18th February 2016 It ain't heavy. It's my trike.

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Thursday 18th 29-34F, -1+1C, sprinkle of snow, misty, light breeze, overcast but clearing to watery and then brighter sunshine. Took advantage of the frozen fields and spray tracks to get to the far woods. I disturbed several large herons. Warm enough to remove my hat and gloves on the last stretch along the road. I usually brighten and increase the contrast on my landscapes but it often strips the image of its mood and mistiness. Left to its own devices an image can seem dull and depressing. Heads you lose.

Mid-afternoon ride for 15 miles  under grey skies. Big Dintex/Heatpax gloves going out. Gripgrab coming home. The gears keep improving and makes me wonder whether the kinks I put in the cable are straightening out from continuous tension. I really need to get the trike upon the workstand to fine adjust the indexing and end stops. I'm trying to avoid it until I am certain my back is back to normal. Getting the trike onto the workstand is a dead lift to neck height. I can reduce some of the burden by removing the rack and saddlebag.

Normally I would just lift the whole trike as if it were routine. My recent back problems were a wake-up call. To remind me that I am not still invulnerable as I rapidly approach seventy. For decades I would just lift anything that was necessary without suffering any real ill-effects. I have moved rocks the size of a mini, lifted cars, engines, vast concrete pipes, huge logs, steel poles, ladders, beams and joists, bags of cement, roofing materials and massive items at work. They were all just a bit of a struggle to be overcome and move on. They could be lifted by one person [me] or they could not. And, if they could not then there were always scaffolding poles or levers and ropes and pulleys where each method was more useful. You will have guessed that my existence is, and always has been, a largely solo affair. With the constant support and "advice" of The Head Gardener of course. 

Friday 19th 33F, 1C, heavy overcast, misty and rather breezy. Possible wintry showers earlier on but clearing later. I had better get a ride in today because tomorrow is forecast to be gales, with wintry showers leading to rain. It felt a little colder than necessary given the temperature. I walked my usual, loop in an anti-clockwise direction with an added loop via the fire tracks in the forest. The ground was mostly firm, the birds and animals largely absent. 

I have decided to resign my post as moderator of the on3wheels triking forum. It was not the place of the moderator to be quite so outspoken however strongly he might have felt about US digital dictatorship. I did not care for the attitude of certain members so used that as an excuse to "get my coat." My attempts to delete my own posts were unsuccessful but at least I managed to ban myself.  It was ironic that Kevin started the forum only 3 days before I had intended to do so myself. I delayed fearing I would undermine the TA. Only to discover that the octogenarian Luddites never cared for an Internet presence anyway. I quickly took over duties as moderator and set up many of the sub-forum headings and descriptions. It was mostly good fun and the vast majority of members were remarkably well behaved. May they go on to greater things in my absence. May those with an attitude suffer from constant punctures.

Some might argue that my blog has become more rant than stated context. But at least here I can speak my mind here without tip-toeing around petty, niggling critics. Anyone who has deliberately found themselves here, more than once, will know exactly what to expect. My blogs are my outlet for my cycling, my creativity but also my irritation at our barking mad world. Or rather its so-called "leaders." I wake every morning thinking it really doesn't have to be like this. Then I read the news and realise that there is absolutely no will to improve ourselves nor our only planet. It is all about greed. Greed for power and greed for unlimited wealth.


Our tiny blue speck, in an unimaginably vast universe, is run by the deliberately evil, the utterly corrupt and the clearly deranged. It really is that simple. We refer to countries as if they were somehow, collectively responsible. This is never true. It is always the deluded, or completely deranged head of state, who calls the shots, starts the wars and struts like a mincing peacock at the UN.

Sadly I lack the energy to try and achieve democratic change. It would only replace the present, rabid morons with yet another lot. Nor have I the common sense to realise I can do nothing about it. [Except whinge.] Absolutely nothing has really changed in my long lifetime. The faces on the musical chairs, constantly rearranged on the gravy train, may have changed but you can't trust any of them. Not even to run a school crossing without causing major conflict or global chaos. The system is badly broken. Those who broke it are still firmly in charge of their personal asylum. We, mere mortals, must try and dodge the artifacts of their raving lunacy. It was ever thus. 14 miles under cold, miserably grey skies.

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