1 Sept 2016

1st September 2016 Ramping up against the opposition.

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Thursday 1st 56F, 13C, very light breeze, lots of thin clouds, brightening. I walked another route on the stubble fields. A flock of perhaps 100 swallows was still there from the day before. They seemed to delight in shooting back and forth under a large oak tree with occasional rests on a nearby roof.

I had early coffee in anticipation of a ride but it became darker and rained. The DMI radar shows a long strip of rain passing right over us. It should brighten up by lunch time. Short, late afternoon ride. Returned, heavily laden, into the wind. Only 7 miles.

Friday 2nd 62F, 17C, cloudy with bright sunny periods. Light breeze. Went looking for the fire which choked us yesterday in the early evening but no sign. Saw several birds of prey. Saved a large black beetle determined to forage on the road. Spoke briefly to a hen. Nothing newsworthy to report. Returned in time to avoid a heavy shower. More rain forecast. Showers and gales with no reason to go out for  ride.

Saturday 3rd 56-65F, 13-18C, calm and bright with thin high cloud. Another tour of wet stubble fields walking in circles. The swallows continue to patrol under the radar. A sudden arrival of millions of daddy-long-legs should help to keep them from becoming peckish. Quite breezy and overcast now but I'm going out on the trike anyway. Two days of continuous heavy rain are forecast for tomorrow and Monday. I wish I'd had more notice to buy in enough wood for a decent sized ark.

A local 'mountain' with a 'Mohican.'

Late morning ride. I caught an elderly "racing" cyclist [of about my own age] on the cycle path and had to overtake by using the house on/off ramps. He promptly sat on my tail at 16mph into a cross headwind. So I shifted up a couple of cogs and shot straight up to 20mph. He eventually caught me again and overtook me just as the cycle lane ended. Only to jam on his brakes and block my path to take a left turn across the traffic! Grrr! It's not all bad news. I gained one place in the long queues in the coop when an oblate spheroid woman stopped to buy a sack full of pick 'n' mix sweets. I'd have offered to drag the bag to the checkouts but she might have thought I was taking the mickey.

A gale headwind under heavy threatening cloud coming home.  After further shopping I was overtaken by another, younger "racing" cyclist. Even on the tri-bars and doing an occasional 19mph I couldn't catch him. What was really weird was that he was only pedalling occasionally. With regular periods of freewheeling. With the shopping and the weight of the trike and umpteen bags I was probably pushing along 20kg more than he was, but even so. I'm not suggesting his carbon bike had twin outboard motors but it does make you think. At least my knees don't point backwards! So that's all right then. 15 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.
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