9th August 2016 Deer to the right of him. Ducks to the left...

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Tuesday 9th 53F, 12C, breezy with bright sunshine. The forecast is for showers and very windy again. The good news is that some supermarkets are stocking my favourite digestive biscuits again. There was a hiatus while some sugar-laden and palm oil polluted alternatives were offered but these did not meet with my high moral standards. Nor my approval of their texture and greasy aftertaste. Try My Price digestives if you can get them. I think you will agree that nothing remotely compares. I haven't tried any other of their products nor really care to.

This morning I enjoyed a pleasant walk up to the woods via the marsh. There was almost perfect silence once I had left the morning traffic to its own devices. The usual culprits overshot their corners or cut right across into the path of others [including myself] on the sharp, blind corners. Everybody should have a hobby, but this is ridiculous!

The ducks on the pond saw me off, with a brave show of hysterical laughter amid serried ranks. They must have a new warlord to behave in such a brash and confident manner. Having moved quickly out of range I continued on around the edges of the prairie via the spray tracks. Five individual deer were hiding in the crops or wandering along the tracks and all quickly left the scene in disgust at my unwanted intrusion.

The woods were looking fine in bright sunshine after considerable tree and undergrowth clearing in the past couple of years. This had left a lot of bare and sticky mud. Nature has made a good job of repairing the damage if you don't mind wading through chest high, wet weeds, nettles and brambles in places.

It is lucky I can still lift my feet high enough to be able to press my way down through the taller brambles. Fortunately there is nobody, except myself, to chortle at my foolish antics! Nor, presumably, anyone to find my corpse, at least in the short term, should I do a face plant. Which, I believe, is modern US parlance for the UK colloquialism of going arse over tit.] The active blogger should always remember that one has an international audience. ;-)

A mid-afternoon ride north with a fierce and gusty crosswind for unwanted company. Every time I came out from behind the hissing and roaring hedges I had to be careful not to be blown off course.

After years of having my large sports bags slide into the wheels on transverse ramps, when taken at high speed, I think I may finally have a solution:

Two bog standard, toe-clip straps threaded through the shoulder strap buckles of the big sports bag. They are then passed through the previously unused D-rings of the Carradice 'Bijou' Camper Longflap saddlebag and tightened.

Since the saddlebag is firmly strapped to a crossbar affixed to the top of the Trykit, SS trike rack, none of the above odds and sods can possibly move very far. Having just purchased the toe straps I cannot confirm any remarkable, new-found stability for my errant sports bag. I had tried short lengths of cord through the aforementioned receptacles before but it was all too fiddly to undo and retie again outside every shop and supermarket. Basically I'm a lazy git when I am allowed to get away with it.

After arriving safely back at home I re-attached the excellent Profile Design tri-bar extensions. Fighting the wind is already hard enough on a trike mounted with assorted drogues, braking parachutes, counterweights and bags. So being able to reduce one's frontal area is usually worth a couple of free miles per hour on the flat. Even more on the vertiginous stuff. The extensions have the advantage that one need not adjust the dropped [road] 'bars for a lower position. So one gains at least two more handlebar positions for those longer rides when one's wrists begin to tire.

The bar extensions weigh remarkably little for being aluminium alloy. While the handlebar clamps are really firm without any slip so far. The extensions are also very handy for leading the trike by the head. The extra forward extension avoids one being run down by the trike's nearest rear wheel. Handy for those moments when one has to suddenly sprint, on foot, across a busy road. Usually when a driver kindly gives way to the poor old fart. "I'm 69 you know!" (To be read with a Spike Milligan accent) :o))

Another advantage of the tri-bars is being able to mount the computer so it can be easily seen from a comfortable angle. It improves safety when one is monitoring one's speed or cadence for an extended period, without having to look downwards and backwards.

The Sigma Cadence 16-12 STS wireless computer has been by far the best I have ever owned. It has worked flawlessly provided I replaced the cheap [watch style] batteries when it reminds me in the cold of winter. Offering more readings than any cycling nerd could possibly wish for, my only complaint is the confusion between the round-headed, italic style 2s and 7s. At least they are large enough to read without having to carry a tunneling electron microscope in the saddle bag.

The Sigma's rotatable base [shoe] has proved a godsend when changing its position on assorted handlebars. The head also locks into place with a rotating bayonet fitting instead of the usual linear clip design. Which often deposited the computer head onto the road during rough intervals going on my own previous experience. The Sigma has always remained calmly in place. Only 12, windy miles today.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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