24th February 2014

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Monday 24th 39-43F, 4-6C, windy, cloudy but brightening. I'm going to Odense on the trike. Wish them luck!

It was blowing a worse gale than yesterday! A Southerly 20mph base with 30+ gusts. Mostly a head crosswind going both ways made it quite hard work. I was trying to keep the cadence up around 105 rpm most of the time. Having arrived in Odense mid-morning still fresh from the leafy cycle paths I didn't seem to have bothered anybody this time. At least I heard no raised voices. I took another route home in case anybody was lying in wait for me. I was much too warm on the way back despite stripping down to the (almost) bare essentials. 42 miles not out.

Trees overdoing the steroids.

I am coming to the conclusion that with Denmark being so "lumpy" I get a good workout on every ride whether I want one or not. Add in the constant wind and I think I may be safely excused intervals.

Lest there is any doubt, it should be said that I very rarely potter when out on the trike. Overtaking all other ordinary cyclists is perfectly normal behaviour for me. This, regardless of my weight disadvantage. By which I mean the usual 20lbs/ 10kg load of shopping and all the extra "sticky-out" bits of a trike. My own weight is still hovering around the lower end of the 11 stone mark. So I probably present a sort of OCD, cycling polyester clad, slightly undernourished, greying pensioner with funny (cyclist's) legs whirling round to a pained expression. That is when I'm not actually grinning back at somebody who waves. 

Only the obsessive compulsive owners of carbon bikes, with all the clubman's kit on, offer serious competition to my pride. In another life I was probably a whippet who never learned to stop chasing bikes in order to overtake them. This all started when I was 15 and I have never been properly trained out of it. Even after 50 years I still get on and go as fast as I can without becoming completely breathless and exhausted. Odense brings out the worst in the whippet. There are so many other cyclists to chase down and leave in my (three) slightly damp tracks. Do whippets need to do intervals? 'Nuff said.

Nature has a go at installation art.

Tuesday 25th 38-50F, 3-10C, bright but breezy. After a watery start it quickly became sunny on my walk. Though with a thin, cold wind at times. I had to take my jacket off towards the end. Walking wardrobe rethink to cope with spring is imminent. The same problem on the trike. Windproof yet cool is vitally necessary to avoid sweating followed by an icy chill down the back. The temperature climbs rapidly from uncomfortably cold at this time of year. The wind doesn't help. Dress to be warm at the outset and it's instant mobile sauna! Just another day riding to the shops. Too warm on the way back. I'll have to loose the vest and/or the tights if it stays this mild. Only 15 miles. I wasn't allowed out again after lunch.

Wednesday 26th 38-46F, 3-8C, breezy, rather cloudy with only occasional brightness. I became daring in my walking route today and took to the spray tracks across the fields. I heard no gunfire. So, either nobody saw me, or they couldn't be bothered to make me pay the ultimate price for walking on their sticky mud.

Not long after leaving on the trike a young and incredibly skinny "racing" cyclist approached a junction just as I passed. I called out a "Hi" (as you do) but seemed to be ignored. So I sprinted up to a still higher speed and he chased.

 Man has a go at installation art.

Half a mile later he went past on the first climb as I struggled to maintain 18mph. I tried to follow but hit a brick wall of oxygen starvation as I climbed out of the saddle to get on his back wheel. My six week cold was obviously still taking its toll. I have been clearing my throat repeatedly for longer than I can remember. It coughs up like clear Evo-Stik. A couple of weeks ago it was green! Two weeks before that it WAS the same colour as Evo-Stik!

He put several hundred yards on me on the following descent. Nothing I did would make me go any faster than 22mph downhill into the wind. His frontal area must have been half of mine as his head was lower than his bum and his bum was narrower than my Carradice Junior! Which I had foolishly left behind in the excitement of needing more shopping. So I can blame it all on the lift-drag ratio of a stalled Camper Longflap in the turbulent air of my flailing legs.

I followed him along the main road at a steady 20.7-21mph but still he pulled away. I seemed to have hit my ceiling and there was no more reserve of speed despite my superman position. With my gloved palms on the tops of the uncomfortably sharp peaks of  the Campag Ergo hoods. Nobody warned me that I would be needing tri-bars when I left home!! 

Nature turns up the colour when it thought nobody was looking.
 
After nearly five miles of this nonsense I finally lost sight of him as he crested the summit of a long drag about half a mile ahead. I was still doing 18mph on the climb but that was my limit. The Ventour jacket was too cold for today's temperature but kept me from having a free sauna on the climbs. After the first bout of shopping I cut across country to the next village for another dose. Am I having fun yet? 20 miles.

Thursday 27th 39-47F, 4-8C, windy, very misty at first, becoming clear and sunny. Visibility down to less than 50 yards at the start of my walk. I knew I was walking towards dark and towering conifers but could only see bright, white mist until I was right up close. Once the sun came up it very quickly burnt away the mist. I saw Yellow hammers in the shrubbery on the marsh and disturbed the poor herons on the drainage channels. A mountain biker seems to have discovered the route through the woods. I can see several sets of studded tracks now.

Another cloudless day for my ride. I was cruising at 20-23 mph for a while but changed direction and the crosswind started eating into my speed. At Vissenbjerg I discovered massive potholes in the middle of the cycle paths at the main road traffic lights. One hole on the petrol station corner and another on the opposite corner. Both holes were over a foot (30cm) deep! Anybody falling into them on their bikes wouldn't have a chance. It would almost inevitably mean a visit to hospital.

Ironically a lorry had dropped half its load of gravel for hundreds of yards along the cycle path below the lights. I had to take to the road to avoid it. An enterprising local volunteer could collect a couple of builder's wheelbarrow full of gravel and fill in the holes. It's not as if the council will ever get round to it! 20 miles.

Friday 28th 39-44F, 4-7C, almost still, hazy with weak sunshine. Thinking it would improve my bird watching I took my heavy old binoculars with me on my walk. While I was certainly able to confirm the pair of Yellowhammers there was very little else of particular interest to see. Until, that is,  I arrived home to spot a Nuthatch in one of our own Silver birch trees. Several chevrons of geese went over earlier arguing furiously over their route south. When surely north would have been far more appropriate for spring? I am not aware of the magnetic pole having flipped just yet. I disturbed some Shelducks and Herons on the pond in the marsh. The herons flew off together again. Before one bird returned to do a slow lap of the pond to check if I was really a danger to life and limb. The ground around there is heavily littered with spent cartridge cases so I could see his point of view.

I rode to Assens for "spring" cycling gloves and new brake blocks. It was recommended I try Ultegra blocks in preference to the cheapo Spectra blocks I had been using. The original Tektro blocks weren't all that good. The Spectra blocks are okay but scrape like metal to metal sometimes. They are also clumsy in both size and shape. Needing very wide brake tracks and removing the magenta finish on the front rim. I brought back a load of shopping as well. Assens is still filthy. Hundreds of cigarette butts, dead batteries, beer bottle tops, litter and black filth everywhere. The promised light rain arrived in the last mile from home but was short lived. The wind remained light. 20 miles.  
 

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17th February 2014

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Monday 17th 36F, 2C, breezy, clear, sun rising. My walk took place in bright sunshine under a cloudless sky. Rather a brisk breeze with the last vestiges of frost clinging on here and there. The cars were dragging plumes of spray. While the fields were back to clinging mud again. I'm using a stiff, plastic, washing up brush and a bowl of rainwater to get the worst off when I come home each day. So I could become quite domesticated over time.

A heavily laden Mr T pauses briefly in historical surroundings.

Went shopping on the trike in bright sunshine. All the special offers were in stock! Came back the long way via a hilly route. A headwind to finish again with a peak of 17 mph on a normally 30 mph descent in still air. Hard work on the hills with 12 kilos of shopping. I think the chain is now completely knackered because the gear change is getting worse going both up and down the cassette. I shall have to check it with the measuring tool tomorrow. My cold seems to be finally getting bored with me after all these weeks. 20 miles. 

Tuesday 18th 37-43F, 3-6C, modest winds, thin cloud clearing to possible sunshine. Not long after I left home I could see my shadow. The sunshine remained watery and eventually gave way to cloud, then overcast.

Ruffled village pond.

After coffee I was cruising at 18-20 mph on my way to the first shops. Tailwinds are like that. The next leg was into the wind. Despite the higher temperature it felt strangely cold.  The final leg was aided and abetted by the wind again.

I passed right underneath a bird of prey in an over-sized brown coat. By which I mean that it had overlong, floppy feathers. I've seen one before so it must be a distinct kind of eagle. It was perched in a tree beside the road but made no attempt to fly away. Later I saw soaring buzzards, Hooper swans, Shelducks and geese. The crows, magpies and rooks are getting a bit territorial. Performing extreme aerial combat displays as they try to chase each other away. Lots of minor flooding in the fields and woods. 21 hilly miles.

Wednesday 19th 40-42F, 4-5C, light winds, misty, heavy overcast. Back to the grey. With showers forecast for this morning. It rained steadily all the time I was walking. It is surprising how noisy broad leaved crops can become in rain. I disturbed the resident heron on the small lake. It circled and disappeared behind the trees. You'd think it would be used to me by now. Though it doesn't go off in a beeline like it once did. I heard skylarks clearly for the first time this year. It may be due to the light winds. Normally the wind is roaring in my ears.

Having left my ride until the afternoon it had stopped raining and the roads were almost dry. Lots of trees being felled in the woods. Presumably for firewood. The mist finally cleared and the sun came out for a few seconds at 4 pm. One of my Smart E-Line back lights has stopped working already. The batteries are fine. First it wouldn't come on then it wouldn't go off. Nor can I get it to flash. Bøøger! They have only been used a couple of times in the mist. The switch has stopped working. As a trike I am required to have two rear lights after dark. So now I'm illegal if I go out at night. I hope I can still find the receipt. Ahah! Bought on 12.12.2013. Just over two months ago. Only 10 miles today.

Thursday 20th 41-44F, 5-7C, heavy overcast, misty, breezy becoming quite windy.  An hour's walk first. Mud very sticky in places. After coffee I rode to Assens to shop. The dealer gave me a new Smart rear light light to replace the broken one. Quite a cold side wind despite the measured temperature. There was a hell of a racket in some woods that I passed through. It sound vaguely like a fox but was high up in the conifers. Presumably another jay or jays. The lake was still partially frozen.

I'm going to have to make a simple rack for the Trykit. I managed to saw right through the pink bag and an organic apple juice carton with the bottom gear sprocket. The inside of the bag and all my shopping was covered in sticky juice. There are two horizontal bars to support the saddlebag but they don't do anything for the pink bag. Which hangs by the straps over the saddle pin over the top of the saddlebag. Grrr! 19 miles.

Friday 21st 42F, 6C, light SW winds, cloudy with blue patches. It could reach 10C, 50F today with some sunshine. It brightened for a while but quickly turned grey again. The ground was very sticky or just very wet. I usually walk on the roughest grass beside or between the tracks to try and clean my boots. The soil around here has a very high clay content and a high water table.

It was overcast almost continuously throughout my ride. The supposed 50 degrees managed only 43F. Instead of sunshine we had showers. At least the DMI managed to get the date right. It is a good year for Jays and woodpeckers. I have never seen or heard so many.  22 miles.

Saturday 22nd 38-41F, 3-5C, heavy overcast, hazy, windy and cold. My right walking boot has developed a very annoying squeak on every heel strike. Fortunately it is silent on the soft stuff. Though completely avoiding roads and firm tracks is not a luxury I enjoy. I tried loosening the laces and even removed my gaiter but it made no difference. 4.5 miles in an hour and three quarters. All on tarmac along the country lanes. I came within a few feet of a female Yellowhammer before it flew off.

It started spitting with rain before I left on the trike. So on went the Aldi rainproof jacket on top of everything else. It was blowing a gale by now but was soon dry again.

I rode a loop between villages for a total of 22 miles with rain falling again just before I arrived home. One is never sure whether to be miffed because it didn't let me get home first. Or grateful that it didn't rain all the way around. A scruffy, dark brown, bird of prey wasn't perturbed by my passing by. I told you tricyclists present no real danger to man or beast.

I saw a headline on a popular Danish magazine suggesting that there were nearly 1/4 million psychopaths in Denmark. That's an awful lot given the population of just under 6 million. I wondered how they knew? Did they count the traffic in the high street passing at twice the legal speed limit and make a rough extrapolation?

I told my wife that I saw an Audi being driven at just below the speed limit in the village. She called me a liar. When I told her a bus was keeping to the speed limit she said I needed help. I didn't dare tell her about the 5 and 6 axle juggernauts being held up by a BMW driver who had apparently lost the will to live. He was (unaccountably) driving at the speed limit too. It was all getting a bit too "Twilight Zone!"  

So, to regain my rapidly failing credibility, I told her about all the delivery postmen racing along the town and village pavements on their scooters. Exactly as they were expected to do when the new law required the postbox for every house should be easily accessible from the pavement. Cyclists would be breaking the law if they behaved like that and heavily fined. And, guess what? They often are! Only in today's Denmark. Spooky!  

Sunday 23rd 37F, 3C, breezy, overcast but threatening to brighten. Spring must be in the air. A couple of Skylarks were chasing each other all over a field. Then a pair of Herons were flying together. The right boot is still squeaking.

It was blowing a gale by the time I left on the trike. A straight-on headwind going. A crosswind coming back. 19 miles and a ton of shopping. Plus six more. Still blowing hard. I was overtaken in a 50kph village at an indicated 83kph buy a large car with a tiny driver. He probably couldn't see the frequent speed signs through the steering wheel. And, obviously hasn't heard that cushions are cheap these days. That's a triple fail in YouTube parlance.

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13th February 2014

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Thursday 13th 39F, 4C, rather breezy with heavy cloud rather than overcast. Very windy overnight but calmer now. The wind picked up steadily as I headed for the woods. While I was wandering along a track I heard what sounded like a staccato barking from a large dog with a deep voice. Short, double barks almost like an old oil engine starting. It sounded nothing like a normal dog and I immediately thought of a wolf! These are reappearing in wilder parts of Denmark. I suppose the best and most likely guess is a fox. They make some very strange noises. Lots of Jays making their rough cries too. Loads of fallen trees from the storms closing off many of the firebreaks. Three wet or marshy miles covered in an hour.

While I love the isolation, and lack of traffic noise, of being completely alone out on the vast fields and in the woods I do sometimes wonder what would happen if I had an accident. I am often in situations where probably nobody ever goes for months, perhaps even years on end. Fortunately, despite my age I am still very agile and only very rarely stumble on the wettest or roughest of routes. I sometimes surprise myself how I can run up and down steep and slippery banks. Or hop from one tuft of reedy grass to another on the marshiest of tracks with standing water all around. I maintain a brisk pace regardless of conditions underfoot. Simply adjusting my length of stride to cope with the most difficult terrain. The dangers are probably quite low since there are no drops or rocks to negotiate.

Fortunately my wife would ring to ask where I was if I did not return on time. Or I could ring her if I was really stuck or had broken a leg. Mobile phone reception seems fine over the entire area.

My Salomon walking boots have been really excellent. Perfect comfort, ankle support and grip. As well as being lightweight and fully waterproof. Enough to allow me to cover the entire uppers to the ankle on numerous occasions. Never a hint of cold or wetness in deep, wet snow or while walking tracks with streams running off the fields.

Don't you just hate it when the postman can't be arsed to deliver an eagerly anticipated package? The notification card is shoved in the postbox without any attempt to knock on the door. So that means next day collection. Only 9 miles fighting the wind.

Friday 14th 36-38F, 2-3C, breezy, heavy grey overcast. I walked back to the more distant woods but it was very muddy from logging operations. so I explored the side tracks on deep beech leaf litter. 4.5 miles in an hour and half with photographic stops along the way.

I was just reading that electric bikes and the elderly are responsible for a tenth of all cycling deaths in Denmark. The over-80s seem most vulnerable and often fail to brake before collisions. The suggestion is that a short riding course should be introduced for purchasers.

The danger here is that it will be used as an excuse by the idle politicooze classes for compulsory helmets, road tests, insurance and annual license taxation. The other side of the coin is that the young are taking up electric bikes instead of mopeds. Moped sales have dropped by almost a half recently. The shortage of taxation on mopeds will surely drive the grasping politic-ooze to tax and license electric bikes. You can buy two sophisticated 2 stroke scooters for the price of a single electric clunker made from Asian water pipe with a battery driven hub.

11 miles on the trike fighting the wind in a losing battle.

Saturday 15th 41-44F, 5-6C, very windy, overcast. Another noisy night and 45mph gusts promised for later. We are being lashed  by the skirts of the UK storms. I just hope it doesn't mean a more easterly track of these unprecedented weather systems!  Went for an hour's walk in rough winds. Even wetter underfoot. Now trying to decide which shops I can reach most easily given the wind direction. Doing ten miles in ten minutes is not a lot of fun if it means crawling all the way back again on my hands and knees.

I was right about the tailwind. Cruising at 19 mph going there. Then struggling for 6.5 mph at times coming home. Where there were decent field hedges it was as if there was no wind at all. I could easily double my speed.

A barn is demolished following damage during the recent storms.

Full marks to the EU crooks for paying to have the hedges dug out in the first place. If they cut down on the 50% theft of real taxpayer's money and the billions wasted pretending that France has any real purpose to the world at large they could pay to have the damned things planted again. Not only will it shelter the cyclist but will stop snow blowing onto the road. Not to mention the beneficial effects of adding to the overall absorption of CO2, stopping toxic spray drift, providing wildlife corridors, nesting sites and habitats but also soak up toxins from ever increasing traffic.

I read today that 1 in 4 children in Denmark now has an allergy and are at daily risk from countless toxins. Many of these toxins can lead to disease and permanent damage to the developing child. Let's throw in the dangers from blatant antibiotic overdosing of pigs. Which is transferred straight to the population through heavy pig meat consumption. So that's alright then. 21 miles.

Sunday 16th 39F, 4C, windy, cloudy with promise of showers and brightness. Another noisy night of strong winds. I managed half a mile from home before it started tipping down. Well that was interesting. A quick about turn and back again into driving rain. I put the ride off until the afternoon expecting lighter winds. The opposite was true and I was struggling to make 5 mph as I crested a hill into the wind with well over 10 kilos of shopping aboard. Only 10 miles.

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