~o~
Up at 7am after a fairly quiet night. 68F/20C in the room. It was 71F/22C at bedtime.
The Ryet saddle looks normal this morning. Further studying of the shape and depth of the complex, porous padding. Suggests it cannot possibly fill with water if exposed to heavy rain. The layered CF texture may simply be wiped dry with a cloth or paper towel.
I was surprised to discover the saddle still felt wet this morning. This after overnight, unheated, secure storage. It took quite a few seconds to dry the saddle using a dry microfiber cloth.
The bike was standing outside in the rain yesterday while I worked on the car. I never thought to protect the saddle from the rain. The rider's body protects the saddle during a wet ride. Provided they remain seated. While the supporting under-tray stops tire spray from reaching the CF padding from below.
The Moustache e-bike has sturdy, aluminium mudguards. Though the front guard is not long enough to stop spray from reaching the rider's feet. A flap on the front mudguard would help here. Attachment might be an issue. The mudguards are twin wall and very close fitting to the Schwalbe 2.7" x 24" wide tires. Any grit picked up by the tire is noisily dragged around until it is safely ejected. The strange sound can be a bit disconcerting at times.
Riding on wet roads, covered in autumn leaf fall, has proved very safe so far. Only riding on very loose gravel feels a bit unsteady in tight turns. Though I have never had any real instability. Largely because I am always careful to avoid accidents. Which might well end my career as a cyclist. Or even deny me my independence.
Yet I ride around at far higher average speeds than most ordinary, pedal cyclists. Only fit racers, out training, have ever matched. Or exceeded my cruising speed in Sport mode. I can always call on Turbo mode if needed. Not that it proves anything [at all] to use motor assistance against manual cyclists. I mostly use it for climbing hills when I am tired.
Holding a higher average speed can make life much more difficult for many other road users. So I am always keeping them in mind and use my handlebar mirror constantly. On today's busy roads anything which extends their exposure on the wrong side of the road. Must be carefully considered. Lives may well be at stake. So I use every opportunity to let them pass safely. Even if it means letting my speed drop. I can always make it up again once they have safely passed.
Cycle paths are another world. Mixed ability riders on every kind of bike. Hunting grounds for immature, retarded teenagers out to prove their manhood. Overtaking all and everyone. Usually at some illegal speed. On an IC moped at least you'd hear them coming from a mile off. Their illegally noisy exhaust actually helps the cause for safety.
On an e-bike nobody can hear them racing towards you. I have watched the young riders. With their shrunken brains fueled on some powerful but legal poison. No hand signals. Zero interest in what is going on around them. Pulling wheelies across a packed supermarket car park. Seriously? Where were they hiding? When the empathy was being handed out at birth.
The problem is that blanket rules are handed down to everyone. Even those, like myself, who have many hundreds of thousands of miles of experience. Usually on many kinds of transport. I just watched a YT video about a supercharged EMTB in the US. Where rules already limit where an e-bike may ride. Depending on all the different classes of speed and power.
All the complex and often different regulations and speed limits depending on location. Applied across the board and relying on strict adherence or heavy fines. There has been a century of experience with IC powered bikes. Why isn't it the same for e-bikes? Age limits, compulsory training, clear classes, compulsory insurance, instant confiscation of a bike for dangerous behaviour. Helmet rules according to the class of bike.
Those, with equally shrunken brains on IC bikes, riding at 200mph on public roads, will hopefully kill themselves. Before they destroy whole families. Perhaps it will take AI to limit access to classes of machine. Based on intelligence, maturity, history and mentality. Any fool can afford a stolen bike. They can then ride it any way they like. Or so it seems. Meanwhile blanket restrictions are limiting access and usefulness. All because of a tiny minority of career criminals.
8.30 No walk yet. It is tipping down! The garden trees are a riot of autumn colour.
10.40 Back from a brisk walk. A lot of rain must have fallen overnight. The drives were flooded with almost continuous puddles. There was a cold and strong northwesterly wind. 99% of drivers, who expressed an opinion, said they had never heard of tire spray. So I was forced to the back of the verge with every passing vehicle. To avoid being sprayed from head to foot. The back gardens of the roadside houses were flooded. As was the shelter belt of trees. The drainage beck was swollen to several times its usual width.
It brightened up so I went back to checking the Morris distributor. The internal low tension lead to the points is in very poorly condition. It is worn thin from decades of use, but worse: It is earthing itself somehow. So no spark can be generated. I have checked it for continuity in place and disconnected. Every time I put it back in place it earth the contacts to ground.
16.00 Back from a 30km ride to the Morris expert and back again. I rode the first 14km in just under half an hour. 17mph average on a very hilly and twisting route on narrow lanes in Turbo mode. Because he said he was going out.
The 28mph/45kph Speed Class limit is the stuff of a fevered imagination for a weaker rider. I rarely see 45kph and that is usually on a long downhill with a following wind. Pedal assistance does not mean sitting like a sat of potatoes, moped or scooter performance! I see them going past all the time. Usually at twice my own speed.
I now have spares of the major spark components. Just in case I need them. I detoured on the way back. To enjoy the beech forests in their autumn finery. It was really quite windy at times and not particularly warm. Despite the sunshine my hands were cold in the GripGrab gloves. I'll have to find the split mitts. A mass of geese flew low overhead just as I reached the top of a hill. Noisy lot! Lots of minor flooding in the fields. Streams running across the roads and deep puddles everywhere.
Dinner was chicken, mushrooms and baked beans. Helped down by a buttered, bread roll.
~o~
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