29th December 2014 Cateye Cadence roadkill!

*

Monday 29th 25-30F, -4-0C still and sunny. The promised overnight snow did not fall here. I enjoyed a loop on the hard frozen, spray tracks up in the back fields. This is an area normally outside my usual routes because of the sticky, wet soil. The puddles are now dry under the crisp, white ice. Which sounded like thin ceramic tiles as I broke through in places. Even the soil sounded hollow to my footfalls. The hard surface layer acting as a drum skin over the soft, aerated soil beneath. The fresh viewpoints from the modest hills exaggerates distance and elevation. While providing new clues to the otherwise-hidden geography of the landscape. The contortions of the local roads around woods and hills often hides the true direction and position of many familiar landmarks. The bare trees are no longer able to hide distant villages and buildings. My camera and binoculars foreshorten distances which can take an hour to reach on the trike. Another superb day for a ride! Except that it wasn't. It became grey, cold and miserable and I was busy at home. Rest day.

Tuesday 30th 38F, 3C, heavy overcast but quite still. Light overnight snow has made very little impression. The trike is ready for the off after early coffee and rolls. I've just had to clear the brakes of built up mud from the filthy roads. Not cleaned well enough as the front brake grated on the rim.

Repairs to the private suspension footbridge at a stately home have been completed. Seemingly long-unused it presumably gave the family private access to the woods across the moat in former times. 

I rode to Assens under a leaden sky to see the damage done to the harbour mole by the 100 meter long ship in the safe hands of a drunken Russian skipper. According to the local paper he registered so high on the police alkameter that it went right off the scale! They had to send him to Odense hospital to have it measured properly in preparation for prosecution. No doubt the Odense hospital was delighted to have yet another drunk delaying their normal [4-6 hour waiting times] in the A&E. As for the ship: I've seen worse damage on the rear bumper in a car park shunt! I couldn't even be bothered to get my camera out for such a non-event.

I passed through the front lines of WW3.2 as the brave hunters fought an asymmetric battle against the fundamentalist pheasant insurgents. The battle was still raging as I plodded home later. Ducks having by then taken up a rearguard action in support of the pheasant uprising. Now heavily laden with shopping I flinched at every shot. I was in constant fear that I might be "collected" by the rampaging dogs. Talking of which the neighbour's Rottweiler tried to attack me on the drive the other day. Perhaps I need a basket of dog treats on the handlebars?

Very short-lived, completely daft, battery size in Smart E-line rear light. AVOID!! 

I searched the entire town for new batteries for my Smart rear lights. They are a peculiar half length AA called an LR1 size N. No luck anywhere. Had I known at the time of purchase that they did not use 'standard' batteries [AA or AAA] I would never have touched them with a very, very, very long bargepole!! Bike rear lights are life savers. Making any bike light with non-standard batteries [ie. not readily available in every supermarket] is a complete no-brainer. ie. REQUIRES NO DAMNED BRAINS AT ALL!!!

It seemed my luck was out on several fronts today. As I was riding along the ring road I noticed the Cateye Strada Cadence computer had stopped registering anything for the umpteenth time. As I fiddled with the head in its shoe it suddenly shot off across the road. I stopped and waited as 3 cars approached at speed. Two passed safely then the third promptly run over the head! Grr?

I was torn between anger that I was ever fooled into buying such an expensive piece of crap. And gratitude that I no longer have to put up with the damned thing!! There is nothing worse than not knowing your distance or speed on a ride. The contact pins seemed to be constantly furring up when subjected to the slightest dampness. So that no speed or mileage was registered.

Cateye Strada Cadence roadkill.

The head always had a dodgy location in the shoe. Which probably caused the regular non-functioning. To add to the displeasure of ownership the digits were tiny and vertically elongated. Making it impossible to read in poor light or without reading glasses. It required a rocking motion instead of buttons to change screens. Which was a disaster waiting to happen with gloves on. Often causing the mileage to be deleted half way through a ride!!! Arghh!

My advice is to avoid this overpriced piece of crap like the plague if you are ever in the market for such a thing! It was priced at £72 equiv. in the LBS today!!! Totally unbelievable! 22 [GPS] miles not out and counting...

Wednesday 31st 43F, 6C, heavy overcast, dry and still. The forecast is for another grey day. I spent some time scrubbing the brakes, rims and tyres and rinsing everything off with copious amounts of rainwater. The gritty mud covered the brakes and was causing grating when I braked. Before this problem arose the Ultegra brake blocks were excellent. They worked fine afterwards despite my omitting to remove the front wheel to scrub the blocks clean. What an idiot!



A huge number of Whooper swans and geese were resting on a field quite near the main road. I was rather afraid I'd scare them off as there was no real cover. They were so spread out that it was impossible to capture them all.

The shops were very busy as people took advantage of the holidays to buy New Year fireworks, drinks and other essentials. The Danes celebrate New Year with as much enthusiasm as Britain does Guy Fawkes night on the 5th November. Fireworks can be heard until after 3am most years.

The traffic was surprisingly light away from the main roads. I think I saw three cars in the ten miles of rural lanes getting to my destination. Came back by another way in bright sunshine. The first half had been under very grey skies. A bit lost without a bike computer to monitor my progress. 21 miles by GPS.

I'm not allowed out again in case of drunk drivers. So I'll have to settle for 6696 miles for the year. 47 rest days and only four punctures. The Schwalbe Duranos have proved amazingly reliable. Only fitting the Continental GP4000S [temporarily] spoilt an otherwise incredibly low puncture rate.

A bout of flu made a dent in my mileage and boosted the number of rest days. One more than last year. I have suffered from a "bunged up" chest and shortness of breath ever since. Though my skill at spitting into the verge has certainly improved. Having been brought up "properly" it took courage to learn to spit out "loose gobs of lung." Not to mention blowing one's nose with a finger pressed against the side of the nose. These were difficult hurdles to overcome with unusually steep learning curves.

A[n] [n]ice mould from the inverted base of our rainwater tub. About an inch thick. [2.54cm]

In my teens I used to carry a handkerchief tucked into my woolen cycling shorts. I could not bring myself to blow my nose with a finger! I used to see footballers blowing their noses in such a revolting fashion but studiously avoided following their ultimately sensible practice. Now I hesitate to think what a wet handkerchief full of snot would weigh as I tackled the 1-in-4s in the Bath area on my trike. Occasional nose bleeds have proven that it can takes decades of practice to avoid contaminating one's winter jackets. I just hope none of my followers was eating while reading this last bit. ;)

The Winter Edition of the Tricycle Association Gazette has arrived by email attachment. As I may have already mentioned it is so much easier to read on a computer screen. Particularly when the text size can be so easily adjusted to taste. The annual TA tricycle mileages have been announced. Using my usual January 1st to December 31st, rather than the winter overlapping TA dates, I would have been fourth in mileage total.

I still do not see myself as a serious tricyclist since I have failed, yet again, to reach 100 miles in a single day. Some tricyclists can ride [even race] for literally hundreds of miles in a day! Having finally overcome the hurdle of saddle soreness with the B17 Special' and decent bibs I really must learn to eat properly on longer rides. I tend not to eat for three hours and then have a cheese roll and a banana at halfway. It really isn't enough even for a slow old git like myself averaging only about 10-12mph overall. Had I been sitting at home I would have eaten more! I probably said exactly the same thing last year.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

*

26th December 2014 Seaside outings.

*

Friday 26th 25-32F, -4-0C, white frost, heavy pink clouds clearing, quite still. The first decent frost this year! Some parts of Jylland had -10C overnight. It should clear to sunshine with very light winds eventually. It could be a good day for a ride to burn off the excess calories of eating far too many tasty chocolates yesterday.

After removing the Trykit stainless steel rack and Carradice Camper I fitted the Junior saddle bag to carry my essentials. I then rode south to Helnæs peninsula at -2C after morning coffee.

I wore a set of long, thin, polyester skiing underwear under normal DHB racing shorts and a short-sleeved, racing jersey. Then the tightly knitted cycling cardigan went under the Asse jacket.[My warmest and most windproof] On my feet I had fairly thick loop pile socks and the Northwave MTB boots. I wore the edge sealed sunglasses but found then very dark. It was rather cloudy and got worse so it was like riding at dusk seen through the sunglasses. I wore the yellow lens glasses on the way back.

I was mostly warm apart from my toes. They felt occasionally cold as I pedaled hard against the light headwind on the way there. I was averaging 11-13 mph going along the viaduct. 16-20 mph on the way back. The pedaling action was pushing my toes forward in the shoes. Dropping my heels and deliberately ankling made the boots feel slightly sloppy. My toes would then warm up again quite quickly. A second pair of thin socks might have helped.

My hands were fine in the Dintex gloves. Though I noticed slight dampness when I removed them at natural stops my hands soon dried in the cold breeze. My crutch felt rather cold too at times and I really should wear thicker tights or a pair of briefs. Or even a second pair of shorts in the cold to stop icicles forming in my shorts! ;ø)

Lots of frozen ponds and icy, field run-off on many roads. Though it had no affect on adhesion or my speed. It was a bit rough in places where vehicles had broken up puddles which later refroze the chunks in the solid mass of ice. I deliberately rode uphill with one or both rear wheels on the ice but felt absolutely no difference in handling or grip. Probably thanks to the Tryklit  2WD.

Haring down one steep hill on a narrow lane at 24 mph I was confronted with a sharp 90 degree right hander at the bottom. Unfortunately the entire area near the bend proved to be covered in broken ice from field run-off. Thanks to the excellent brakes with Ultegra blocks I was able to brake safely on the few dry patches then belt around the corner hanging well off the side on some very rough ice.

Lots of  birds of prey were perched in the roadside trees. I glimpsed a Red kite before it disappeared behind the tall hedge. Saw lots of cormorants, gulls, a few geese and huge numbers of coots on the sheltered sea. Swans were struggling to keep the ice open on the salt marshes.

I rode up behind two girls on ponies at the bottom of a hill. Without glancing behind they suddenly started galloping up the hill at about 13mph. I was struggling to stay with them at a very breathless 11-12mph. As soon as we crested the brow I went past and my speed shot up to 24mph on the descent. Leaving them quickly out of sight.

My R931 stainless steel Trykit trike with R953 forks and Trykit 2WD. Halo rims, Durano 700x25C tyres, Stronglight 48-38-28 triple chainset with 160mm cranks and TA rings. Shimano XT M785 'Trail' double sided SPD pedals, Brooks B17 'Champion Special' saddle. Campagnolo 'Chorus' Ergo 11sp. levers on Ritchey compact bars and 80mm stem. Campag triple front changer and Ultegra long cage rear. Ultegra 12-30 10sp. cassette. Paired Tektro R725 side-entry brakes on the fork crown with Ultegra brake blocks. Lezyne mini-pump. Cateye 'Cadence' wired computer. Carradice Junior saddlebag, sans the usual Trykit rack today. 'Smart' rear lights. Crud RR2 front mudguard.

Two drunken, moronic drivers tried to kill me today. Both were in black cars. The first tried to overtake me at high speed into the teeth of an approaching car on a completely blind corner. They just managed to get alongside me. Then there was a huge squeal of tyres and they dropped back behind me again. I was given a one finger salute from the teenage passenger as they overtook again on the straight.

Later another drunken idiot raced down a narrow twisting lane towards me. He approached  at such a speed that he was using all of the road and grounding his car on all of the bumps. Having just missed me, he had to do a four wheel lockup to stop in time for the junction only a few yards behind me! It was 18 miles at half way. So I thought the total distance would be more but it was only 33 miles thanks to taking a shorter, different route home.

Saturday 27th 30F, -1C,  very light winds, rather cloudy without sunshine until mid afternoon. Though it remains below freezing everything was wetter today. I went for a walk and cut back across the fields on the spray tracks. Though the soil was mostly frozen there were plenty of puddles just below the surface ice. Later I  rode north to the shops. Came back with a 3 meter length of 2x4 lashed to the top tube. Lots of birds of prey about. Some birds are conserving energy by staying put as I ride past. Giving me a better, though still brief, view of them. 14 miles.

Sunday 28th 23-31F, -5-0C. A hard, white overnight frost. Forecast is sunny, still and dry early on. Snow forecast for this evening. Walked up to the woods and back in bright sunshine from an almost cloudless sky. I think there may be an inversion layer because sounds were travelling much further than usual. The traffic was still very loud a long way from the road. I could hear church bells clearly from a 2 mile-distant village beyond the woods and intervening hills.

Harritslevgård near Bogense [dating from 1606] is always a difficult subject due to the mature trees which shield it from the very busy Assensvej [Assens Way]. A rare glimpse in winter sunshine. The main building is now a hotel.

Set off to Bogense at 11.30am @ -3C with a head crosswind. Two hours to manage 20 miles with brief stops for photography. Bright sunshine behind me with my shadow on the road all the way there. More cloudy, becoming overcast with an inch of snow lying on the verges, on the way back. Lots of birds of prey perched above the road again. 30+ Whooper swans circling and landing on a roadside field. They were still circling when I rode back.

It felt five degrees colder coming back but it was actually slightly warmer... up around freezing point. I( had taken my cardigan off on the way but put it back on for the return journey. The Dintex gloves were damp inside at half way as I munched a cheese roll. The dampness made my hands feel cold most of the way home.

 Disappointed to find the batteries in one of my Smart back lights were dead when I needed them. Particularly as I use my lights so very rarely. Even more disappointed to discover the expensive set off AAA alkaline batteries from the supermarket would not fit! The Smart uses the even more expensive, stumpy' 1/2 length AA size. Which are only available from specialist dealers. Grrr? Rode home in failing light with only two lights flashing for 43 miles total.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

*

Christmas message

*****

If you really want to see why trike riders are addicted to their strange sport then watch this video from 2.03 to 2.09.  Six seconds, which nicely sum up all you need to know about thoroughly enjoying a trike.

Happy Christmas and/or seasons greetings to all my visitors, readers and followers. I hope you found something of amusement here in my endless monologues, silly rants and photography.

Be kind to yourself and others. Share a smile when you can. You have no idea how  much the other person might desperately need one. And if your smile is rejected then the fault lies elsewhere.

Above all, let's be careful out there! Bright clothing and decent lights will prolong your life out on the busy roads. Try charity shops for cycling clothing. You may get lucky, as I did over time and the search adds new goals for your next ride. All my winter cycling jackets are still from that source. They all get washed to death but continue to keep me warm and mostly dry.

If you need wider cycling shoes then look for Northwave rather than Shimano. MTB SPD pedals and MTB shoes are great for cycling and walking. Road shoes are a real pain if you have to walk anywhere. So why bother crippling yourself just to be "fashionable"???

Remember to ALWAYS ALWAYS lock your trike [or bike] to something solid with a really decent lock. A cable lock may be light and convenient but can be easily cut in seconds with a junior hacksaw or cheapo pair of pliers. Many quite expensive locks are made of untreated mild steel. The Abus U-lock is hardened and will not collapse like butter with an attack by a pair of bolt-cutters.

Insure your machine against theft. Many insurers will add a trike, or bike, to your household insurance for a small extra charge. Make sure you are covered with a new-for-old policy on your machine. They will probably demand that a decent lock is used. Usually to a particular industry standard to match the replacement cost of the machine. "Just popping into the shop or indoors" is a flashing neon lit invitation to any bike thief if it is unlocked. Losing a machine is abject misery. So don't put yourself through it! Lock your machine whenever it is not being ridden. Even if it is parked in the shed or entrance hall.

GPS trackers for bikes and trikes are still rare since they consume a lot of battery power. Denmark has the Diims system which uses Post Office vans as mobile, local receivers. Since they go almost everywhere, every day, the chances are quite good that they will pick up your machine's transmitter. Once they leave the border on a professional East European bike thief's lorry your luck is probably out! So use a decent U-lock and they might pass your own machine by as they pick and choose from the best machines on offer. Do not expect the public to keep an eye out for bike thieves. They will cheerfully ignore an angle grinder being used in the high street if you lose your own bike lock key!

Have a nice day! :)

******

22nd December 2014

*

Monday 22nd 48F, 9C, blowing a gale and pouring down! The next few days look awful on the DMI forecast. Almost continuous rain and wind. It dried up in the afternoon but I had to go Christmas shopping in Odense. A rest day.

I do not like mud! Ploughed fields are dismal, dark and ugly. Only made worse by greater size. They become a no-man's land. A desert, rural minefield for the unwary walker where none may safely tread. The random, disjointed, haphazard surface offers no pleasure. No place of rest for tired eyes. Nor safe cover for beast or bird. 

Tuesday 23rd 45F, 7C, heavy overcast light breeze. The forecast is continuously wet and windy again. I left early to avoid the worst of the rain. Blowing, with rain on the way back. 13 miles.

Wednesday 24th 46F, 8C, breezy at times, heavy overcast, raining. A slight promise of a clearing, with showers, later. The Danish "monsoon season" continues. Despite the unusually high temperatures it has put a bit of a damper on any hope of a late surge in mileage. At least we haven't had a foot of snow! [Yet] Showers have continued all morning but the clouds are now breaking enough for occasional sunshine. A ride is imminent!

Who's that fat lump? 2005? A shot of my very first attempt at rediscovering tricycling after a near, four decade hiatus. The Longstaff axle conversion would eventually became a lifesaver. I was approaching 60, carrying 13 stones in weight and still needed glasses back then. I  had very high blood pressure but would not take anything for it due to online scare mongering and side effects.

When I first started riding on a daily basis I would thrash the 3 miles "around the block" at about 8 mph average then have to lie down for half an hour to recover. It took me ages to build up to a single ride of 20 miles! Just climbing the one flight of stairs at home was a breathless experience. I was in such pain in my right hip that I could not reach my shoes nor lift my feet off the floor to tie my laces. 

While walking the factory floor at the end of a 9 hour shift of standing constantly, without lawful breaks, I would get spasms of pain which completely paralyzed me to the spot. I suffered from regular nose bleeds. Just getting in an out of the car was agony. Yet despite all this I completely deluded myself that I was still quite fit for my age! If I could lift heavy weights at work then I must be fit. Wrong!

Countless miles and a few years later my eyes have perfectly adapted to distance. My weight has dropped and stabilized at just over 11 stones. The paralyzing pains from the stresses and strains of decades of heavy physical work have finally gone. Along with the hard-earned muscles and pot belly. I haven't measured my blood pressure for years.

I started riding a trike really seriously in 2010. For the first couple of  years my legs were in constant pain both day and night. Much as I  enjoy talking about myself, this is not the real reason I share all this information. 

We live in a crippled world of 50% morbid obesity, fast junk food, fizzy sugar bomb [energy?] drinks and almost complete lack of exercise for many. By sharing my own story I hope to show that even somebody in as poor a shape as I was could become a fit and serious cyclist and healthy person again. 

By watching my diet and taking regular exercise I was able to undo the damage of drinking far too much milk and stuffing my face with Danish pastries almost daily. I was also drinking far too much black, industrial-strength coffee from the canteen machine. Visits to the canteen helped to reduce the boredom of repetitive production work. My stomach felt constantly full and I even resented being offered a plate full of dinner by my long-suffering wife. Heartburn and acid reflux were my constant companions. I could never lie down on my right side in bed without the serious risk of vomiting! Having to sit up in bed just to avoid regurgitating the last meal was a nightmare. 

My being made redundant at 63 probably saved my life. Though I certainly didn't thank them at the time! I escaped from the routine of overeating. While simultaneously burning far more calories thanks to my regular cycling. It also removed me from the repetitive strain injuries I was steadily building up. The constant pain in my shoulders took over three years to subside after I left. I still get occasional pains in my hip/buttock are but it must be nerve pain rather than the joints. There was no sign of joint damage on all the X-rays and scans I had trying to find the source of my constant  pain. 

I began to cycle every day to seek work when the economy went south. Or rather East in my case as my company laid off vast numbers of staff to export their real jobs and lifetime of expertise to new-build factories in China, Russia and Poland. 

Perhaps most importantly for me was the deliberate and constant reinforcement of the desire to ride daily. By blogging about my experiences, recording my mileage publicly, GPS logging and recording my routes as maps I had no excuse to slack. I deliberately used shopping and job seeking in the scattered villages of Denmark as my daily triking goals. All the while I was steadily improving my trike, my stamina, my comfortable range and my personal fitness over time. 

I hope you can gain something useful from my own example. I had every excuse not to ride but made myself go out in -15C frosts, falling snow and on wet and icy roads while in constant pain. I knew I would soon stop if I did not give myself strong reasons to ride. I used my [often imaginary] blog readers to discipline myself to continue despite the pain and cold. I often went through agonies with frozen toes and fingers before finding suitable winter clothing.    

My steadily improving fitness, daily changes of scenery and regular daily exercise were also a valuable tool against depression. Many unemployed people become dejected when they are repeatedly passed over for a new job. They spiral down into apathy. Mixed with anger at their mistreatment by the heartless thugs at the Job Center. All added to the total indifference of potential employers to their begging emails for work. 

They suffer the repeated and utterly pointless, compulsory  "training courses." Teaching them that all hope of finding a new job is lost. As they are crowded into a dismal, stuffy room full of "losers." To be re-taught the basics of CV writing, searching for a job online or sending cold call emails to potential employers. The unemployed quickly discover that they are amongst the countless other pawns in a sociopath driven world. One of twisted global economics and the total corruption of investment banking and their powerless lackeys full of empty promises amongst the political-ooze. 

I was very lucky and eventually escaped from the unemployed persons conveyor belt by reaching retirement age at 65. I had not paid in for long enough to benefit from early retirement sickness benefits available in Denmark. Many office workers take advantage of the benefits on offer without having any serious health issues at all. While factory workers are driven into the ground but denied the protection so readily offered to others far less deserving. 

Fortunately the habit of riding every dry day has continued unabated into retirement. I also live in a beautiful, rural area of Denmark where boredom with riding or walking the same routes is easily avoided. I enjoy the constantly changing weather with the seasons. The fields are regularly recycled with new crops which constantly change the undulating landscape. I wallow in a green world full of birds and wildlife the moment I leave the house. Morning walks became a regular habit too and help to balance the physical and mental stresses of cycling. 

If you don't enjoy the same rural advantages, as I do, then find a park and get a good dose of calming green there. It's not hippy talk or alternative anything to need green surroundings in your life. Canal towpaths, cycle paths and riverside walks are often softened by bushes and trees or untidy undergrowth. Affluent areas of towns and cities are always well furnished with gardens, shrubs and roadside trees. So don't let the drab grey of a built-up, concrete, city centre environment get you down. Get out there and breathe some fresh air even if it kills you! ;ø)    

_________________________________________

For the entertainment of my readers I have added traumfahrrad to my links list. [Links at top right] His entertaining use of the English language, in a delightfully cynical, cycling context, is well worth a warm and fuzzy wallow. He seems to like Brooks Cambium saddles despite the obvious personal handicap of riding a fixed wheel bike. Plus his obviously lacking, but absolutely vital, third wheel. A necessary requirement of any truly satisfactory, pedaled machine.


Since he prefers the Cambium to the B17 this must be praise indeed. Until, that is, you remember, that he claims to carry insufficient weight to properly break in a leather saddle. Saddles are so personal that one should treat each and every personal [or professional] recommendation with exhaustive caution. Preferably before splurging out on endlessly recyclable, plastic waste to add to the storage problems in the trike shed.

Meanwhile, I keep wondering when some marketing type will register "Bum's Rush" as a suitable dose of hype for a sporting saddle range, in kangaroo leather, for cycle adornment. At least it would be preferable to "Bum's Rash!" But we'd probably better not go there.

I rode an errand in bright sunshine. Then decided to detour through the woods on the way back. Big mistake!! The rain was soon coming down in opaque sheets. So I sheltered for a few minutes. As I finally exited the forest the sky seemed to explode with a vehement roar in the trees and the torrential rain turning to icy hail! I was soon blinded, despite the yellow lens sunglasses. While my face and legs were stinging like mad. My lower half became soaked as I ground slowly onwards into the vicious headwind. With my nose dripping onto stem tension bolt. I just managed to reach 15mph pedaling hard down what is normally a 30 mph, half mile descent. It took me 3/4 of an hour to do the last 6 miles! 10 miles in all with the roads covered in streams and standing water. With the added enjoyment of heavy spray coming off the wheels of the churchgoers as they left their lunchtime Christmas service. The 24th is Christmas Day in Denmark. Or rather the evening [Jule Aften or Juleaften] of the 24th.

Thursday 25th Christmas Day. 38-32F, 3-0C, northerly wind, overcast, rain turning to snow. It is supposed to clear this afternoon. The Danish climate has suddenly switched to winter mode with -6C, 21F forecast for tonight! There has hardly been a proper frost so far this year! I'm not sure I'll be allowed out today. What with all those drunken drivers coming back from their family visits. It has been snowing gently all morning without pitching. While the temperature has dropped 6 degrees F. A rest day.

Santa brought me a super bright headlight for the trike. A 'Scream' BPM-170L with Cree 243 Lumens LED. I went outside to try it in the dark and was unbelievably bright! It completely outshines everything else I have ever seen or tried. With a solid, white beam of the user's choice via an adjustable barrel to change the beam width. Shining it up in the air I could see a sharp beam stretching off for a great distance. It has 5 light settings. With 3 levels of brightness, SOS flashing mode for emergencies and rapid, random flash sequence to avoid strobe effects. A weakness of another LED light which I bought from a supermarket. The manufacturers claim 5 hours at full beam from 3 AAA batteries. A series of optional, screw-on rings provide two choices of sideways illumination, or none behind the head. Translucent red, clear and black rings are fitted in the super smart, all black packaging. A dual diameter, handlebar clamp is provided. Or it can be handheld as a plain barreled, extremely powerful torch. It readily illuminates a rock on  the drive 50 or more yards away from indoors.  

Click on any image for an enlargement.

*

17th December 2014

*

Wednesday 17th, 37F, 3C, breezy, overcast. The forecast is for rain or showers all day.

The trike and my wearing my usual "serious" cycling gear is often an ice breaker outside supermarkets. Many try to quickly establish [diplomatically, or otherwise] whether I am actually handicapped. They see me regularly, usually pedaling furiously and often many miles from home. Mounted on what must surely be a handicap tricycle. [since there are really no other kinds of trike in Denmark]

I am always wearing racing shorts and jersey plus a cycling jacket and tights in winter. This unique combination is not a logical exemption certificate for normalcy to most Danish people. Not even keen cyclists can make the leap of faith and allow me to ride a trike for the sheer fun of it.I usually just say I am English and therefore eccentric by default. I may refer to the Tricycle Association as having about 500 members who also ride similar machines entirely for fun and sport.

One chap showed great insight last week in suggesting I just wanted a racer which avoided a wet stripe up my back. Until I pointed out that in the slightest crosswind, or even the draught from a passing vehicle, caused the twin stripes, from the trike's back wheels, to find their intended target. Leaning in on corners, in the wet, is always a sharp reminder that having two tires does not leave me completely free of the risk of an icy cold shower!

So I continue to plough my three, lonely furrows along the quiet lanes and roads of Denmark. The number of other sporting trikes in Denmark can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. Many must ask: Is he clown or athlete? A highly subjective choice determined largely by the observer. Most would cheerfully allude to the former and who am I to argue?

An hour's walk up through the woods ending in light drizzle before I reached home. Everything is unusually soggy at the moment. It rained or drizzled all day so I spent some time tidying the shed. Another rest day. It has been a poor year for mileage. Having only just passed 6,500 miles, with 10,500 km in sight, it is far too late to make much difference to the totals now. Denmark is heading for another record warmest year a full half a degree higher than the last record in 2007. Most new records are set with much smaller fractions of a degree. Norway is also following suit.

Thursday 18th 45-50F, 7-10C, breezy, raining, heavy overcast. Went for an hour and half  walk up to the woods. Did a loop through the fire breaks and back by another way. It started raining at half way so my outer clothes were wet. I stayed dry and warm though. It is unusually mild and could hit 10C/50F at midnight tonight when it will also be rather windy. I must make a note not to go out at 12.00! Norway is matching Denmark towards a record warm year. Europe is also expected to set a new warm record. It may be a new record globally but it will be next year before all the data is crunched. I still hope to get out on the trike before steady rain sets in. It remained horribly wet all day. Another rest day. It hit 50F, 10C at bedtime.

Friday 19th 43F, 6C, breezy, broken cloud. Lots of cloud passed over as I walked but no rain nor much sunshine. Saw Longtailed tits, Herons, Buzzards, Redwings and a flock of Yellowhammers.

Left on the trike after coffee. Despite the dire forecast it turned out to be quite a nice day with plenty of sunshine. A great load of shopping to catch up on. Headwind coming home. 17 miles.

Saturday 20th 38F, 3C, windy, heavy overcast, occasional heavy showers. There was lightning to the north and a starry sky to the south during the night. The forecast is for more wintry showers and gusts to 30+mph. I set off late morning in short-lived sunshine. It started raining as I reached the shops and kept redoubling its efforts, including sleet on the way back until the air was nearly opaque. The gusts were fierce with a high pitched roar in the hedges and trees at times. I was struggling to stay on the road in the crosswind. At a guess it must easily have hit 50mph. The roads were heavily littered with twigs and debris blown out of the field hedges. It remained windy but the rain almost gave up eventually. 15 miles.

Sunday 21st 38-43F, 3-6C, light breeze with broad, pink brush strokes all over the sky. Rain and wind promised for after lunch. I had better make the most of it. In the absence of hunting, an hour and a half walk to more distant woods. I heard an owl and Jays but could not see them. Rather a sad and damp day with a niggling wind to keep me cool on the way back. Only a short ride. 7 miles under a leaden sky with the wind building. Quite a number of dead rats on the roads recently.

A light coloured, medium large, bird of prey, with short, pointy wings, was arguing with a crow as I returned. [A Falcon?] I see many birds of prey but am still unable to positively identify many of them. Big ones tend to become default "buzzards." Or Red kites if clearly seen and close enough to spot the clear markings and long wings. Many defy my limited skills at identification. I often see large, shaggy birds of prey with floppy feathers. On my walks most birds of prey are are seen from a distance or concealed by foliage. I do not carry binoculars on my trike but always do so on my morning walks.

When I walk the birds are far more wary. They will leave their perch well before I am close enough to see properly with the naked eye. On the trike I am not seen as remotely the same level of threat. They will often stay seated while I ride beneath them in their roadside trees. Or they will remain on the fields as I pass. Which is quite odd because most animals see the trike as a potential threat. Hares certainly don't like me on my trike but will watch me when I walk. Pheasants can't make up their tiny minds about anything!

Horses quite often panic momentarily as I pop into view from behind a roadside hedge. Eventually they become used to me if I pass them often enough. Though they will often still look up at me as I ride past. While cyclists on two wheels seem to pass quite unnoticed. It used to be said that tricyclists upset the horses far more than cyclists when horse drawn carriages were still commonplace. Presumably back in the late 19th century. The "bulky" appearance of the twin rear wheels must trigger some auto-flight instinct. Perhaps they have a race memory of being harnessed to chariots of war? Cattle will sometime stare at me but sheep don't seem to care much about trikes and tricyclists. They show far more interest if I walk past their field.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

*

15th December 2014 Reflecting on Zefal mirrors

*

Monday 15th 39F, 4C, raining, heavy overcast and windy. It may clear up, still with showers, after lunch. I will have to rethink my choice of socks. I suddenly have chilblains. Probably the result of taking a hot shower immediately after each ride. It might be worth waiting a while for my circulation to return to normal in cold weather. Though I'm not remotely aware of getting cold. [Apart from my nose.]

I gave the Trykit a rub over with a soft, dry cloth. It is amazing how Reynolds R931 stainless steel tubing ignores the need for regular, cosmetic titivation. Just a wipe over and water marks, mud and chain oil splashes just disappear without trace! The R953 forks initially showed signs of very minor, surface, spot rusting from freshly salted roads. Though even that problem seems to have stopped, the R931 still has the most attractive finish. There is never any sign of deterioration under all the accumulated muck despite the lack of attention. Accessories with non-stainless steel screws and parts are certainly not immune to rust! Brakes, pedals and handlebar stems are common examples.

The bar-end mounted, Zefal Cyclop mirror gets increasingly spotty after a long period of being sprayed by the back wheel. Made much worse over the winter. I tend to just give it  wipe with my rubberized glove as I ride along. Which isn't very kind to a plastic surface. Surprisingly these mirrors survive and are still useful even after a couple of years of daily use.

I consider my lightweight, Cyclop mirror far more useful than a helmet for real road safety. Though I wouldn't be without a helmet these days, I'd make a rear view mirror compulsory by law long before considering cycling helmets.

The ease with which I can constantly monitor overtaking traffic is a huge safety factor. While the freedom to use the entire road width, if necessary, is invaluable for avoiding farmer's mud, road kill and debris, viciously thorny hedge clippings, puddles and potholes. The mirror makes riding far more relaxing because there is never a need to turn round to glance backwards. With all the risks that entails. Using the Zefal mirror I can check exactly what is coming up from behind. If it's a bus or HGV I will often give a hand signal and then dive into a junction or farm entrance. To let the vehicle pass without causing any delay. I then allow the usual traffic tailing behind them to pass before continuing on my ride. This all depends on the road itself and whether there is a marked off cycle lane. There is no point leaving the road if they can overtake safely.

The plastic mirror's chrome plating is on an inner surface protected within the unbreakable plastic body. The image quality is actually very good as new. It's best feature is that it is mostly flat. So it doesn't distort nor shrink overtaking cars to tiny dots. Which would give the rider a dangerous and completely false impression of distance. Usually hiding a fast approaching car completely until it is far too late.

At least one rear view mirror should be compulsory on recumbents and electric bikes or trikes. I can't believe the number of times drooling morons remove their mirrors from their scooters or have them uselessly adjusted. Being morons they then ride like fools with absolutely no idea of the mayhem they are causing behind them!

Using a convex, rear view mirror on any cycle is absolutely suicidal. I tried several curved mirrors before discovering the excellent [and flat] Cyclop. It's shape and size are perfect for all kinds of handlebars fitting including 'racing' drops. Nor does it look completely naff like most bike and moped mirrors.

Zefal also do a tiny 'racing' mirror but I found it too small for bar-end use. Still handy in an emergency, but the tiny field of view was just too small to be very useful. An overtaking car was very close indeed before it could fill the mirror. Though this smaller mirror could be handy for time trialists wanting to monitor riders coming up from behind. Or even road racers in a breakaway or on fast descents if they are allowed to mount a mirror under the UCI rules. The mirror's very small size adds no weight or air drag worth mentioning.

The one thing I don't like about the appearance of my trike are the floppy cables for the Cateye Cadence computer. I have thin, translucent-white zip-ties holding the constantly sagging wires. Which regularly have to be re-tensioned lightly to keep things tidy. I had no luck with the only wireless computer I have tried so far. A bike mechanic whom I respect was highly critical of wireless computers and told me they were a constant problem for owners.

It is surprising how many people greet or wave at me on my rides. Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers all seem to know me. Being "the only tricyclist in the village" obviously has its benefits. ;ø) After a further delay for yet another shower to pass over I left after lunch. It stayed dry for my 10 mile loop. Already becoming dark by 3.30.

Tuesday 16th 37F, 3C, very heavy overcast, wintry showers, breezy with stronger gusts. Another dark day. Expected to improve later. The cloud broke up enough to tempt me out for a brisk, half hour walk. My timing was perfect as I returned home just before it rained from a suddenly, leaden sky. Only a short ride after lunch. 13 miles.


I thought I'd finally found a replacement for the Carradice 'Camper' Longflap in a charity shop. Unfortunately the bag proved to be too tall without offering much increased depth. Being so far short of useful depth [even compared with the manufacturer's claims] the Carradice Camper is quickly filled with shopping. A row of 1 four x liter milk cartons plus and one of yogurt leaves little room for anything else!

So I use the Longflap for the heavier stuff and a sports bag for everything else. The sports bag handles are simply hooked over the saddle pin without further restraint. Leading to a decidedly scruffy appearance that I constantly hope to erase. The bags are usually left in place outside a supermarket because there is little of interest to the casual thief in such a low crime country. These bright pink sports bags were dirt cheap from a supermarket special offer. Ironically they have proved to have incredible longevity compared with all the other bags I have ever used and abused. Many sports bags haven't lasted more than a few weeks at most before the zip or the seams fail. Which is why I have always bought them from charity shops in the past. Being highly selective as to quality, age and dimensions ensures they will fit safely between the rear wheels.

This must make incredibly boring reading to some but the primary purpose of my [tri]cycling is still shopping. It is what gives me a valid reason to go out so often. [Or; "running away again" as my wife refers to it] Choosing different shops and supermarkets each new day is what keeps my routes constantly changing. Denmark has countless rural villages. Quite a few of which sport at least one supermarket. Some have three or even four supermarkets.

Britain lost most of its unique village shops to centralized supermarkets in towns. With far fewer towns, Denmark went the other way with large numbers of rural supermarkets. The story of the struggling village post office in Britain, with its foolishly overpriced and stale, limited stock is turned on its head in Denmark. Since there are no pressures to "save money" by driving to a more distant town branch, the village supermarket, as part of a national chain, survives.

Or rather did, until the crooked bankers broke our real world. Many village shops and even supermarkets have now gone recently but have usually been replaced by a single supermarket within a few short miles. The secret to survival is for a supermarket to be on a reasonably busy route between towns without obvious local competition. Being so close to home and with far less traffic on the roads, the bicycle remains a valid shopping trolley for many rural inhabitants. Including the elderly. Who would otherwise have to take a bus into a nearby town or even run a car.

Most rural, danish Post Offices are now housed within a village supermarket belonging to a national chain. The latest trend is towards machine automation of sending and receiving parcels. Thus freeing the checkout staff from frequent interruptions to process parcels. There is almost no need for letters or other "post office business" today as almost all payment and communication is carried out online.

No doubt all this is very boring for those hoping to read of long distance tricycle rides in bright sunshine. Probably noble rides without any other purpose than  enjoyment or training. But, you must remember that I enjoy beautiful, constantly changing, rural scenery on a daily basis and on every single ride, regardless of my route or direction. Shopping has become such a habit and basic purpose that I find it quite hard to just set off with no real goal in mind. The downside is that stripping the trike of its shopping accoutrements denies me the ability to "just bring a loaf back while you are passing." ;ø)

Click on any image for an enlargement.

*

13th December 2014

*

Saturday 13th 40F, 4C, cloudy to overcast, breezy. Wintry showers promised mixed with possible

sunshine. I enjoyed an hour and a half walk looping up through the woods. Everything is saturated after yesterday's rain. With lots of large puddles in the folds of the fields. The tracks were similarly wet and needed frequent avoidance of watery stretches. There was continuous bright sunshine from a cloudless sky. A light wind kept me cool.

The fragile truce has been broken by a new pheasant uprising. A provocation which soon brought out the big guns. There are no reports of the numbers of casualties as yet. The pheasants are fighting a highly asymmetric campaign against a heavily armed foe. Skirmishes are expected to continue throughout the weekend.

I left late morning on the trike in continuing sunshine. Not going particularly strongly today but I detoured back via my favourite hills despite the heavy load of shopping. I saw a few cyclists out training in the sunshine, both road and MTB. They all seemed cheerful and waved before I did. There was a cold headwind on the last leg.

The backs of my heels are hurting again. Just as they do every winter. They looked bright purple after my shower. It might seem like mild frostbite but it's not like that at all. I know what cold feet are from my first winters riding daily on the trike down to a ridiculous -15C without overshoes. I've tried all sorts of creams and oils and even mixing them for the dryness and cracking of the heel skin in winter. I'm now using Sudocreme which seems to be best so far. I have no idea why my heels go like this but it may be the cold mains water. It may not be rinsing the soap out of my socks properly during the machine wash cycle.

I suppose it could be the cold air being pumped around my heels by the pedaling. Though there is no sense of having cold feet during a ride, nor afterwards. It was 40F today which is hardly cold but they still hurt. Nor do they feel as if they are rubbing in/on the shoes. Despite my usual optimism the high ankle, NW Celsius MTB boots have made no difference to the sudden start-up of these seasonal symptoms. Though this winter has been unusually mild until now. In fact it it has been record warm without being remotely balmy. Nor has wearing completely different combinations of thinner and thicker socks helped. My heels are no problem at all when it is slightly warmer. The skin on my heels is perfectly smooth and pink for probably nine months of the year. So it can't be general wear and tear from the cycling and walking. 19 miles.

Sunday 14th 36F, 2C, windy and overcast. I am still experimenting with handlebar height. My wife has observed that I am walking increasingly bent over as if I have a bad back. Fitting a shorter stem has helped but made me feel very upright when on the hoods. I sometimes glance in the empty shop windows to check my riding posture as I pass.

Lowering the handlebars is not the same thing as changing the reach. It would help if I could establish the cause of my difficulty in reaching the hoods. Over the last couple of years it has seemed more difficult to change gear. I begin to notice that I am spending what seems like too much time holding the centre of the bars. While it might be natural to use the tops for climbing it doesn't help when I need to suddenly brake or change gear on the ergo levers. Prior to that I used bar-end levers but they had quite different problems. It seemed a long reach down from the tops. I want to rest my hands naturally on the brake hoods. It even seems suddenly easier each time I change the handlebar position. Then it slowly becomes more difficult again until I am resting back on the tops.

Leaning forward is far more efficient as far as wind drag is concerned. It also places the rider over the bottom bracket for greater efficiency. Air drag rises enormously as speed increases. It is the major limiting factor as far as ultimate riding speed is concerned. Even at my modest cruising speed of around 12-15mph I am using considerable energy to push myself through the air. Now add in the constant [head]wind of the normal Danish climate. It follows that I ought to try and maintain a nice low torso angle to cut cleanly through the air.

One obvious option would be to ride with clip-on tri-bars to give me [fore]arm rests. This would [hopefully] take the strain off my back muscles. Unfortunately tri-bars are not remotely comfortable for general riding. They would also require dual levers. Or I would be constantly moving my hands from the forward extensions to change gear on the Campag Ergos. Braking would require the same hand position changes on and off the tri-bars.

While I may not need to brake very often I am constantly changing gear on the rear cassette to keep my cadence high. So, for quite a number of reasons, tri-bars are not suitable for normal riding. Besides, riding on the side bars, rather than the forward extensions, offers no arm support. I tried a set of 3T on the Higgins and was very glad to return to normal racing drops. Note the difference between saddle height and handlebars in the image above. The present position of the bars on the Trykit is more or less level with the saddle.

Perhaps I should just accept that I am getting older and stiffer with age. My toes do seem further away when I try to reach them with my fingertips. I am only slowly losing the battle to keep my speed high at all times. I rarely dawdle or stop pedaling, even downhill. It is a habit I learnt as a teenager to ride as fast as reasonably possible all of the time. My present riding regime (for want of a better word) is to ride regularly but only over rather limited distances per day. It all adds up over the year but is hardly taxing. I do not race therefore have no need to do high training mileages nor intervals. My fitness thus remains about the same year round. With little variation over the seasons.

I have been steadily increasing my stamina while climbing out of the saddle. It used to be agony to do just a few yards before sinking quickly back down! These days I keep trying to ride a complete hill while standing up. Finding the right gear is important to maintain momentum as well as road speed. Honking while twiddling on short cranks is very hard work and puts too much weight on the handlebars. Too high a gear and one loses speed and cadence. Changing gear while still putting a load on the pedals takes practice. Reading the tiny digits on the Cateye 'Cadence' computer while honking is completely impossible!

There is not so much pedal resistance when standing up since one can add one's own weight. There is no point in standing up, which uses much more energy, if I could just twiddle to keep up the same speed. Having a shorter handlebar stem makes me more upright while honking. This can be a serious disadvantage into a headwind. Where one might as well sit, keep a tight, low profile and twiddle.[To twiddle:- Pedal quickly, maintain a high cadence or high 90+ pedal rpm]

After coffee and rolls I rode off straight into the wind to try and reach Fåborg or manage 30 miles altogether. Rather short of breath again while climbing. At 15 miles I had more than enough of fighting the strong, coastal headwind. A pretty, but hilly, zigzag route home further inland made it 35 miles total. There was occasional sunshine but it was mostly very cloudy. Dropping the handlebars by a further few millimeters actually seemed to be more comfortable. My elbows are slightly bent when my hands are on the hoods. To help absorb road shocks without jarring. I'll see how it goes with this handlebar height before making any more changes.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

* 

11th December 2014

*

Thursday 11th 37F, 3C, heavy overcast, wet and sometimes very windy. Possibly with wintry showers. It doesn't look much like the sunny periods on offer by the DMI.

Google going down the Tube? As a lifelong detester of TV advertising I was delighted to see that Facebook now has more videos posted than YouTube. Facebook wisely [allegedly] avoids advertising on top of these videos. The idea that you can actually place advertising on top of other's unpaid creativity is a damned good reason for Google going down the [You]Tube if you ask me! Though I am very sorely biased.

My irritation at having to watch visual diarrhoea on YouTube, prior to watching every video, is matched only by the BBC News Advertising Platform. Where I have to pay a whole half minute, in pounds of human flesh, to watch every "newsworthy" video on their website. Not only that, but the same advertising video is repeated ad nausea [sic] prior to every "news" video. Just to add to this dire state of affairs the advertising sponsors of the BBC News website are often highly dubious. IMO. Asian airlines flogging off their flight attendants as cheap prostitutes seems to be quite a regular feature. Perhaps it is Google's targeted advertising trying to drive me crackers?

The BBC News egotists correspondents seem to have become major celebs in their own right. Their self-importance [and serious lack of skill] at repeating extremely dodgy arm movements, mocks any pretence by the BBC at caring [a jot] about the real events taking place in the background. I am often surprised that such suggestive hand movements are even allowed before the watershed! I blame the Torrey Canyon disaster for all of this! Give a man a rowing boat to walk and talk in... and he thinks he rules the [TV News] outside broadcast waves. If I see another news correspondent "trying their hand" I'll scream and scream until I'm sick! <sigh>

So, what has all this to do with tricycling? Not a lot, but I'm pedaling as fast as I can in decidedly inclement weather. It sleeted and rained heavily all day. While the fleeting sunshine could be measured in mere seconds. Only a short ride in rain on sopping wet roads. With streams rushing across the road from farm entrances. More of a crosswind most of the time. My socks remained perfectly dry in the NW MTB boots. So that's alright then. Only 7 miles.

Friday 12th 37F, 3C, overcast, raining and windy. The forecast is for continuous rain with storm force winds later. I seriously doubt it is worth going out today. Fortunately the promised storm, named Alexander by the meteorological Swedes, was a non-event for us. At what should have been the peak with gusts to over 50 mph the sky was clear and there was no sound of the wind. Better though, to have no storm than for it not to be forecast in advance.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

* 

8th December 2014

*

Monday 8th 35-37F, 2-3C, light breeze, heavy, pinky-orange clouds lumbering cross a pale, turquoise sky. Occasional showers. The forecast is sunshine and odd showers. We may have to wait for the sunshine. Let us hope that the oddness remains within bounds. Bounds? Perhaps that is the wrong word as well. A half hour walk under a raggedy sky. No sharp edges and great, long rolls of dirty cotton wool coming from the SW. Wind too cold to take my hands out of my pockets for more than a few seconds. A string of seven Hooper swans passed over honking occasionally. I should have taken gloves but hadn't planned on going far. Only a short afternoon ride due to occasional showers all morning. 7 miles.

A Serbian living in Denmark has fallen foul of the Janteloven. He was denied an application to apply for a Danish passport after passing the citizenship test with a perfect 40/40 score. His "un-Danish" crime? A speeding offence shortly after passing his test in 2012. He was given a 3000 DKK fine. Which is about £300. Given the average [illegal] speed of Danes behind the wheel one can only assume that they hate competition from "outsiders."

Janteloven is a series of rather similar rules for "foreigners" living in Denmark. Which include; "You are not better than us! Do not consider yourself superior, etc." The irony behind the story will not be lost on many Danes. And, those they host. The police recorded 200,000 vehicles speeding past just one point in one year. Given the relatively small number of Serbs in the country I think one can safely discount their being entirely to blame for these worrying statistics.



Tuesday 9th 32-35F, 0-2C, white overnight frost, quite still, small, dark, splodgy clouds in long strips. The sky cleared completely before becoming overcast with patchy mist. Enjoyed a longer walk up through the woods and back along the road. Saw a Blackcap foraging and several birds of prey. Hardly a noticeable breeze despite the windmills turning steadily. Sounds were much louder than usual. I could hear aircraft high overhead and lorries from miles away. Probably caused by an inversion layer. The frost was already thawing as I returned. I took off my fleece cap and gloves to cool down on the way back. What a weird day! It has completely misted over since I returned. The usual rural views have disappeared. It is lucky I have modern LED lights to combat lunatic drivers' normal behaviour in thick fog! I had better wear the fluorescent, Aldi rain jacket as back-up.

The mist had cleared a little after lunch but it had become windy. Cruising at 18-19 mph going. More like 10 mph coming back towards dusk. Drivers were mostly well behaved. Giving my mobile, Xmas tree impression a nice, wide berth. Only 13 miles.

Wednesday 10th 38F, 4C, gales, overcast. A storm has moved close to Western Europe overnight. Winds have gusted to 20m/s or 45mph locally on a 20mph base. It might brighten up later. A repeat with another deep low is expected on Friday.

There was a story in the Danish press about achieving "robust citizens." Supposedly those being able to cope with 72 hours without electricity and water during a severe weather crisis. That would be "the Danish storm of the century" of 1999, no doubt. With the power and water off for several days in a cold December we could not even run our wood stove. This has a water heating chamber which would have required hot water being drawn off regularly to avoid overheating the system. The pump could not work without power either. That would make a similarly huge dent in all the popular "green and efficient" heating systems of today. Pellets, solar, heat pumps, etc, would be utterly worthless without power.

The morning after the storm, village supermarket shelves were rapidly cleared and there were long queues at the petrol stations. With unbelievably selfish morons wasting time and causing frayed tempers by slowly filling their tanks to the very brim. Even filling several plastic fuel cans at the same time! Meanwhile, most of the waiting cars had their engines running to keep the driver warm!

The only stock of bottled water at one supermarket was all bought up by a couple in a large Mercedes. Who wheeled it out in two, very over-full trolleys. Fortunately I was able to reach more distant outlets with my quickly vanishing reserve of petrol. These areas had seemingly escaped the worst of the storm and things seemed quite normal.

A fresh gas cylinder for our small picnic stove [for cooking] was our only heat for several days. Candles, our light through the long, incredibly boring and very cold evenings. Unable to flush the toilet normally, we had the luxury of a garden well for obtaining as much water as we needed. Though not for drinking due to toxic, farm run off. How would families in blocks of flats cope without water, I wonder?

The complete blackout of information was extremely irritating. We had absolutely no idea when absolute necessities, like water and electricity, would return. Houses and farms near us were literally demolished or ripped apart by the storm. Tens of thousands of roofs were damaged. [And later replaced entirely for cosmetic reasons to get rid of the ugly new patches.]

It was several years before the most obvious damage was finally erased. Though there are still loads of drooping, long-outdated, TV aerials. We lost quite an area of roof ourselves but had to fend for ourselves. A telegraph pole supporting old TV aerials had been erected right against our house by a previous owner. It was felled by the wind and broke our mains water pipe on which it had sat for years! Lots of digging in wet clay and then trying to find a matching compression joint at the DIY stores! I was even ripped off by a DIY store for the remaining half of a wind-damaged ladder. How else was I to reach the roof myself to make repairs?

The insurance company generously offered a once-only payout to make repairs. A clever idea for those without the funds for making their homes quickly safe again. Though the degree of damage obviously varied widely. As would the cost. For those with only a few roofing tiles smashed on the ground it made for a quick and painless process.

When the power finally came back on, several days later, there was nothing about it on Copenhagen-centric, Danish TV. Nothing! It never happened!

It was rather like the self-importance of London to the British news. A large, nuclear bomb going off just beyond London's filthy [out]skirts would hardly get a mention. Not unless the fallout might concern London celebs. Certainly no outside broadcast cameras could possibly be spared of London tourist attractions could be shown completely undamaged by some storm which had laid waste to the rest of the country.

While a broken finger nail of a London based celeb would be endlessly covered. With in-depth interviews with both experts, tame scientists, surgeons and breathless witnesses alike. No doubt leading to normal programming being rearranged to stress the importance of the terrifying disfigurement and how it will affect their career!!

I wonder when the rain will stop so I can do something else? ;ø)

The morning has been punctuated by sunshine and showers. Almost pitch darkness and bright sunshine at quick but random intervals. Though the noisy, overnight wind has now much reduced to a completely normal breeze. I might even venture forth after lunch. But didn't. Another rest day.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

*

4th December 2014

*

Thursday 4th 34F, 1C, still, but heavily overcast again. Another grey day with slightly stronger winds promised for later. The cold, grey weather seems to have cleared the cycle paths of keen cyclists. I saw only one chap out training in the countryside yesterday, though the city had plenty of cyclists. Time for a walk. The winds stayed light so I was too arm in my duvet jacket. The ground was softer and stickier thanks to it rising only a couple of degrees above freezing.

Late morning ride to the shops. Cold but comfortable. Three fuckwit losers set off an illegal banger in a waste bin at a bus stop in a busy village just as I approached. There was a huge bang, a big cloud of black smoke and the bin was destroyed. With the debris and rubbish blown right across the road. Including sharp metal fittings of the bin itself which I just missed. Car alarms were set off as they captured it all on their iSlaves. No doubt to share their drooling idiocy on an equally sick world. 18 miles. Going out again. Another seven miles in a very grey world.

The Northwave MTB boots are proving very comfortable and warm. The one problem is the foolishly long loops, formed in the tension laces to the inner socks. There is nowhere obvious to put them. One thin string has already become trapped in a pedal and broken! What were they thinking? Was I supposed to put my foot through the loop?

I was surprised at a story in today's Danish national press. It was about neighbours being subject to passive smoking from neighbours "leakage." No word about the hundreds of thousands [millions?] of Danes subject to passive smoking from grey/black smoke pouring endlessly from their neighbour's chimneys? The air quality for those downwind of these chimneys must match many sites in the CCDC [Corrupt Communist Dictatorship of China]

Our house and garden constantly stink from illegal burning of reclaimed timber from demolition work. Even when they burnt "real" wood for heating in the past it was always too wet and stank of creosote and produced heavy grey smoke! Who knows what effect it is having on our health, quality of life and life expectation? The WHO?

Friday 5th 37F, 3C, misty, almost still, heavily overcast with light drizzle. Forecast to dry up later. So I'll decide about a ride if things improve. I have found and ordered a pair of quite modestly price, winter sunglasses with edge seals to the lenses. They were selling at half the usual Danish online price. My main worry is the darkness of the lenses which is not specified. They may still be suitable for cold but sunny winter days. The low, winter sun can be blinding on many of my rides. I should have mentioned that restoration of the private suspension bridge near Assens is progressing nicely.

It never cleared up and continued to drizzle lightly for most of the day. Traffic completely ignores the 30kph [20mph] illuminated speed signs outside a school. Very nearly a rest day. Only 7 miles.

Saturday 6th 41F, 5C, heavy overcast. almost still. Forecast to brighten up again later with sunshine possible after lunch. The cloud is already breaking up in patches.

A multi-vehicle pileup was caused yesterday on the Horsens motorway with 3 dead in thick fog. I'm amazed there weren't far more fatalities. We never go near the motorways now because they are the daily playgrounds of raving psychopaths. No matter how poor the weather there are always those travelling at well above the speed limit. The average speed is always well above the frequent signs. To drive at the marked speed limit is to invite endless juggernauts to overtake or sit on the rear bumper.

Fog and cloudbursts only spur the nutters to even greater excesses. The same is true on all roads. With oncoming headlight visibility literally down to 50 meters/yards in fog the majority are driving at their usually foolishly high speeds. Often taking every corner with a "racing line" which automatically means using the opposite carriageway! The majority of cars and lorries overshoot the sharp, blind corners on our local roads. Often crossing the double white lines by more than the entire width of the vehicle! Meanwhile the same, equally-unskilled majority are cutting every single corner going the opposite way! A certain recipe for disaster.

An update: A 23-year-old lorry driver has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. It is suggested that he drove into the back of stationary vehicles blocked by a previous incident. I wonder whether the police will automatically check the driver's mobile phone for activity just prior to "the accident". Or would that be an abuse of his human rights? I constantly see lorry drivers using handheld mobile phones while negotiating very tight turns with only one hand.

But enough of the thrice woes. I enjoyed an hour's walk in bright sunshine. Cloudless blue skies and almost no wind. Rode to Assens after the morning coffee and rolls ritual. Sunny with a light headwind. A bit short of breath but not enough to slow me down very much. The Bliz (sic) 'Altitude' wind-shielded sunglasses arrived and proved to be very dark indeed. The view was very sharp in the bright, low sunshine as the sun set. They'll be fine for riding into continuous, low winter sun or on sunlit snow. I have plenty of other sunglasses for dimmer conditions. Lowering my handlebars by 1cm had little noticeable effect. 26 miles.

Sunday 7th 38F, 3C, breezy, overcast, raining. It is forecast to rain all day, with winds gusting to over 30mph. So I might as well use it as a lame excuse for a rest day. Sad but true for multiple reasons.

Click on any image for an enlargement. 

*