~o~
Thursday 7th 58F/14.4C. Bright overcast. Expected to remain cloudy all day.
Up at 7.15 after a quite night followed by dozing.
I must try to stay at home to keep on tidying. I am expecting a visitor next week.
9.00 Having a break to cool down after doing some tidying upstairs. The "removal" boxes I used are too large for books. Making them far too heavy to manage easily. They can't be lifted without falling apart. Fortunately they can be slid along on the carpets. I'll invest in a stack of smaller boxes when I am near a builders merchant. I might even mark them as to contents. Smaller boxes would take up less room under the sloping, attic ceilings.
I have just heard from the carrier. That the package containing my new suspension pump. Is available for collection at the local parcel pickup point. SMS, email and their own App all sent notification to my phone. What did we do before the Internet? Home delivery I suppose.
9.45 Returned with a load of groceries, my parcel and an appointment for a haircut. The latter is just before lunch this morning. Now at a different salon from previous attempts.
The Lezyne "Digital Shock Drive" is so pretty it hardly qualifies as a humble pump. More like exquisite jewellery than a common tool. The digits are very easy to read compared to the Topeak analogue gauge. Nor is there any air lost during fitting and removal to the valve. Which is precisely why I invested in this rather expensive digital pump. A single LBS suspension adjustment might cost more. With no guarantee of longer term satisfaction.
There is a sensible, rubber covered switch. Which requires some pressure for a few seconds to respond. This avoids the battery going flat if the pump should be carried in a well stuffed bag. The initial pressure in the forks showed a reading of 52PSI. Which I experimentally raised to 70PSI to match my weight. Having read the Moustache instructions for setting the pressures for the suspension.
The handlebars lifted as I pumped. Though the forks still sank when I leaned on the bars. Pumping is easy and rose about 1PSI per stroke. Thanks to the small bore and narrow hose. I shall enjoy experimenting with different pressures. Though I have yet to play with the rear suspension strut. Moustache suggested double the rider's weight at the back, as a first trial. Both systems will be affected by the loads being carried in addition to the rider. Not to mention personal taste and riding style.
12.30 Back from the village, newly shorn. The young lady hairdresser was excellent. She was attentive, gentle, skilled and did a good job. Though I now smell like the proverbial "tart's handbag." I went to the garden centre and a charity shop afterwards. Looking, in vain, for more, ceramic pots for my dark foliage collection. Several plants have blown over in the gales. I added a very dark grass to balance out the group.
The sun came out through speckled, high cloud. So I brought out the solar telescope for another trial. Not ideal conditions but the telescope is now performing as expected. The cloud soon became too dense to continue.
Dinner was sausage, mushrooms and boiled potatoes.
~o~
