10.10.2025 67km

 ~o~

 Friday 10th 52F/11C [7.00] A dry but rather windy day is offered. The NW wind will be gusting to 12m/s after lunch. Which suggests a morning ride. 

 Up at 6.15 after a more difficult night. I got up at 4am for a drink of water feeling unwell. The moon was very bright again. Still 67F/19.4C in the room this morning. Thanks to lighting the stove last night.

 Following my online purchase of the Ryet, printed carbon fiber saddle I am being bombarded with spam [adverts from AliExpress.] Most of them for the identical saddle and all its shady? unspecified variants. 

 After a couple of days sitting at an unnamed airport the export process has started. Delivery date remains unchanged at the 20th. Still 10 days away. The sales advert clearly said 15th-20th delivery. So it has rapidly defaulted to the maximum waiting time. 

 I just hope it is worth the wait. I have owned so many saddles over the years. That I no longer have much optimism. 99% of the saddles I have tried were designed only for their looks. Never for comfort! It doesn't matter if a saddle weighs as little as a feather if it is uncomfortable beyond a few yards/meters.  

 Fortunately the boxed [reserve] Brown Brooks is behaving itself so far. I haven't laced it yet. I'll see how it progresses first. I still haven't done a longer ride on it. An unlaced B17 is just asking for a very short life and deep curves. This assumes that a high riding mileage is involved. No longer true for me any more. So this latest B17 may hold up for a bit longer than any of my previous examples. 

 8.30-9.00. My walk. I had put it off for half an hour. Because it was so dark. Thick clouds have hardly given way to a uniform, grey overcast. The wind wasn't yet a problem. The inevitable problem? Where to go? I have no need to go anywhere in particular. Head into the wind first? Let it help me back home. 

 10.100  A smidgen of misty blue through the grey lid. I had better find some cycling shorts.  

 10.15 Nearly ready. First glimpse of sunshine.  

 10.30-15.00 A 67km ride. It was mostly grey and rather windy. I visited numerous charity shops. The battery charge dropped from 100% to 12%. Close to shutting down. I had one unpleasant moment earlier when the power assistance suddenly vanished a long way from home. This happened before. It was due to a dirty speed sensor at the back hub. I managed to reset the error by switching off and waiting before restarting. A possible casualty of the error was the loss of the GPS mapping screen. It remained blank. 

 I saw and heard several birds of prey. Two buzzards were circling and calling overhead in the forest.

 The B17 saddle proved its hardness. It just took longer. Before the discomfort became really noticeable. I wore my second best bibs. [padded cycle shorts with soft braces] A pair by Tactic. Which I bought from a local wholesaler many years ago. I see the name is still going in cycle wear. Sponge only about half as thick as the Assos. Not as stiff either. Twice as thick as my vintage DHB shorts from Wiggle. I thought I heard Wiggle had gone bust but they are still advertising online. 

 Anyway, the pain wasn't excruciating. Just increasingly unpleasant after 40km. Not friction. The Brooks leather was just too hard. While my legs still felt strong at the end of the ride. I think the wrist and thumb brace helped avoid some of the usual pain.

 Dinner was chips and a salmon pasty. I forgot to take a picture! So here's one I took earlier. Let's pretend there were no peas today. I lit the stove. 64F/17.8C has miraculously become 66F/18.9C. 

 

  ~o~