12 Nov 2011

8th November 2011

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Glenn, of Carolina, has kindly sent me a picture of his beautiful trike.
Those hills look like very hard work but the scenery makes up for it! 
Glenn is a keen photographer and takes some fine pictures:


8th 34-39F, 1-4C, cold wind, sunny. Yet again I donned my remarkably windproof, Æsse jacket. I like the high collar because it protects my neck from the cold. Nor does cold air blow down my back when I'm on the drops or brake levers struggling into the wind. It also has a large, zipped rear pocket, is brightly coloured and has lots of reflective piping.

I also put one of my thinnest, pudding basin, Thinsulate caps under the helmet to protect my ears. Which had been a bit too chilly with the TA cap in place.  So I stayed completely comfortable without overheating. But lost the low, winter sun visor. The downside with skull caps is the pain of squashed sunglasses over the ears. Only 14 miles, so far, but I have to go out again.

Another picture from Glenn showing how camera equipment can be carried safely by a trike. The rear triangle offers a stable, sloping platform. So nothing wants to drop out the moment the case is opened. Direct attachment of the outer case to the trike avoids rattles and awkward carrying issues.  
The advantage of a trike is that it doesn't want to fall over as soon as you stop. Though a parking brake might helps sometimes. I usually get the wheels onto the verge.  Which stops any wayward tendencies. 

The trike offers a uniquely large carrying capacity between the rear wheels. It is also silent in use so it doesn't frighten the wildlife. Nor owners, when taking pictures of their homes. A motorbike or car stopping under the same circumstances might raise warning flags in the neighbourhood. A cyclist poses no real threat because they cannot easily escape with stolen goods. I find the people I meet are relaxed and friendly when I say that want to photograph their historical homes. Many complete strangers are interested in the trike. 

Perhaps most importantly, one is usually travelling slowly enough to spot suitable photographic subjects and views. All without the hassle of finding somewhere to park!

10 more miles later. The wind was even stronger. I was struggling to manage 10mph until I had some hedge shelter and my speed shot up to 12mph! The supermarkets are still irritating me with no stock and wrong pricing signs. The Ventus GPS logger keeps falling asleep! Even when I put it in my jacket back pockets. It is fully charged and the memory cleared every single day.

I saw a small bunch of cyclists out training today. They have been rather sparse since the colder weather arrived.

 13th 30-41F, -1-5C, misty, light breeze, all white with frost, sunny. Yet again my Æsse jacket worked beautifully. Traffic non-existent at first. Busier as the morning wore on. It is my tragic duty to report that a very important women was delayed for nearly three seconds and had to blast her horn at an elderly driver. I expect she was on her way to church judging by the scowl on her face.

I'm not sure whether to call this one "Cormorant takeaway", "Cormorants hung out to dry" or "Cormorant dry cleaning". Perhaps it's a quantum leap in Cormorant fishing technology?



Taken from the causeway out to Helnæs it was the cow, silhouetted on the saddle top, which caught my eye.

I did a loop down around the Helnæs peninsula and back. I still have to go out again to finish the shopping. 35 miles so far. Plus 8 more before lunch.

 14th 38-41F, 3-5C, still, heavy overcast, thick mist clearing. Switched on my lights to flashing to give the cars a clearer target in the mist. I put my day-glo jacket over the Ventour and was still too cold. I could feel the wind blowing through me right to the end of the ride. Though I was getting warmer on the hills I felt chilled on the descents. Should have worn the Esse. Marginal on glove warmth too.

Three double (organic) eggs in one pack? Happy hens have twins? :-)

I think I'll make a rule to wear the Esse jacket below 40F and dig out some warmer gloves. Though they are bulkier it's no fun having cold hands. Feet are fine so far. Though I still carry the old BB Hardwear overshoes in the bag. Just in case of heavy rain or cold feet. New overshoes are silly money for what they are and foolishly short life. A couple of shaped bags with zips cost over £40 equiv? Nuts! 25 miles.


The lean is real!

15th 37-41F, 3-5C, almost still. overcast, cold. Punctured. 18 miles.


Not easy to photograph this active farmhouse because it was at the top of a steep, rough  drive. It is almost hidden by huge barns until one gets quite close. I cropped those out. Unusual triangulation bracing and fine detail. Langsted is an attractive village consisting largely of farms.

16th 37-40F, 3-4C, slight headwind building, heavy overcast. I had to fix the puncture before I left. I knew where the hole was but couldn't locate it precisely. So I didn't know exactly where to put the patch until I double-checked in daylight.

A ton of shopping today. I couldn't lift the trike when I wanted to park it! I had a pleasant chat, with an old chap outside a village shop, about the trike. 20 miles.




Fossilised Brooks saddle. Believed to be ten thousand miles old! Cyclists were smaller back then. ;-)




I have finally found out how to have blog comments notified to me by email before publication:

Sign in> Open your blogspot posts list: Choose: Settings> Comments> Show comments> Blogspot members or Google members may comment> Moderate Always> Enter email address in the box for notification of moderation requests> Save changes to Settings.

It works! I hated missing comments. It felt rude not to answer yet I was always completely unaware that comments had been made on older posts. Unless I opened them all individually, of course. It required a search of every single post for comments! I have hundreds of posts and several blogs!

Each individual blog has to be set (as above) to notify the author by email. There are no blogspot general rules for this. Though one really ought to be able to make such obvious rules to cover all one's blogs in one go. It would better if moderation of comments and automatic notification were default choices for all blogs. Those wishing for any other comment rules could opt out in the Settings menu. It is not until certain choices are made in Settings that the new moderation box opens with options. This is downright daft IMO.  It's no wonder I missed it!  K.I.S.S! Keep It Simple Stupid!



17th 35F, 2C, winds light, very heavy overcast. The three patch inner tube stayed up.

I check the local weather forecast on the DMI website every morning before setting off. I'm simply amazed that the Danish Meteorological Institute would accept advertising from a bunch like the Uniblue scammers. Hasn't anybody checked the empty promises in Uniblue's endless scams? Free scam for this! Free scam for that! Here ya go. But free fix? In your dreams!


Do Uniblue want their usual £40 dead squid to fix your "79 critical problems"? Nope. Cheap at half the price! Only £20 squid, special offer, to fix your "82 critical problems". Hang on a minute! You said it was 79 critical faults just now and made no mention of paying to get my fix. No mention of what these critical faults might be. I run CCleaner every day. How can I have a load of old files cluttering up the place?


Only 14 miles, so far,  but I'm going out again. Let us hope that I survive the wind chill factor on the descents! Brrr! :-)

After coffee and rolls it has dropped to 34.5F. It felt even colder on the second ride! One of those grey, raw days. I'm inclined to think it is humidity related.

I had another of those strange dizzy spells. A sort of completely detached feeling. I had to get off and take some photos in the hope of a swifter recovery. I'm sure it is due to riding on top of an undigested meal. The blood rushes to my stomach. Leaving my one, tiny brain cell starved of oxygen. I hope I'm not being too technical for some of you? :-)

I tried some roomy, thin leather, driving gloves over thin polyester gloves. Too cold! So after the photo op I put my usual Gel gloves over the thin ones instead. This seemed to work much better. Though the thin gloves don't have much natural warmth of their own. The wind can be felt right through them. Just like my thin polyester skull cap. I tried a thicker polyester skull cap but it didn't cover my ears well enough. Just to add insult to injury it became much more misty and started drizzling. Am I having fun yet? 16 more miles.

18th 40F, 4.5C, thick mist, heavy overcast, breezy. Definitely a yellow sunglasses day. I'm experimenting with hats under the helmet. My purple, double layer Thinsulate is cosy and large enough to keep my ears warm. Though it makes the helmet look like a gull on a rock. The mist was thick enough for flashing lights again. It gradually cleared but remained dark overhead.

 I seem to be chatting a lot with trike interested people outside supermarkets. I  do my best not to appear gushing in my praise of triking. They always seem impressed by my annual mileage. (kilometarage?) 24 more miles to add to the tally. I should easily reach 7k miles or 11k kilometers this year. It would have been more if I hadn't had the knee problems in the spring. Touch wood, I haven't had a single twinge for what must be weeks (or months) now. I think my reduced mileage and reduced effort have helped here. I used to try and go flat out everywhere. Not any more. I'm more interested in soaking up the scenery and photographing it these days.

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