~o~
Monday 8th 46F/8C. Up at 5.30. Still 66F/19C indoors without the stove being lit.
7.40 Time for a walk.
8.20 Returned from a walk to the lanes. I was tempted by the field tracks but they were puddled and the soil was wet and sticky. The traffic was quite heavy. Slightly cool on my hands but I could feel the warmth of the sun on my cheek.
Brooks B67 in the lowered position on the dropper post. Note how curved the saddle appears.
8.45 I feel the need for a ride in the sunshine. The winds are light and southerly. I am tempted by the coastal lanes going north.
15.15 60F/15C. Returned from an 88km/55mile ride. I was saddle sore almost from the start despite wearing my best bibs and bare legs. [Padded cycling shorts with braces.] After reaching my goal I came back by another way.
I visited a bike shop first but they had no suitable handlebars in stock. Lindebjerg were kind enough to sell me some handlebars from their electric bike range. These bars have sharper angles and more rise than my present bars. So I am hoping they will be more comfortable. I am already using the shortest, high rise stem available. I am almost upright on the bike but my hands and wrists still hurt.
To show the much sharper bends and higher rise.
Years ago I had a Scott mountain bike. It cost me £5 equivalent from a flea market. It was all aluminum but still weighed a ton! Even then I had wrist pain from the nearly straight bars. I never rode it very far.
All of my cycling life I have rested my hands on the hoods of racing bikes. Where the support was parallel to the machine. Not at right angles. The new bars are more swept back at the outer ends. Hopefully this will help.
Lindebjerg's speciality is electric, mobility, micro-cars for the elderly and disabled. With e-bikes and scooters also in their range. They seem to be thriving. All of the staff, who passed me. While I was waiting for the young chap to come back. Spoke politely and offered help. They should train supermarket and big shed store staff.
The Lindebjerg building was incredibly smart and vast and they have showrooms in many Danish cities. They were enjoying a get-together around a hot dog van in the car park. To celebrate their 12th anniversary. They all seemed cheerful. The young man who was helping me even went off to quickly find a vernier caliper. To ensure the bars were the same sizes as my originals! That is real service!👍
I deliberately stopped on each hour of the ride. To eat a sub-micro, Corny chocolate bar and drink a small carton of apple juice. If the packaging of the sub-micro, Corny bar gets any bigger, relative to the microscopic contents, they will have to provide a guide dog. Each bag is 1/3 longer than the bar!
The lack of wind was enough to halt the wind turbines. Yet I still felt I was fighting a strong headwind all the way. There and back. It started sunny but became progressively more cloudy. Until it was fully overcast. I was comfortably warm in a racing jersey over a thermal vest. Under my Endura rain jacket. I had taken thermal long-johns and a jumper. Just in case. Now I am back at home it is 66F in the room but I feel cold. So I have put on fleece trousers and warm jumper.
The batteries had to be swapped as I neared home. The first had fallen to 20% charge. From memory, I think I managed around 75km/46miles on the first with 100% charge. That was 47% in Tour mode. To try and extend the range. About the same amount in Sport mode and the rest in Turbo. Average speed was 23kph.
I saw lots of blokes on racing bikes out training. All of them ignored my wave. Perhaps they couldn't see me through their [expensive] dark glasses? I was overtaken by a streamlined trike. I was cruising at 30kph but they soon left me far behind! Later I was being chased by a mobility, three wheeler micro car. It followed me up a long, steep hill as I pedaled furiously in Turbo mode. As soon as we crested the hill I pulled off into a lay-bye. To let him pass. He was able to travel at twice my speed downhill. He gave me a wave and grinned as he passed.
Imagine if that had occurred far from home! Rather than the 10km/7 miles to the next shopping village. Even that distance would have been exhausting without power! There are some nasty hills on the way home.
Dinner was bake beans on toast. Followed by supermarket, own label tomato soup and a bread roll. The soup was much better than the usual, overpriced Heinz. The own label beans as awful as they have always been. Under-cooked and chewy with watery sauce. Made badly in Italy.
~o~
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