Sars-Cov2

Posted on by
Reply

I caught it.

Covid-19, a corona virus – it’s bigger than you’d think.

Two weeks of mild, almost asymptomatic illness in the coldest leadup bro Christmas. For me, it’s not much worse than a heavy cold with a sore cough at the top of my chest. That bit only lasted about 3 days. The general fatigue held on for longer. Some days, were clear, like Christmas day.

12th December, I went back to bed feeling rather sleepy. The next day, a Sunday, I skipped a bike ride feeling rather empty.

14th December, phoned in sick at work and then later – booked a Covid test. I still felt okay, a slight cough when going upstairs and no fever or temperature. The thermometer went no higher than 36.4°C. To get a test, I lied on the form and put New continuous cough. It’s a good job I did because the result came back Positive the next day.

I booked the test for a time only in the next hour and drove into town to park. The test centre is a walk-in to I had to trot half a mile to get there. Even that felt okay. If I was seriously ill, that would have left me faint and gasping. Generally, I was in an elevated mood because I know how serious Covid can be and I was getting off lightly – I have dodged a bullet.

12th December: the test result finally came back at 17.30. Positive and I must Self Isolate for 10 days from the day after symptoms started. The next few days are a blur

21st December: book another test. The result from this one shocked me – positive! What do I do now?
The result returns as a text on my phone telling me to self isolate for 10 days from the day after 1st symptoms arise. Well, that means I can go out tomorrow, er..doesn’t it? To clarify, I rang the number provided and they were quite clear, I don’t nbeed to add another 10 days (which would have run ’till 4th January.

In response, I ventured out on the bike but was quite exhausted for a few days after.

Grey, gloomy November.

Posted on by
Reply

9°C, mist and drizzle higher up. Still.

High Moor.

It felt cold in he damp air today. Nominally, 9°C should be comfortable but not so today. Higher up, near High Moor there was light rain too. I need to fit another water bottle, I was so dehydrated by the time I got home.

Now the speedometer is playing up again. The speed often read double what it should be and he distance was about 30% below. I will have to replace it. This time, it will not be wireless.

1 day warmup

Posted on by
Reply

9°C, brisk W

Short route

4 days without a ride and feeling frustrated and fidgety. A short blast is such a good way to clear that feeling.

I’ve had an annoying time with repairs not working out well:

  • Fit new chain but it skips on the old cassette – so changed it.
  • Spare cassette also skips so must be worn out too.It’s been in storage for years.
  • Decided to pull out the commuting/gravel bike and it has a puncture.
  • Eventually went out on the commuter with its gravel wheels.
  • 2 cassettes and 1 chain binned. Replacements ordered.

The problem is keeping track of how old componants are on bikes when you have 6. It was easier when I only had 2 or 3 bikes. Now it seems like a cluster of repears have come together.

Yesterday’s warmup worked

Two rides

Posted on by
Reply

15°C, sunny with a brisk SW.

Sunday’s ride on mixed terrain

Sunday: pulled the bike out and found the front tyre flat. I decided to swap to the gravel wheels and take in some non-road routes. Though the distance is no big deal, the time reveals a decent day out.

Tuesday: fixed the puncture and put the road wheels back in. The fault was a punch puncture. I did find fitting the tyres rather difficult.

Friday the 13th

Posted on by
Reply

Damp but some sun. Light SW wind, 11°C.

November is normally the wettest month here, this year is no different. There is lots of surface water around and nowhere for it to drain in this flat landscape. I rode the Mustang with its Marathon tyres. Before setting off, I bloew the pressures up and that makes more difference to handling than with any other tyre. The last ride felt like the brakes were on. I have mixed feelings about those tyres.

Fixie return.

Posted on by
Reply

12°C, light breeze, dry but dull

It’s easy to forget how much fun this bike is, especially when not ridden for 6 months I’ve put the winter wheels back on with at 17t cog. The rims are showing signs of wear but remember – next new year is the bike’s 10th anniversary.

I’ll pack away the Zing for the winter with do tube covers etcetera. The Paddy has been off the road since putting a new chain on which was too narrow for the cog. The orange wheels cog works fine. The mistake must be mine, so in future, I’ll stick with wide chains

DofE 10, Atherstone.

Posted on by
Reply

Chilly at night 7°C to about 12 in the days. Mostly dry.

Day 1: The second group were cobbled together after spells on sepf-lockdown. There is a lot of this going on during this phase of the pandemic. Both groups have the same route but it was too short. Their route card had errors on some legs that were way out. So the kids were very early to checkpoints all day. The funny thing was the location. The villages around here are familiar from all this bike rides from Lichfield where I used to live.

Day 2: a day of drama. One parent had, apparently dropped off her daughter then driven home. They turned out from the campsite drive and then crashed. It was a head-on. The driver had asked us to keep this even from his daughter so she could get on with the expedition without worrying.

I went out to lead them over a blind humpback bridge. Ambulances and police cars shot over the bridge while an air ambulance circled. I didn’t find out till later what actually happened.

It wasn’t untill the end of the job that I heard what happened with that crash. Spoiler alert – nothing.

DofE 9: E. Chilterns

Posted on by
Reply

Chilly first night down to 7°C under a clear sky. light N breeze

Day 1: Camped on the banks of the River Thames before setting off for the meet-up point. I got there just in time to be issued with 2 groups of girls ready for a Practice/training Expedition.
There were a lot of changes made to groups so we set off last for the day’s walk.The day went well but for very different pace-setting between and within groups. Apart from this problem, they were a very likable bunch of characters. Some were steady and others fiercely competitive. We had an excellent rapport after getting on well right from the start. We had fun too, not just DofE but wordplay too. They tried to persuade me to do a Tiktok with them but ‘your phones should be packed away and off’. Another was ‘Cursive speech’. It’s the hollow sound your voice makes when you hold your tongue down and clench your jaw. Here’s me thinking it was scrolling handwriting.

The faster group were set places to wait for me and the 2nd group where we could consolidate routefinding methods. After we crossed the Thames, the fast group got even faster. From here, as we got nearer the camp, other groups’ routes converged. That meant the fast girls could see a group of lads which suddenly gave them a surge of more energy. Ironic that after they’d complained of tiredness not long before. Then they were out of sight.

After some coordination with other instructors, it turned out they were with another group having taken a wrong turn. Ironically – we had to wait for them, to the obvious glee of my slower group.

A long wait by a narrow rail crossing.

Day 2: Groups walk by themselves and I checkpoint them. The pattern re-emerged from day 1 where the fast group rushed ahead and made enough errors to reduce the gap. The second group steadily plodded on but got all their navigation right.

Packing up: Got some good feedback from the kids as well as the Exped leader via a parent. One of the girls was “buzzing over the day”, I think she actually surprised herself with how quickly she mastered map-reading and route finding.

That was a fabulous couple of days’ work. You can tell days like this because on the drive home, you think over the work on all levels with satisfaction. It makes up for the long drive.