14th August 2016 Silicone gargle, Sir? Suits you, Sir!

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Sunday 14th 61F, 16C, bright start but quickly clouded over to heavy overcast. Breezy with showers forecast. A brisk walk down to the village and back. A driver, who almost filled the front two seats, nearly knocked me down on a sharp corner in his small car. He had plenty of time to see me from well over a hundred yards away but chose a racing line on auto pilot. Of course this put him on the wrong side of the double white lines on his exit after a last second, violent swerve to avoid me! Sunday bløødy drivers! He was probably day-dreaming about [more] food.

Mid afternoon ride to the shops to buy yesterday's missing items in the local supermarkets. "If you can't see it on the shelf then we don't have it." To which you respond: "But it's the first day of the special offer!" Followed by the inevitable, helpless shrug of a pre-teenage, forced labour, child slave probably earning more than many highly skilled, middle class Americans. [According to Trump's election rumours.]

A cross headwind needed the tri-bars to make some decent progress. Showers threatened but missed me and left the roads damp in short stretches. My lungs, or throat, are all bunged up again with silicone aquarium adhesive. <spit!>

I bought another X-rage rain jacket at the supermarket. The new offer was in translucent florescent yellow instead of the former translucent white. These jackets aren't the last word in breathability but they are totally windproof and quite waterproof for a while. The material is nicely "floppy" and packs down tightly enough to go in a racing jersey pocket if necessary. A handy "life jacket" for when there is an unexpected shower or it suddenly turns cold. Ideal to get you home safely after an evening training ride or TT.

Affordable at 130dkk [or £14.50GBP in old money] and a nice slim fit all over which avoids rattling cloth. Cut long at the back for those who cannot afford mudguards on their £10k S-Works. It also has a large zipped, rear pocket and a generous vent across the back, elasticated wrists and a lightweight zip. I thought the bright florescent colour might give me an extra margin of safety amongst the driving sociopaths. Or offer me up as a highly visible sacrifice to all the poor, sad, deluded and totally inadequate nutters. Who hide behind the wheels of their very own, shiny, bumper cars because they don't have a real life. I was overtaken in a village sporting "Children on the road" signs at the entrance. This nutter was doing over 60mph in a [nominal] 30mph speed limit and producing enough smoke for a 19th century, coal-fired coastal steamer, which had failed its MOT on emissions grounds. 13 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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