Category Archives: Travel

Mio Cyclo 100

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I picked up the new bike today. Beforehand, I put in a short list of extras to include: pedals, mud-guards and a rack. I forgot about the bottle cage and cycle-computer. There is a spare cage in the shed, so use that. The computer doesn’t need to be anything grand, a really simple one would do.

The one I walked away with, or rode actually, is not basic.
This Mio is a Chinese import and seems reasonably good. A gps speedo needs no cable wheel magnet or fork transmitter. Sounds good then, the forks on the new bike are quite deep, so fitting may be tricky.
Fitting this device is tricky in its own way however.

Out of the box, the setup is not ideal. There are four screens to show ride details live. By default, the units are strange and illogical. It’s worth spending time setting the number of data fields to display in each window. There are dozens to choose from. Since the device tracks and records gps tracks, I can put this into my rucksack to record hikes. The battery promises to last 28 hours. Let’s see.

Raleigh Mustang, got it!

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17°C, band of rain cleared to sun.
At last, I have it. I’ve brought it up north to ride and make fine adjustments. The bars were too high and the front brake rubbed.​

Here it is today with mudguards and the rack. I’ve lowered the bars and the handling is good.
Looking over it, you could summarise it as a top-quality frame with room to upgrade components. Most conspicuously, the wheels are heavy and the chainset is rather basic. Delivered, it has 175mm cranks and even with mud-guards, there is room for longer cranks. Remember, I use 180mm cranks on the older bikes. SRAM do such a crank-set which includes an external bearing bottom bracket.
While in the shop, I picked up a speedo. They pulled out a gps cycle computer from the back. I have posted about it separately.

Crippling taxation.

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17°C, humid and rain
I’ve had that car a year now and the first tax renewal has arrived. £20 whole pounds! What am I going to do? There is, hidden in there, the option to pay £1.75 a month.

One year on, the car still seems like the best choice. The only problem is the occasional lack of power in some circumstances. While travelling by myself, low power does not matter. It’s when you carry passengers that you feel it. Overall, I get 68 miles per gallon. On some motorway runs, the gauge reaches 74mpg. The best ever was 86mpg.
This is why the car tax is so low.

Decent ride on the Racelite.

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I rode Racelite with MapMyRide+! Distance: 58.87km, time: 02:29:01, pace: 2:32min/km, speed: 23.70km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1721092376

Getting back into cycling. I always forget how long it takes to return to form. This time, the layoff includes weeks of hiking so it’s different exercise ratios than a real layoff.​

I may actually receive that new bike tomorrow, the Raleigh Mustang.It will come with a rack and mudguards. I have an old seat-pack but no speedo yet.

Crash sites.

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Up to now, I have found air crash sites while hiking. Remote mountainous areas are a threat to low flying military pilots. Our intended camp was confirmed when we found aircraft wreckage by a small lake. We all pitched together by some crags.
On Mull, a Dakota; Dark Peak, a Lancaster and the Carneddeau, a Camberra.

This picture was taken on the Dark Peak near Kinderscout. The plane was well scattered such that I only saw one engine and some pieces of fuselage. The engine was a radial, possibly a Hercules.

RAF Camberra , here is a turbine engine of the type common in early post war jets.​

This next shot shows what I think may be a tail pipe, also from an engine.​

ML training expedition.

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12°C, cloud from 50m, strong wind 40mph at 900m.​

Heavy pack was a drag on this climb. But to walk in a group, I was not left behind even though my bag was the heaviest (at 18kg).

We got to Foel Grach and I took the navigation from there to the next summit. 40mph wind and rain was quite a force away from the shelves of a wall. Paths are, however; easy to follow up there. Jenny navigated to the next summit which has a mountain rescue shelter that we recovered in for a while.
Descent to the lake also offered some respite, although the wind dropped, gusts were stronger.
Our intended camp was confirmed when we found aircraft wreckage by a small lake. We all pitched together by some crags.
I was glad to climb in and change into some dry clothes.
Night navigation: u that was hard. Wind, hill fog and bouts of rain made visibility poor at best. We had to figure where we are at any time from the slope of the land in a circle 20m around. Occasionally, you can use a arch as a landmark, or grass but that’s all. But, it is actually enough.
Two obstacles were tiredness and the visibility. If only there was a clear sky above.
I think I did okay.
Mike, the trainer thought so too. However, I have a few problems to solve:
Poor vision in rain,
Keeping warm,
Feeding in the night.