8°C, strong SW wind, gusts to 50mph. Sunshine too.
Floods are a feature on the landscape today. I left off the overshoes because the temperature was okay forgetting that it’s easy to get wet feet riding through a flood. As it turns out, that is what happened.
9°C, sunny with light NW.
Slow but steady ride since I’m still recovering from a heavy cold. Oh, well, the coffee was good
Training, 1 day, Gold. They’re planning Practice and Qualifying on the slopes of Snowdon.
The is was a nice job. The kids, the school staff were great. These Gold Award students were obviously high fliers.
The biggest chunk of the day was mapping and route cards. Their routes are in familiar parts of Snowdonia, well trodden by me and Rosie over the years. The only negative was the enormous drive for one day’s work.. For this reason I’m not doing this run again.
A daunting long drive is the result of some poor planning by me. And it’s only 1 day’s work. Is it worth it? In all, 240 miles including a stop off to visit mum. I have negotiated a stay in a local scout camp which should be good.
D1: that was straightforward, we got through the material in good time and the kids did a thorough job. The route cards were done in an Excel spreadsheet which had a few good functions. It would work out journey times from other values the groups inputted. An oddity was that it had no cell protection. Overall, it was a good system that combines traditional methods with a spreadsheet. Functions were not as thorough as eDofE’s but it lacked the infuriating bugs
+6°~-3°C, calm hi high-pressure sets in.
Same start as last year with similar weather, cold dry and frost predicted. I’ve been give permission to camp in he school grounds which solves two problems: the campsite is 7 miles away and is likely – waterlogged.
d1: been here before, and familiarity brings some ease. We have toe groups to take through a classroom based training booklet. The kids are delightful and eager. One of the girls is the younger sister of one from last year, she even texted to check, and Flo’ said I was the best one. Wooo! This group declared themselves “massive Miranda fans”. That meant catchphrases from the show sometimes, bare with, bare with!
Overnight, I planned to camp but given the chance to bed down in some kind of annex, I took it. With some time to kill, I did another page in the A5 sketchbook.
Day two, a Sunday. More classroom training but with added trips outside. I showed them how to put up a tent and finished the syllabus.
The centre manager wants instructors to have the same groups on practice in march. I’m only on the reserve lists so sadly…..
Latest: I’m on! I’ve been moved off reserve and will now work with both groups in march.
5-8°C, sunny and calm.
Fresh, mild warm air the at doesn’t smell of spring yet. It’s still dark early but uncharacteristically mild. Storms are approaching.
Does this route look rude to you? No? Okay, it’s just me then.
10°C, sunny out but bands of drizzle in the afternoon, light S wind.
In the morning, feeling lively, I took on some hills – Dalton and Bannister. The Arrow is great for long steady miles. The steel frame soaks up the bumps along with 28C tyres set to 70psi. That was a nice ride, not even the rain made it cold.
The frame needs some attention. There are some rusty pits hidden beneath one of the tubes.
10°C, sun, light breeze and dry.
The photo was taken near an underground bunker by Elford. Such a strange structure which now has a visitor’s book. Not an official one, but an old sketchbook with a few mindless comments and badly drawn porn.
A slow and steady ride which passed Twycross Zoo. This time of year, their hedges are bare so you can see in. I looked in and two giraffes looked out.
Just like old times when I lived here, the miles effortlessly rolled by on he near empty roads. My mind wandered all over and the effort to ride got lighter and lighter. This bike used to by my steady winter ride (and commuter) but now I have others.
One thing I always like about these silhouette shots is the halo around my head. It’s something in the way leaves reflect light back along their path. I don’t mind the shallow ego boost nonetheless.
8°C, grey start turning to rain.
Weather change: we’ve gone from cold and clear to mild and damp. My house hasn’t kept up. The windows were steamed up this morning, remarkably – on the outside! The house must be colder than the air.
The flooding is remarkable, saturated soil and large ponds in any dip a field may have. I put the CX wheels back on the gravel bike. I’m so glad I did that with today’s conditions.
6°C, light SW, dry but flooding everywhere.
I’m impressed with this new light. It offers up to 600 Lumin for only £30. For my needs, the spread of light is a little more than ideal. I want a second light to have plenty of reach. The other lamp illuminates potholes and the road kerb
Micycle 