6.05.2023 Moustache rear rack mod abandoned.

 ~o~

 Saturday 6th 4C/40F. Dark overcast, wet and windy. Expected to rain all day.  A huge band of rain is stuck over the top of us. Up at 5.30. 

 My hanging of the shade netting on the greenhouse was obviously premature. It has been cool outside, windy and overcast. I even had to light the stove again last night. The lounge had dropped to 15C/59F. Only 17C/63F upstairs this morning. It has been fairly stable up here at 20C/68F for quite a while. That was relying only on the greenhouse and sunshine for warming the house.

 9.00 4C/40F. I risked a walk to the lanes in my heavy winter jacket. I was glad for it and the hood. A cold easterly breeze, grey and miserable. 

 Though one of the windmills was still on strike. Probably in support of the abolition of a bank holiday. To make the tax-free 1% richer.  It is pretending to be winter again. Though it remained dry for the duration. Traffic was quiet. The birds too.

 Should I risk a ride in potentially wet weather? I have ridden in hail and rain before. I have waterproof clothing. I need to reach a ten miles distant builders merchant. They still have original stock of all sorts. Not having cleared the shelves for bubble packs and reducing stock levels to 0.01% of the really useful stuff. Or go in the car and get it over with in 1/4 of the time. I chose the car.

 I brought back some stainless steel hinges to modify the Moustache rear rack. Then decided they were too fiddly. They would also require I drilled the cast crossbars on the Moustache rack. So I have rehung the Ortlieb panniers with the hooks as far apart as is physically possible. It is still a real fiddle. Because the bag hooks are jammed between the two outer, sloping rack uprights. 

 There is none of the effortless lift and remove. Or drop on and locate of the Ortlieb YouTube videos. I have fitted the click-in spacers to match the 12mm rack tubing. This helped only slightly. 

 The Ortlieb hooks can [theoretically] be spaced even farther apart than the outer Moustache crossbars. However, all access is denied to this area by the poor rack design. 

 With the present, close spacing of the hooks the bags will rock back and forth despite the lower clamp arm. I ought to space the hooks even closer together if I want ease of removal and fitting. 

 It is far more convenient to carry the full pannier bags indoors. Than to unload them outside. This is a luxury I have been denied until now. Fifteen years and counting? All my previous bags have been firmly fixed to a rack on a trike. Or hung from the saddle loops. Carrying bags full of shopping indoors should now have been effortless. It still isn't! 

 18.15 8C/47F. The late afternoon sun has just come out. My cycling clothing spent the entire day on the outside drier in occasional rain. I hoped it would help to remove any remaining soap residue. I'll have to check if it is worth bringing it in. I have the stove on again. The jerseys were dry. With that unmistakable bouquet of leau de cochon. They can air by the stove. 

 19.00 I have just competed another marathon washing up stint. Tonight feels like toast. Probably with poached eggs. One egg broke as I lowered it into the cup. Both were fine.

~o~