5th September 2014

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Friday 5th 55-65F, 13-18C light breeze, mist clearing to sunshine. I enjoyed a long walk through
the woods and back across the harvested fields. Very quiet apart form a distant tractor. Several birds of prey resting on the edge of the woods took off, complaining about my intrusion. Large flocks of starlings on the fields moving away as I progressed along the track. The sun fought its way gently through the mist but retreated repeatedly before winning the battle. Then it became much too warm. I'll have to find a way to carry excess baggage but not a sweaty rucksack.

Variable cloud, warm and occasionally windy. I had managed to trap the Cateye "Cadence" cable in the fork crown. So lost my speed and distance readout but kept the cadence. It was fun climbing at 120 rpm for a while but my average was somewhere around 105 rpm on the flat. Rode NW for 34 miles total. Luckily the Ventus G730 GPS logger behaved itself today. The device has been discontinued by Ventus. I will need to find an alternative. I feel rather lost without my route drawn on a map.

Saturday 6th 71F, 22C, light winds and sunny. Another ideal day for a ride. I performed microsurgery on the Cateye computer cable first. Where it had snagged in the fork crown. The twin core cable had insulation on only one core. This proved to be quite tough and very resistant to multicore solder even after I though I had bared the copper carefully. After several attempts I finally managed to get some solder to wet the copper strands together. Then I used half a car cable connector on each core as a belt and braces approach to overkill. A final zip tie secured the mess to the fork to avoid further tangles. Anyway, the computer now works again!

It kept working too as I rode up to Bogense on the north coast of Fyn. Where I visited a couple of plant nurseries. I did 15 miles in the first hour despite all the hills. The beneficial wind, which had allowed effortless 20mph cruising on the way up, was now a hindrance comping back down. It remained very warm and sunny all day. Leaving me with new red stripes where I already had a good tan despite the 30 SPF suntan cream. With only a cheese roll, a banana and a small box of apple juice to keep me going I ran dry of water and energy towards the end. 44 miles. The GPS logger recorded only half the journey. I'm still looking for an affordable replacement.

Sunday 7th 61-68F, 66-20C, misty start. Almost perfectly still. With weak, warm sunshine glaring though thin overcast. A warm, 3 mile walk. Now I have a couple of goals for a pleasant ride. I just hope the threatened, thundery showers don't find me on an exposed road!

It stayed dry with light winds but rather grey at times. Some pleasant miles exploring the lanes away from the traffic.  It hasn't been a bad week for tricycling. Though I have felt a bit tired at times I am always trying to keep up a good pace. I have never learnt to dawdle. It's great fun to cruise at 20mph, even uphill,  until overtaken by another cyclist taking advantage of the same tailwind. The price of such effortless speed always has to be repaid with interest when returning into the wind.  We do tend to get southerly to southwesterly prevailing winds. Typically forecast to gust to 15 m/s. Which is about 30mph. It often feels as if the gusts are continuous when fighting my way home back down the map. 33 miles today.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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