13th March 2014 All our yesterdays.

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Thursday 13th 28F, -2C, perfectly still, bright and sunny. The last, perfect spring day. At least for a while. A storm is due on Saturday. Bringing high winds and heavy rain. I'd better make the most of the fine weather while it lasts. We have had the catkins and now everything is budding out all over. The poor birds won't know what hit them on Saturday. It was so quiet yesterday that I could hear their wings overhead.

Normally the wind is roaring in my ears and deafens me to all but the loudest sounds. An aural glimpse of past times before traffic noise ruined much of the world. A time when people walked freely and casually on the roads without fear of being mown down. Kids in groups spread out across the road exploring their range until hunger and tired legs brought them home again. Or playing football in the village streets with jumpers for goalposts.



Thursday 13th unlucky for some?  It was for us. We opened the front door and the stink nearly blew our heads off! Big pig shit spreading day with a side order of chemical smog. There seemed to be shit spreaders everywhere I went today. Hold that stench in mind as you lean over the supermarket display of Danish bacon with drool running down your chin. We paid for your fried breakfast with knobs on! Rode to Assens against a headwind. Enjoyed my first downwind spray of the season of some unknown farm chemical. 25 miles in warm sunshine.

Friday 14th 36-45F, 2-7C, almost still, quite bright. I did a five mile walk looping through the woods. Despite the low temperature reading I was perfectly comfortable thanks to the lack of wind and warm sunshine.

After coffee I headed off into a slowly building breeze on the trike as it steadily clouded over. Left the long winter underwear off again. I made a small adjustment to the rear gear adjuster and this seemed to do the trick. Even the headwind coming back was not too much to slow me down. It is great fun bombing downhill on a trike at 25-30mph when you know the blind left hander at the bottom. The faster I go the faster I can climb the long drag beyond. Hedged in on a winding lane with the shining, meandering river visible down below through the still bare trees. 21 miles. Passed 2000 kilometers for this year.

As I update my blog the trees are bending as the wind picks up for the 50mph+ storm tomorrow. Guess what? A tractor is spraying the back field. Though the wind is away from us there are kids in the houses in direct line with the spray. I wonder if they are playing on the trampoline right now? Does anybody care? Nope!

Saturday 15th 42F, 6C, gales, grey and cloudy. Sun is promised for this morning. Rain this afternoon. It would be sensible to take a rest day. Though very windy it stayed quite sunny for most of the day. I was busy so no ride today.

Sunday 16th 50F, 10C, gales again, overcast. Left it until the afternoon to see if the wind died down. Not much, but I have to go out anyway. I made it up to 25mph on the way with a tailwind. Struggled back at 7-8mph against a wall of wind. Only 7 miles with my legs aching like hell on the way back! It started raining as well so no diversions today.

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