co-incidences. he may be right.
 

Skeletal Elms

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29°C, lots of- , windless. SPF 20.
 

83.4 miles in the saddle.

 
A short log today, but a long ride filled it up.
Usual stops, but different routes, including getting lost in Coalville.
Many roads were lined with the dead skeletons of Elm trees. That disease has swept right through this area.
 

On painting:

Finally it’s decided- the pavement picture is finished, it can dry in peace now.
 

On Games

Part 3; new game under development. PT Boats. From a similar stable to Il-2 Sturmovic, which is a good pedigree.

Dragonflies

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28°C; ; no coudcover, light NE winds. Sunblock factor 20.

60.0 miles

 
 
Too hot to ride much faster, so I went to the cafe with the free sunblock. Spent longer rubbing it in and it felt less slimey than previously. That sounds sleazy, but doing vigorous exercise on a very hot day can make the cream float on perspiration, it’s a real hazard if it runs down your forehead into your eyes.
 
Dragonflies are out! Mainly black and indogo coloured ones.
 
Birmingham had a false alarm last night. Some interesting stories came out though, apparently people were stealing cars to get home in, I assume public transport was not running then.
 
Excellent article in yesterday’s The Times with observations on behaviour as a result of last week’s bombings in london. It seems that many are gleefuly claiming some connections with events, " my brother’s mate was in the next train" kind of thing. Many pages have been written about the role of some notorious religions, conversely, Muslin victims get a lot of airtime- a kind of modern propaganda almost. The word "evil" comes up a few times which is very interesting. Good/evil is a philosophy much loved by the religious. You may know of my discomfort with the very concept, there is no good verses evil in the world, there never has been. there is instead only people. I will go into this more some other time.
 
Another article covers the history of suicide attacks. It describes the first at some point in the mid 1990s. This startled me, especially after recently reading a book on naval warfare in 1945 in the pacific. How odd, it’s inspired by a TV documentory so perhaps I should find out when it’s on.
I don’t have the paper here.
 
My camera probably needs a clean that smudge is still there, I bet it’s a hair.