Friday 27th November 2015 Sand, as far as the eye can see!

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Friday 27th 41-42F, 5-6C, breezy, heavy overcast. Showers possible with rain later. Walked to the woods to practice climbing steep fire breaks. Very soggy underfoot! Still lots of patches of snow and ice.

 Heavy dew didn't stop the hunter's 4WDs on the way to shooting ducks on a pond.

A short ride after morning coffee and toast. Roads filthy and covered in loose gravel. Struggling to exceed 10mph going into the wind so I dropped onto the tri-bar extensions for 14mph. Cruising at 20mph coming home. It is quite amazing how many birds of prey I see on my walks and rides. Only 15 miles.

Saturday 28th 41F, 5C, heavy overcast with rain. It was 12.00 before the sun finally came out. I replaced the second damaged brake noodle on the gear cable. While they may see a smart solution to a sharp bend they can't tolerate index gear use. The tapered nose of the noodle breaks and adds unwanted friction.

 An electrically assisted, delta, sociable trike in a supermarket car park.

Now I have replaced the noodle with a continuous, smooth loop of outer the gears are back to normal. I still have a noodle on the front changer cable and this too has become sticky. It will have to be replaced with a straight run of outer now that I have some spare. The problem start when the handlebars turn to full lock and the cables run out of available movement. This was why I fitted noodles in the first place.

I had quite forgotten how precise and effortless index gearing can be when the cable isn't dragging. A late afternoon, hilly loop. Returning in Xmas tree mode at dusk. I noticed a slow puncture two miles from home. Rode on as the road surface became steadily more noticeable without actually feeling the valve banging on the asphalt.

Not sure I trust Schwalbe Duranos any more. They went on in the middle of December 2014. So a year of wear, 5800 miles for a total of 6 punctures. That's more than one  puncture per 1000 miles near as a matters. Not impressive even when the roads are strewn with flinty sand! Are they spreading it to combat ice? 19 miles today.

Sunday 29th 44F, 7C, overcast, windy. A day of showers, sunny periods and gales leading up to a storm. Gusts of well over 50mph are expected this evening. Mended the puncture and cleaned the sandy filth from the trike with assorted brushes and collected rainwater. The flint which caused the damage can be seen in the image. There is no chance of avoiding a puncture with this sort of thing lying around. It's 6mm length was embedded point down in what is now only 3mm of tread. Thorn catchers might knock flints off before they can penetrate with succeeding impacts on the road. The problem is arranging such contraptions on the rear wheels of a delta trike. There is also a high likelihood of spray coming off the tyre savers on wet roads. With gales and showers all day I took another rest day.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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