Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Where havent I been?
Monday, 2 May 2011
What have I learned...
Monday, 4 April 2011
...Mornin.....
An occasional stop to rescue/chat to a puncture victim, was still not a problem.
Then we had lighter/sunnier/warmer mornings together with >£6 a gallon. The sound of shed doors and the wresting of pieces of metalwork from the clutches of the lawnmower could be heard across the land.
I now encounter 30+ cycle commuters on my 5 mile journey. Nods and grunts now seem to have been abandoned, as far too many to be friendly, and likely to be thought of as a bit odd. So what is the critical mass of friendlyness -> unfriendlyness? Not sure, didn't really notice it happen.
Interestingly enough though, I sometimes divert my route through the local county park. To get my fix of trees, tree roots & muddy tracks. I have noticed that pre 8:00am dog walkers, in this area are still civil enough for a healthy 'Mornin'. I guess there aren't enough of them.
Post 17:00 walkers are outnumbering the early visitors, and thus, fall into the unfriendly category.
So that experiment wrapped up, I feel better already. Just one addendum, how should you greet those who you see all year round ? The old man with dog on the riverbank, still gets his 'mornin', and he still looks as surprised as he always did.... I like to be a bit unpedictable
Friday, 1 April 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Out again
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Mama its gone all misty.
Took a couple of hours out from the family to get some miles on the clock. Boy its misty today. Saw very little more than the 20 feet in front of me most of the time. Did a nice loop which I intend to use as my baseline training route. If I can do it once every couple of weeks I should be able to measure progress.
I'm now planning to do the Lemming Trail (South Downs Way) in September with one or two bigger rides over the summer. Possibly the London to Brighton which I've never done. There's a few other more MTB events too that could be interesting.
That's all for now.
Sent by Android.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Finally out again...
My time on the bike as been severely constrained the last few weeks having put my neck out in halfterm week, 1 trip to the osteopath improved but not right, 2nd visit next week hopefully will resolve.
Bike fun has been confined to the garage, fitting some brakes to friend's anti-diluvian marin and putting some bling on the Orange. new bars, seatpost and stem. Looks good first shakedown today seemed OK.
The Marin was a pain apparently there was an old post mount, slightly different to current post mount, so fitted an adaptor imported from Canada (!?) post mount to IS mount then a IS adaptor to current Hayes. then messed around with spacers until it kinda lined up. Not my finest hour in the workshop, but we got it working. bodgit and scarper, havent heard if he's ridden it yet!
Its late and i need my beauty sleep. bye for now
Monday, 21 February 2011
Mud Fest
....so the supposedly warmer days, and a couple of 'free' hours pencilled in for the Sunday, along with some renewed vigour of getting on the bike......
Anyhow, found this brill site, which may not be new for anyone else, but I think its K9's 'nads.
Side by side maps, the OS on one side and google sat view on the other. Plot your course & download as a GPX. I then convert to a route(TCX) for the Garmin.
So a 25 miler, encompasing the West Leake hills, which sounds quite grand, but since hills aren't really our thing round this way, and bridleways are only linked with tarmac, its a bit of an XC challenge.
Found some nice new pieces of wood to ride through, but with the whole of Saturday raining, the ground in places was a bit swampy. Let just say, and Pnik will get this, one steep downhill, I had to get off & push. The bike would not move. There was so much mud clay stuff between tyre & forks, that the front wheel siezed. Deft work with piece of stick get it moving again. Front mech was destined to be stuck wherever it felt.
So, although not aching on way in Monday, lets just say, it took a little longer.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
...and as if by magic.,..
Well, whadya know. I just happen to glance over to the blog, and I find some recent posts.
My biking has been limited, generally, to the daily commute. A flat tarmac 10 miles a day keeps the legs and cogs moving. Quite extraordinary how the bike gets so filthy without mud. mental note to buy a chain cleaner/scrubber thing.
Running the gauntlet with Notts rush hour traffic is fun. I now have two bright flashy lights on the front, mainly to light up the canal towpath, highlighting the logs & flotsam that seems to go with narrowboats.
Ahh, there was a customary new year ride with Pnik up at Sherwood pines. We did the kitchener trail, which, I suspect, was a tad longer that Pnik originally assumed. Got to pace yourself a bit. I know we dont really have hills, but we have mud. Lots of it.
offski, backson.
J
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Not so gorgeous Sunday.
Warmed up with Babyshambles and moved on to the Clash. Great tunes although I had to be old school wired for sound as the Bluetooth was as flat as Holland.
Now to parental duty. Take the kids swimming, they don't fancy the sea so to the pool. More cash number 1 has lost goggles.
Laters
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Reentering the blogosphere
I've decided to start sharing again. Don't know if anyone will notice, but here goes. Jimbo and myself started this when we were doing the c2c a couple of years ago. We have been talking about a followup escapade but so far its not got past talking, fancy the west highland way, unfortunately its not looking likely for May now, as work and illness have been conspiring to keep me off the bike.
Managed to get myself out this morning on a beautiful crisp winters day. Rode over past jack and Jill to the beacon and down through some of BrightonMTB.org's twiddly bits over Stanmer way and home.
Lovely ride, ground firm undertyre only small patches of ice on the road. I didn't even mind my chain exploding, easily fixed and on my way again, got to love a speedlink. Brighton and Hove deaf and dumb ramblers were out in force though, at least that's my assumption as to why they don't return a friendly 'hello, beautiful day' greeting. It's not like I was hurtling past at light speed crashing them out of the way. Actually come to think they probably would say something then! It's not like I'm asking personal questions or looking for lifelong companionship. Perhaps I expect too much.
The first few miles on the road should be the easy bit, right? Just to get warmed up, but I'm sure I go faster when I get off the black stuff. Tarmac sucks I'm sure of it. Maybe I need a road bike to understand. Maybe ignorance is bliss.
Better stop ignoring the kids mi suppose. TTFN.