27th July 2016 Not a lot.

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Wednesday 27th 58F, 14C, bright but rather cloudy with hardly a breeze. 3/4s of an hour walk. Late afternoon ride for 7 miles. Strong head-crosswind going out under a grey sky. I returned safely before the sky tipped down briefly. There are a lot of peacock butterflies about at the moment. An Emperor dragonfly bounced off my arm.

Thursday 28th 61F, 16C, bright sunshine with no wind. The wind should remain light for most of the day. Potential ride day? Not. Rest day spent in the workshop. What a waste!

Friday 29th 64F, 18C, sunshine and showers. I walked the borders of the prairie to the woods via the spray tracks. Just the gentlest of drizzle as an omen sent me heading for home. Whereupon there was a terrific cloudburst. Which I could safely watch from indoors. Perfect timing to the second! My legs feel like lead after a day of standing at my lathe. The same on my short ride. Though they felt better on the way home. Only 7 miles.

Saturday 30th 62F, 17C, heavy overcast, showers promised with a clearing to sunshine later. I left for my walk with threatening dark clouds on the horizon. Before long there was a cloudburst just as I had reached an avenue of Horse Chestnuts. With more rain threatened I headed off across the fields via the spray tracks. I saved a considerable distance but was soaked from brushing through the crops. Yet again I reached home just before another cloudburst. It showered all morning so the familiar Saturday ride is postponed until this afternoon. Not much to report except for a headwind coming home. 15 miles. A bit breathless today.

Sunday 31st 64F, 18C, sunshine and heavy showers. I walked to the village where I saw two deer resting in a spray track right beside the road and close to a farmhouse. My presence prompted them to move a yard into the crop and sit down with only their ears and one with small antlers showing.  The sparrows seem to have joined forces with upwards of 50 birds moving about in flocks. Plans for world domination? Probably not.

Any thoughts of a ride were quashed by sudden downpours and rather more wind than one is wont to enjoy on a trike. So that was wet July. I keep telling myself that I have absolutely no need to justify my shrinking mileage. Is there some minimum distance under which one is no longer able to call oneself a "proper" cyclist? My plan was for fewer but longer rides. Instead of which I just seem not to be riding much at all.  Perhaps if there were less rain... ?

Click on any image for an enlargement. 

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