~o~
8.30 I really ought to light the stove. 61F/16C in the room. It's a bit too chilly.
I'll try another ride today but wearing bibs. To protect me from the new Brooks B67. You know, the company which advertises that their saddles "are comfortable from new but keep on improving." Ouch!
The bibs [racing shorts with soft, fixed braces] are more thickly padded and shouldn't move about between myself and the saddle. I wonder what would happen if I wore two pairs of padded shorts at the same time? I shouldn't sweat in these low temperatures.
Talking of which: I wore a thick Norwegian jumper under the Endura jacket yesterday but it didn't really help. There was still a cold feeling down my front from the zip leaking cold air. The zip has a 15mm wide band to stop leakage but it obviously isn't good enough.
I might try my other high vis jacket today. The Game ID-Tech. Yet another charity shop find. It is thicker than the Endura but doesn't have the specialist, cycling rear pocket. It has normal hip pockets with zip closure. Worth a try as long as I don't stuff the pockets..
The Endura would be much better for having a divided rear pocket. One large one means I am constantly searching for things which are all mixed together and out of reach. I keep my reading glasses in there. Along with keys, tissues and my wallet. My racing jerseys and jackets all have several rear pockets. Which makes life so much easier.
ON a manual bike, or trike, I would wear multiple layers under a windproof cycling jacket. This would give me the option of removing layers if I overheated on climbs. The e-bike is much colder to ride in winter. Higher speeds mean far more serious wind chill. Not producing so much warmth from lighter pedalling loads is another factor. On the trike I would be working hard all the time. It was just the way I rode most of the time. I'd get on and ride hard. Usually just below breathlessness. Often beyond breathlessness on the climbs.
On the e-bike I seem to have adjusted automatically to the power assistance available. I am exerting continuous effort on the pedals but no longer overheat nor get breathless. I get a good workout but am not at my personal limit any more. The burning in my legs on climbs is now history. I do get tired after a long ride but don't stagger indoors when I get home. I often use Turbo as I near home to overcome the hills. On the trike I would be nearing exhaustion. I would be down to a crawl in bottom gear and looking for an even lower one.
Thank goodness I chose a '45' Speed model of e-bike. I would have been extremely irritated by the low speed available from a standard e-bike. Even in my 70s I would have been able to maintain their low, top speed on my trike. It would have been a short lived frustration ending in a quick sale and a considerable loss on the investment. That said, I do not see the need for very much higher speeds than the '45' 28mph currently provides.
Speed is of course subject to power input from the rider. Many older, inexperienced riders would find themselves struggling to be safe in Turbo mode on a 28mph e-bike. The US style e-bikes with throttle are a completely wasted opportunity. IMO. Exercise is essential to human survival. Having to pedal makes far more sense to me. Sitting like a big blob of jelly, without pedalling, is a recipe for becoming an even bigger blob. Obesity is responsible for many avoidable, human diseases and deaths.
9.20 The stove is going. So I can have a short walk.
10.00 38F/3C. The sun came out but it didn't warm the cold, southerly wind. The verges still had signs of overnight ground frost. Just a stroll down the road. Then looped the clockwise way around the neighbour's drives. Small birds scattered on my approach.
Where to go for a ride? It would be risky to go too far on the new saddle.
12.00 41F/5C. Back from a 26km ride in bright sunshine. Average speed a gentle 22kph. The house is full of sunlight. My nether regions were still tender from yesterday's ride. So I tried shifting around on the saddle but little really helped. Nevertheless it was sunny. A ride was going to be had regardless of the pain.
I tootled around the quiet, hilly lanes and even explored those I had never followed. Because they were marked as no through roads. Which meant driving along them would be rather silly. I'd probably end up in a farmyard and did so this morning. On a bike one can U-turn silently without disturbing anybody. The rural views from these closed lanes were fresh and delightful. Though they were far too narrow for two vehicles to pass. The few houses would not make for heavy traffic.
I now have a thermal imaging camera. An add-on for my Android phone. It shows images captured in infra red. To which the human eye is insensitive. The hope is to minimise heat loss and find cold spots where insulation is absent in Chez Hovel.
I now have lots of images of the walls and windows. Which will help me decide where I should prioritize improvements. I already knew the the temperature of the living rooms walls is vertically stratified. Because I had two different, pistol style thermometers.
What these can't easily show is the bigger picture. How badly the walls are insulated locally or compared to other areas. Has the roof insulation slipped down the 45º slope above the attic ceiling? The frost melts unequally on the roof. How is the heat reaching those particular spots more quickly than elsewhere? The thermal [IR] camera will show cold spots indoors where the heat is escaping.
I was careful not to touch the outside of the gloves as I put each of them on. The heat from my hands would transfer to the shell. Rather than showing the heat loss through the layers of fabric and insulation. I should have been more patient before taking pictures but it was blowing and freezing out there!
Dinner was chicken, mushrooms and chips. I was going to do gravy but opted out.
~o~
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