March 1st 2014

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Saturday 1st 36-40F, 2-4C, thick mist, still and very, very grey. The DMI are promising a bright morning. I bought another pair of GripGrab 'Windster' (Winter) yesterday. My hands get too hot in my winter gloves as temperatures climb rapidly throughout a ride. I also need a spare pair to go in the washing cycle to keep them fresh. When they are worn every day gloves can get remarkably niffy!

Having got home I have discovered that the left hand has shorter and narrower fingers and is really uncomfortably tight! This, despite having bought the last pair of XXL which is claimed to be size 12. For £35 (equivalent) they will definitely have to go back.

GripGrab's claim that they are good down to 0C/32F is total bunkum on a bike or trike. They are only good for 40-55F if the sun is out. I wore my year-old pair of Windsters to Assens yesterday and they were a little too cool even at 43F! Nor do they breathe all that well. Leaving a stickiness when I take them off again. They are very close fitting without bagginess even in such a large size. The snugness provides good control of the gears, brakes and steering. The thin rubberised palms and fingers are really grippy. Making them feel very secure without the handlebars needing a vice-like grip. The padding on the palm is quite rudimentary with only a small, thin patch on the base of the thumb. Hardly a cycle-friendly orientated arrangement.

Yesterday I also shared an image of the first serious mass application of home brewed pig's diarrhoea, urine, bacteria, viruses and antibiotics this year. The machine was trundling straight towards the road as I approached so it was too good an opportunity to miss. The stink nearly blew my head off!

Many roads are now covered in mud from countless tractors and other machines leaving the sticky fields after the first ploughing and boundary hedge clipping. The mud brings vast quantities of flints and stones onto the roads too. The traffic turns it into incredibly hard, uncomfortable humps. I often have to ride over the rock hard mushrooms for miles on end. Sometimes I even have to change my route to avoid particularly vicious applications of mud. Once they really dry out the humps crumble and produce brown clouds of choking dust as traffic runs over it at speed. It sure ain't easy being a tricyclist in this cycle-friendly land! ;ø)))

Thick mist at the start of my walk only slowly thinned. Though it was still impossible to see trees at 200 yards when I came home. The promised sun never arrived but the mist did slowly clear over the course of the morning. The shopping on my trike was largely uneventful except for the weight. I should have bought a new chain yesterday. Only 16 miles.

Sunday 2nd 38-41F, 35C, grey, grey or  grey? Overcast, light breeze, light mist, light rain with an extra dollop of grey. The promised sun was in very short supply but at least it stayed dry. As I walked into a village there was a pause in the Sunday morning rat runners and I was suddenly surrounded in birdsong. It reminded me of my rural childhood when we often walked for miles without seeing, or hearing, any traffic at all. A 4 mile walk.

I enjoyed my ride despite the  grey skies, the lack of warmth and the increasing wind. The new brake blocks are okay but not great. A few cyclists were out training. Some waved. Others pretended I wasn't there. Those very dark glasses don't help visibility do they? I use yellow lenses more than any other these days. 22 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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