15°C, milky sun, warm and dry. light S.
Grabbed a ride on the Australia#¹ route after a morning of home decorating. Today is like spring a month early. The pace is good. I don’t normally get this bike out so soon in the year.
#1, it looks a bit like Australia on the route map; sort of.
13°C, sunny with light breeze.
https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3392284945
I have a teacher’s cold (again). Since it’s an unseasonably warm sunny day, I rode the cross bike anyway. I soft-pedaled along the sea wall. The tide was high making the beach soggy. Cross tyres are too narrow to cope with we silty sand.
MapMyRide is not working properly again. It fails to share the image so here is a straight photo.
12°C brisk S breeze but brighter later.
That was a good day out. The route had plenty of variety, hills, flats and a good coffee stop. Later was a long slog on flat land exposed to the wind. My fitness is down on previous years to that last hour was wearing.
12°C, sunny with S breeze.
Soft mud of the season made this a smoother route than last time I passed this way. What an excellent day!
I saw Egrets, heard Oyster Catchers and many others I can’t identify. The glancing light made the land very photogenic. The only thing missing is the smell of spring is, as yet, missing.
11°C, sunny and Spring like.
Those eBay cranks have arrived. the BB bolts are missing but at least they are in excellent condition. There is barely a blemish on the polish anywhere.
Oh, I managed to get a ride in too. 32 miles in fine conditions.
10°C, SW wind and some soft drizzle
To close a rather satisfying# day with a blast on the bike. I rode the Arrow despite it being somewhat poorly. It has a slow puncture and a knackered chainset. Still, the ride went well. The replacement campag record chainset is due to arrive on friday.
#: The satisfaction comes from DIY. The chimney breast is plastered with base coat and I stopped when I ran out of Skim coat.
Windswept flats, a decent route with enough variety for a winter ride. This outing follows a long walk yesterday to clear my legs.
5°C, strong SW wind with showers.
This is what DofE leaders do in the off season.
We met up in Carrog to try out a route that is intended for the silver and gold groups at Easter.
The conditions were okay, if you’re dressed correctly. Luckily, the wind was on our backs during the most exposed sections. The only problem was navigating rural land where there were no signs. In one place, the bridal path passes through a private garden. There was no indication on the closed gate that there exists a right of way. The kids will be confused and probably become lost here.
8°C, dry with a light S.
https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/3368791732
Lots of energy but a mechanical problem spoilt things. The left crank worked loose after only 3 miles. I made it to a car dealer who helped out. My set of Allen keys omits the 7mm needed for the crank-bolt. A few times I had to take up the slack with a 6mm.
Although it was stressful worrying whether the crank would fall off, I had a fallback option. I rode as hard as I could to increase the distance between stops. That meant training effect. One stop was outside a house in Sollom where a guy was closing the gate. He said he had Allen keys so I gave the bolt a good go. Nice chap.
The next stage was okay but the front wheel picked up a thorn on the cycle track. These hedges get clipped but not swept. That one factor accounts for the large numbrr of punctures i get in Lancashire. Staffordshire doesn’t have anything like the amount of cycle tracks so fewer punctures.
Since getting home, I have tightened up the crank fully but it still wobbles, it’s damaged permanently. It’s old I suppose – 27 years.
Currently, I have placed a bid on eBay for an identical replacement.
8°C rain, sometimes heavy.
No link to MapMyRide, there is a fault which means that uploading tracks takes several days. I suspect a server fault.
There, the upload took two days despite the rain, I did belt along after days of frustration with no proper rides
Micycle 