29th July 2019 You don't want to do it like that!

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Monday 29th 67-84F, bright, white, northern sky with thunder storms and cloudbursts available for viewing this afternoon. Both Norway and Sweden have enjoyed record high temperatures in the Europe-wide heat wave. Cambridge Botanical Gardens has had its 38.7C/ 101F record confirmed after Met Office checks on its equipment.

Meanwhile, back at the hovel, it had reached a decidedly sweaty, 76F by the time I returned from my walk. It feels very hot and humid outside even in the shade.

The plants on the verge were providing nectar to countless insects. I was going to cross the prairie up to the woods but the stink from the black sludge was just too much. My nose was stinging before I reached the entrance to the field. Temperatures reached 84F in the afternoon. Well over either forecast!

No doubt the fossilized bicycle will be receiving our undivided attention later. In fact, it took another couple of hours to extract it without further damage using camel hair watercolour artists' brushes. A spot of WD40 and it'll be shining and ready for eBay by the end of the week: As an "Extremely Rare, Roadworthy, Antique, Barn Find." 

It shows a number of highly desirable, vintage features; Large section chain and seat stays with flattened ends. Horizontal saddle pin for reach adjustment. Broad gauge chainwheel. No obvious brakes. Coaster [back pedal brakes in the rear hub] were the norm back then. Size is 42cm BB center to the top of the seat lug. I'm throwing in the rusted saddle springs and bleached plastic saddle cover. Rear mudguard only. That will need a bottle of touch up paint.  Buyer collects, cash only with a starting bid of [what shall we say £500] "Buy it Now" at £750? I'm pricing it to sell. 😇

It was sweltering working in full sun at 80F. You can never have enough exercise at our age. The more you do, the more you can do, more effortlessly and without injury. "Use it or lose it."

The journey back to full activity after a break becomes harder the longer the lay-off. Better, surely, to keep at it to avoid aching backs and strained muscles? I can often feel some pain as I head off on my morning walk but it soon passes.

I didn't use to walk much at all when I was cycling every day. I now think that was a serious mistake. Walking has therapeutic qualities both physical and mental. It is far more relaxing than thrashing along on a tricycle. I still haven't learned to slow down. If I'm not breathless then I'm obviously not trying hard enough.

I climb out of the saddle as often as possible to share the load with different muscle groups and give others a rest. Finding the correct gear to provide just enough resistance is always a problem. Too little and I'm pedaling too fast and all my weight is thrown onto my arms. I am usually turning 95+rpm while seated. Which is far too high for standing on the pedals. Inevitably that means a change up of two to three gears or [usually] somewhere in the middle.

Once standing, I really don't want to be changing gear on high chain tension. I run 2x11 Campag with an 11-34 cassette and Chorus levers. Which ought to provide all the gears you could possibly hope for, but doesn't.

Find too high a gear and one's momentum is immediately lost. Which means dropping a gear to get the resistance down and the pedal revs back up again. Except that it has all become an ungainly mess by now. Any advantage gained from standing is soon lost. Sitting down again means the gear is now far too high to twiddle slowly over the crest. More gear changing and more breathlessness.

A trike behaves very differently from a lightweight bike on a climb. It can't be rocked from side to side to gain extra leverage. Now add a 70kg Abus Mini-U lock, six liters of milk, a bag of spuds and other assorted shopping. It becomes a very fine balance between maintaining inertia and just keeping going on some ascents.

The one great advantage of trike is that you can't fall over sideways as your speed drops below 6mph. If you can keep on pedaling and give thanks for having 2WD, you can crawl [slowly] to the top of Everest.

Just pray you don't need to do a 180° on a steep hill on a trike. Turning sideways to the slope means a very long, free-fall all the way back downhill! Ouch! You can't just lay a trike over and fall uphill like a bike. Nor lean far enough uphill to keep your balance. Because the top tube simply won't let you crank your leg that far to push your body weight in the right direction.

You'd better hope you were wearing thick, hide gloves. But why would you on a trike ride?  That would be silly. Like not having a low enough gear on a trike to survive any climb. What about keeping the nose uphill and dismounting?  Plates + asphalt + slope + only having front brakes. The unloaded front wheel will instantly slide backwards as fast as your slippery SPDs can carry you.

Try putting your feet down and lift the whole trike around you? Nice theory!  Again, it can't be done if you are carrying anything, at all. The trike is simply too heavy and awkward to lift in one go.  Remember you are wearing silly cycling shoes with even sillier, projecting plates/cleats underneath. Which have a combined coefficient of friction on asphalt which is so low most shipbuilders would be envious.

Electric bicycles are causing mayhem across Europe. There is already an aftermarket service for tuning parts to make El-cycles go even faster. A 74 year-old lady has been seriously injured after being struck by an El-cycle on a curved, two-way cycle path. I saw an advert in the Danish small ads for an electric cycle which "can easily exceed 60kph [40mph] for over 100km!" The legal limit is only 45kph for sports electric cycles. That's upper 20s mph. With 50kph [31mph] the national speed limit for built up areas. All figures are pedestrians permitting of course.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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