~o~
Friday 15th 48F/9C [8.45] Grey and misty.
Up at 8am after a quiet night. I have a wet cough with a nasty taste. It started at breakfast time yesterday. I was also more breathless than usual on the exercise bike, stress intervals. We simulate climbing a hill by increasing the bikes braking load and simultaneously increasing our cadence. Then sprinting flat out for ten seconds at the simulated top of the hill.
A tiny building in a field near an ancient home and farm. [Østrupgård] The chimney and windows suggest it was intended to be habitable. Rather than an animal shelter. On the delightful, Trentemølle [Trente Mill] Trentevej lane leading to Ny Stenderupvej above Fåborg. [Images captured yesterday.]
Østrupgaard (Sydfyn) Website i Danish.
Though I didn't notice any chest problems on my 74km e-bike ride yesterday. Probably because I use appropriate gears and assistance modes to avoid excess breathlessness. Even on the longest and steepest climbs. Which I certainly came across yesterday. On the Håstrup road [lane] out of Millinge. Chosen deliberately because I remembered the route on my trike. I'd be climbing that hill as often as possible if I was a keen, young racing cyclist in this area. It is not only steep and twisting but keeps going upwards. When it seems impossible for lowly Fyn.
I am supposed to deliver the e-bike to the bike shop in town for a routine service. It has reached 10k kilometers since purchase. Though the Nyon computer hasn't communicated with my phone for over a month! It must still be counting distance internally. Even though it doesn't show any statistics or route maps. Not even on its own screen! I have tried repeatedly to pair it but without success. The Nyon keeps asking for a service on every start-up.
I know the chain is tired. Because gear changes are longer and noisier than usual. Instead of effortless and snappy. The chain suffers due to the amplified effort being transmitted in the highest gears. While I may be a relative weakling at my age. [77] The motor is providing assisted speeds well beyond my physical capabilities.
Sport mode increases my own power by 260%. Turbo by 320%. Though I use Turbo only rarely and usually only for hill climbing. Or to get home at the end of a longer ride over the undulating, local landscape. I tend to use Sport mode almost constantly. Except when trying to conserve battery range. With average speeds around 30km/hr the chain must be experiencing similar loads. To a fit young racing cyclist on hard, training rides.
The smaller sprockets on the 11-40 SRAM cassette always suffer the most. Thanks to the power assistance modes. I rarely need to venture into the lowest 50% of the Shimano XT, 11 speed gears. Though I hardly ever use top gear. Not even in Turbo mode. It just feels over-geared.
Østrupgård [farm] on Trentevej dates from the early 1400s. A fascinating combination of building periods. The central white building looks medieval but has added wings in timber framing.[Bindingsværk] Tall windows show high ceilings. A rarity reserved for the wealthy. When most timber framed buildings had low ceilings. They were warmer and cheaper! The rich had servants and vast forests to feed their fireplaces.
The outbuildings [at left] show Dutch influence in the arched gables. I have seen several Danish farms and churches with these curved gables. Skilled thatchers could and can easily manage the elegant curves. Rigid, modern roofing elements cannot.
Østrupgaard (Sydfyn) Illustrated website in Danish.
The cassette had to be replaced on its last, 5k km service. So the chain and cassette must be well overdue for replacement again. I have to admit the gear changes have been excellent from new. Far better than I ever achieved with my Campag Ergo/Shimano cassette hybrid set-up on the Trykit trike. It was said online at the time. That the physical sprocket spacing on all 11 speed cassettes, was standardized.
It seems nobody told Campagnolo. I played with different sprocket spacers but was ever able to get really clean gear changes across the entire range. The Campag cassettes have smaller freehub diameter and wont fit on Trykit's 2-wheel drive freehubs. So fitting a Campagnolo cassette was never an option.
I have just had an SMS to remind me of my Covid jab tomorrow in the village. Telling me not to turn up early. Presumably this is due to limited car parking facilities at the site. It is Saturday tomorrow. So the nearby industrial estate will be empty. So easy parking there. Oh dear. I shan't be able to ride there on the e-bike. Unless the bike shop can manage the service the same afternoon.
12.00 50F/10C. Overcast. I have just given the e-bike a thorough wash with washing up liquid and warm water. Then rinsed off with lots of clean rainwater. The bike is safely on the Morris with the Buzzrack bike carrier on the tow hook. Secured, double locked and ready to go. My wife used to check all the trailer rear lights were working before I left. Now I use a convex traffic safety mirror instead. Another charity shop find. It saves a lot of running back and forth and I can check all the brake lights are working.
I am having early lunch. Before driving into town to the bike shop.
13.30 Returned from the bike shop. It is the season for ploughing the fields. So all my careful work in cleaning the bike was wasted. The Morris' tires had sprayed it liberally with mud from the lanes!
I have had a message to say the bike is done already. I can collect it in the morning. After my Covid jab. I have left the bike carrier on the car.
Dinner was sardines on toast with halved tomatoes. I experimented by using cold tomatoes. It would have been much better if they had been baked for a while.
~o~
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