7°C, quiet and cool.
A fine November day, surface water everywhere after recent downpours. I felt the magic on this ride – so that’s why I bought this bike. The poor machine got caked in mud especially after plunging into a deep rut. It then looked like gravy.
What a satisfying day, the distance is not great but it took 3 ½ hours.
14°C, bright start but rain later, becoming heavy.
This poor neglected bike needs a service. Most specifically, the gear and brake cables are a bit sticky. It’s still good fun to ride but it’s half-term now. What a dreary day too. After the photo, the rain arrived and turned quite heavy towards the end
12°C, bright and dry. Light wind.
The sea defences are made of muddy clay. Today the surface is firm gum and deeply rutted by cattle hooves. That’s quite a difficult surface for a ‘cross bike even with 38mm tyres. I had to walk some sections. If you have front suspension, you wouldn’t have any trouble with this surface.
16°C, bright sun and dry
Not a long ride but I’ve clocked up well over 100 miles in the last few days. The trips to work have been quick except the return home yesterday. My legs were just empty and it was a drag to get back. Perhaps my diet was not optimal the day before.
Anyway, I decided to ride the ‘cross on my day off. It’s always refreshing and doesn’t demand much stamina.
12°C, light rain, N.
What is that thing? I features in the background of some of my beach shots. From a distance, especially in poor conditions, it can look sinister.
This rain is an escape from the severe storms south:
This picture is from much later, so glad I got out in time. Those heavy.rains have caused havoc in the south. Think of the DofE groups out in that
19°C, milky sin, warm dry with medium E breeze.
Gravel Roads: this route never strayed far from home but was a decent outing. These gravel roads may need tougher tyres, winter CX tyres are fine on wet grass but some of the stones are sharp.
6°C, E wind, sunny and dry.
Cold with a piercing E wind. The ground is hard now so a bike with some suspension would help. There are sections where the ridges in the dyke forced me to get off and walk. It’s gorgeous here with a feeling of vast space.
After this section, I headed along the Southport sea wall to the green machines. There are only 4 that I use. Anchor points are visible in the concrete ground, at least 4 have been removed over the years. I can’t imagine them being replaced even with a local coastal funding package from the lottery fund.
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, 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.
Micycle 