16th April 2011 Still stinking of pig shit everywhere I go. Only in the centre of the city was the air free of the stench yesterday when I went to fetch my camera.
48-53F, overcast, breezy. No improvement in my chest but I don't seem to be any shorter of breath than usual. My voice still hasn't returned after almost a week. I put more effort into it today instead of just strolling along. We are going to start taking Vitamin C again after a lapse. We only take multivitamins at the moment. We'll also try drinking some organic orange juice but it costs far more than is sensible. 14 miles.
Here's an unusual bike. The owner told me it started off as a lady's bike but said it was too flexible. So he started adding new pipes. Then he removed the top tube! Silver soldering was used to avoid heat damage to the frame. It was all beautifully done with a remarkable number of fillet joints required. To me, it looks like a cross between a Pedersen and a Moulton space frame.
A closer look at this very individual frame.
When you look at a frame like this you wonder why there is such rigid conservatism about frame design. Even when they have access to the such flexibility as carbon fibre they stick to the same old diamond frame. Perhaps it is the influence of those corrupt dinosaurs at the UCI?
A Triumph 650 stopped for fuel so I nipped into the garage to take a picture or two while the owner was paying in the shop. It started again on the second kick and sounded crisp but noisy. No oil drips either! There are still a lot of older British bikes on the danish roads in summer. Though one sees far more Nimbus in-line fours. One passed me with an immaculate sidecar only a little later.
Another Nimbus inline four.
A farm pond on the edge of a rural village. These are often retained as fire ponds for fighting thatch fires. There are still very large numbers of thatched houses.
After a leisurely morning coffee I set off for some different shops. The first spring flush of leaves are coming on the trees and hedges now. Daffodils are suddenly in bloom. 10 more miles. My cycling clothes stank so much of pig shit, on my return, that they had to go straight into the washing machine. Blogspot is crawling today. It is taking over a minute to reload for editing or to republish.
17th 42F, 5C, overcast, hardly any wind, pig shit stench continues. Blogspot is still broken. Taking forever to publish and reload for editing. I'll try Chrome. Much quicker than Firefox but there is still weirdness. With a strange script of symbols and letters showing up when I want to edit/compose. It's not the usual HTML edit. I can see the uploading on the work line. It's slower than a ZX81!
White swathes of Wood Anemones compete with yellow Winter Aconites and bright buttercups.
I set off coughing like an old smoker. Still no voice. Just call me bubble and squeak! I was soon cruising at 25-26mph on the flat! It must have looked quite impressive as I passed one group of racing cyclists out training. :-) Twenty two miles later I arrived home to 55F, 13C, full sunshine with increasing headwinds. Not had a twinge from my knees.
Mr Higgins basking in warm sunshine. It is rare to see a dry stone wall in this part of Denmark.
My clothes stank of pig shit again, as I came indoors! How much longer can this go on? The flu symptoms and the unbearable stench? Until it rains I suppose.
A sleepy apple pie I caught napping. :-)
I have probably posted this link before but it bears repeated viewing:
18th 52F, 11C, sunny, light winds.
19th and 20th GOOGLE BLOGSPOT STILL BROKEN!!
21st Skærtorsdag. 68F! 20C! Sunny, light winds, still stinky. It's a bank holiday so I couldn't find any decent bread! Chest still bunged up. 11 miles so far. Plus 17 more miles in warm sunshine to fetch a loaf. I think my chest is finally clearing. I was going well and climbing strongly again today. Knees still fine. A bunch out training going the other way.
22nd Good Friday. 60-64F, sunny, winds light but increasing, stinky. A superb morning for a ride! I enjoyed the rural lanes a bit further from home than usual. Cats were everywhere poking about in the verges. Lots of wild geese on the fields and ponds and flying round in circles complaining loudly. The air was full of birdsong and the leaves bursting out everywhere.
My chest is still blocked making me a bit breathless again. Still going well though and knees fine. 25 comfortable miles uphill and down before arriving home for coffee and rolls. A few cyclists out training. Traffic light.
23rd 57-60F, sunny, blowing a gale! I was nearly mown down by an older women in a car today. Mouth open, brain in neutral. She had seen the supermarket car park exit and put her foot down. I had no time to brake. Just swerved away. Even then she didn't see me and just carried on. As soon as she hit the road she put her foot down again and was soon doing 40mph in a 30mph zone.
On my way to town I was cruising above 26mph and even managed 32mph on the flat. (in a 50mph zone) The wind was ragged. Turbulent as hell. Coming home again was very hard work because the headwind was even stronger. 19 miles. Google Blogspot is still incredibly slow. No problem with any other site. 10 miles later fighting the wind. Gusting to over 30 mph with the trees bending.
24th 64F, sunny, stinky and windy. Still going well. An enjoyable 21 miles pushing myself harder. Chest still bunged up and coughing. Blogspot still crawling.
25th 65F, 18C, sunny, light breeze.I set off very early to get some miles in before coffee. It was quite cold at first so I kept my jacket on. Almost too cold for my fingerless mitts. It was a beautiful morning with the birds singing and very little traffic. I found a couple of shops open at ten mile intervals so I had an excuse to be out. I really need a bigger shopping/saddle bag. 35 miles.
26th 50-66F, 10-19C, winds light sunny, stinking again after a fresh application of industrial pig paste. I rode 10 miles to some shops and then 10 miles back back with a detour to more shops. Then had to go back again after coffee. I changed my route both ways to avoid it becoming stale. It was surprising how the wind changed. I was cruising at 20mph+ earlier on but was down to 16-17mph later on exactly the same stretch.
My bunged up chest and sinuses suddenly smelt awful this morning. Whether this is a good sign I have no idea. I certainly wasn't so breathless today. The smell soon passed off. 45 rather enjoyable miles including a lot of hills.
I found a decent quality (brand new) sports bag for £4.50 (equiv) in a charity shop. Really deep and roomy but not as wide as the last. I became fed up with the last one dragging in the spokes every time I hit a bumpy corner or pavement ramp.
I also bought some new cycling sunglasses for £4 equiv in a supermarket. The nose pieces are moulded with the frames rather than the add-on silicone things which sit on small spikes. (then get lost when the glasses are washed. Or fall off when set on top of my hat in the shops) Hopefully I shan't be allergic to these glasses. Something about the others was making my forehead bright red just above the eyebrows. It wasn't my hat because I left it off for a few days without any change.
27th 50-58F, 10-14C, sunny, breezy, even stinkier. With lots of spraying going on in the fields. Early start, then haircut, then shopping, then home for coffee. 22 miles.
28th 50-56F, 10-13C, windy, mostly overcast. I do like the huge capacity of my new bag. It was stuffed to the gills with shopping today. Thanks to its boxy construction it retained its shape and stability. Quite unlike any other bag I've tried. I filled three large carrier bags to the brim to get all the stuff indoors. (I didn't have a box handy) This probably sounds terribly boring but it is an important landmark in shopping with ease. After struggling with smaller or floppier sports bags I'm very pleased with the new one. Even if I am advertising a Danish bank! :-) 23 miles.
29th 50-56F, 10-13C, windy, sunny. An early start but already windy. Another bag full of shopping. Lots more blood on the road. I hope it wasn't a cyclist. An old chap fell off the side of the road very near the same spot. 18 pleasant miles. I'm working on the roof which means a lot of climbing ladders. Up to measure. Down again to saw. Back up to see if it fits round the fiddly bits. Back down again to saw some more. You get the idea. Nothing like a bit of exercise, is there?
30th 50-55F, 10-13C, windy, sunny. It felt like a headwind whichever direction I travelled today. I thought my chest had improved but it was stinging when I coughed. A bit breathless too. 22 miles. Rain forecast for tomorrow. I should try and get some miles in while the sun shines but I have to work on the roof again. It will be even windier later. Gusting to over 30mh. (15m/s) 11 more miles pm.
Goggle Blagger is still broken. Over a minute to publish. Another minute before I can View Bog. Wait another minute after I hit edit again. Another minute after hitting publish again. Another minute before I can View Blog.
Yesterday it lost nearly the whole chapter again and I had to backtrack to save it! I posted on their help forum and nobody bothered to reply. I see Google ads on my blog so this is not remotely a free service. Keep taking the money, Google!
I see they have dropped Google Video now. Next they''ll be pulling an Orange trick and scrapping all the blogs which don't make them enough money from advertising. We'll all be forced to show picture of naked women to stay in the Google ratings. Just to be allowed to blog "freely" behind their advertising.
I'm getting old and bitter and twisted. Perhaps I'll just give up blogging altogether and become a recluse. Can one be a recluse on a tricycle? If I don't talk to anybody and ignore other cyclists I could become the first mobile recluse. They'll say: "Ooh look, dear! There's that tricycling hermit again!"
I see there's a new biscuit on the market. In the long tradition of using mangled Ingleesh for local produce it is called "Knackers". (sigh)
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