~o~
Thursday 10th 65F/18.3C [9.15] Dry and mostly sunny this morning. More cloudy after lunch. A high of 20C/68F should last for some hours.
Up at 6am after an unusually quiet night. Though again with weird dreams.
8.40 Back from my 40 minute walk in warm sunshine. To the lanes, as usual. Then a bonus loop around the neighbours' shared drives. The traffic was very light.
They must have started harvesting the grain crop at the saddle yesterday. No sign of any activity this morning. The warblers were singing merrily away again. Now joined by a repetitive chaffinch.
It is such a beautiful day that I feel the need for another ride. I have the second battery on charge. While I have a leisurely morning coffee.
Which raises the inevitable question of where to go. Should I change the saddle back to my well worn B17 from my trike? I felt as if my buttocks were the main source of pain on yesterday's 31km/20 mile ride.
The Contec "Classic Touring" is the same width as the Brooks B67. Which was awful from the very first ride! The hard edges of their decorative pressing really hurt! While the completely smooth and softer Contec did not.
The best experience so far is on the Contec. While wearing the bare Assos bibs with their chamois cream. No cargo trousers worn over the top. The cargo trousers are thin and very useful thanks to all the pockets. As I grow more ancient my flexibility for reaching the racing jersey rear pockets is fast reducing.
Lunch packed. I shall ride to Bogense on the north coast.
10.20-15.50 70F/21C. 96km/60 miles. I took a circuitous route on the way. All thanks to the work on the new, high speed rail line. With most of the roads blocked to all traffic. I took a few snaps of the major earthworks ad concrete structures. Usually right beside the roaring motorway! As I worked my way steadily westwards. When I really wanted to go north. I could finally escape the road blockages just above Ejby.
The nearer I got to Bogense the colder it became. Until I finally had to don my cycling jacket. It stayed on after that. Though it soon warmed up again away from the coast.
The countryside was absolutely gorgeous. With most fields full of ripe and surprisingly colourful crops. Made all the more attractive by the straw shortening breeding. Which enhances the gloss on the smooth, visible surface.
The Bosch Nyon computer screen went almost blank for quite some time. Until I experimented with pressing the on/off button to reboot. It was fine after that. I'll have to remember this if it happens again. I was more afraid of losing power than the temporary lack of information. I was still able to change assistance Mode without any problem. No ride data was lost.
I suffered from saddle pain for about half the ride. Pulling the legs of the shorts down seemed to help. Suggesting, perhaps, that the thick Assos padding must be folded under me. Though I can't imagine fitting elastic stirrups three feet long. My sewing skills aren't that good! Adding more chamois cream, mid-ride, might have helped.
I saw lots of birds of prey today. Including
several hunting slowly over the fields close to the road. I meandered on the way back too. With a bit of grocery shopping in the last village.
It is amazing how some villages are expanding. With modern estates springing up all over the place. Elsewhere there are lots of abandoned houses. Particularly old farmhouses. Often overgrown and dying where they stand.
Small farms are not economical. When a farmer dies or retires their offspring, if any, have to buy the business. It seems that fewer and fewer want to take on the thankless, unprofitable workload. Often with totally unsuitable buildings. For housing today's vast and cripplingly expensive machinery. So the big farms constantly expand and get richer. They can get somebody else's kid to till, sew, spray and harvest their prairies in a few short hours.
Dinner was a salmon pasty, peas, pasta and tinned tomatoes.
~o~
