3rd September 2019 Wet + hedge clipping.

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Tuesday 3rd September 55F, wet and windy. Continuous rain expected to last until lunchtime. As it says on the tin: Wet! She made me do it! I was sent off during a microsecond's delay between downpours. To become thoroughly drenched from head to toe before reaching my familiar exit to the lanes.

Every lorry provided additional moisture. Just in case there was anywhere left which I'd somehow missed myself. I'm taking a bit of a chance and keeping my socks on. All the rest has gone into the wash. With a thorough pre-rinse, at no extra expense, in either water or electricity bills. Have I gone self-sufficient or off-grid? One can only hope.

Wednesday 4th 60F, heavy overcast and breezy. We kept hearing a racket yesterday afternoon but couldn't see anything. Today I spotted a hedging tractor, way off, across the fields. So I used that as my target for today's walk.

They have a huge and equally noisy, branch chipping machine too. To eat up all the fallen foliage. The noise is a small price to pay for keeping the field hedges. All too many have been lost in the past. Often roadside hedges too. Which cyclists greatly value for their protection from the wind and driven rain. They hold back the snow drifts from the fields too. Often only gaps in the hedges cause snowdrifts on the roads.

These hedges are favourite nesting spaces for birds. Perhaps they sense that they offer greater safety from predators. Which might be deterred by the traffic movement and noise.

The hedge clipper uses a long, thin, spinning cutter. Rather than the typical domestic, scissor action or a large, circular saw. Very sharp the cutter is too judging by the quality of cuts of felled branches and stumps left on the hedge itself. Not much debris spread.

The debris falls onto the field at the foot of the hedge and is then chipped later by the other machine following on behind. All highly efficient. With clipping carried out at a good walking pace. With regular interruptions as the cutter chews noisily through thicker branches. Even the chips have value and are piled up in vast mounds for later collection. Presumably for suitable heating systems. Or garden bed coverage to deny light to the weeds.

I wouldn't mind the tractor clipper having a go at the overgrown hedges around Chez Hovel. They trimmed back the neighbour's field hedge one year but didn't lower the height. So it just went on growing [and growing.] It's not my hedge so I'm not allowed to cut it any lower. None of the rotation of neighbours have touched a hedge in over 20 years. While I have been scrambling up 15' ladders every year to trim shared hedges myself.

There is supposed to be a 2.2m maximum [shared] hedge height but nobody cares out in the countryside. Once a hedge gets away it is no longer just twigs for loppers and domestic hedge clippers. It develops massive trunks and branches. They are all horribly spiny, plums, cherries, elders and Hawthorns. The blackbirds eat the fruits and then crap all over the place in colour. You can probably tell that I haven't been allowed out for a ride again. 😒

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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2nd September 2019 Totally new Overboard Pro-Sport PVC Saddlebag.

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Monday 2nd 51F, clear and bright. After going missing since the 28th my new saddlebag is in the hands of a Danish delivery firm. Hopefully I shall see it today.

A walk to the lanes where I caught a dozen pheasants red handed out on the stubble fields. They discussed it amongst themselves as I drew nearer. Until they finally panicked and flew off noisily towards the nearest copse.

I skirted the edge of the harvested field to avoid the raving lunacy of morning commuter traffic. Another cat has died on the road. The third this year. Perhaps it was distracted by the big scary monster in the sky? Grr?

Guess what? After four days off the tracking radar the delivery firm took it upon themselves to take the bag 10 miles away from my home address and leave it a packet collection point.

After waiting 23 minutes for Bring to answer their customer services number they kindly offered to deliver it to another, nearer packet collection point instead of my home address. But it would be a couple of days more before they could get around to it. 32 kilometres later I had collected the bag myself and returned home. No thanks to Bring! Who will always go the extra 20 miles [sic] for a paying customer.

The new bag was heavier and much more detailed than the last one. More importantly it was made entirely of reinforced PVC inside and out. The last one was PVC coated only on the inside. The new bag weighs 2.6 lbs or 1.2 kg.

Vastly more useful than a pair of panniers for shopping. Because nothing gets crushed when you can arrange and rearrange the contents as new stuff arrives. I have been cycle shopping for nearly a decade now and know a bag of organic potatoes from a carton of organic eggs and where each should both go.

The rain was beading off the PVC nicely as I fiddled between showers. I stuffed a huge, lightweight tarpaulin in it to take a few pictures as if it were loaded. Even that wasn't enough to fill the huge 40 litres capacity.

I need to find another PVC covered baseboard to go inside. The last one was years old when it was borrowed from a charity shop sports bag and no longer useful. A baseboard inside helps to keep the boxy shape of the bag, protects the base and dampens rattles from hard objects. 

I have already fixed the new bag to the Trykit rack. So that I am ready for the next shopping trip. I added longer Pex plumping pipe extensions to the rack crossbar to avoid wear on the bag from the ends of the pipes. Though I still rounded them off well with a sanding disk. These extensions pass through fixed bag mouldings to ensure the bag cannot come free without a lot of extra work. The hose extensions are so tight I had to tap them gently onto the top rack pipe. Only pliers will get the extensions off again. Which is exactly what I had to do with the shorter originals.

The new bag is slightly stiffer than the old one but that doesn't hinder loading and unloading. Very pleased so far. I'd say it was even better value than the old bag given the serious upgrade in waterproofing. Remember to order the Pro-Sports 40L model if you want the external, rubberised and Velcro sealed, net pocket for your 70kg ABUS Mini U-lock. No more excuses not to lock your trike because the lock is in the bottom of your bag! The OB "Classic" bag has only a small zipped pocket. As has the Pro-Sports too. Just above the big net pocket.

You'll need a tricycle rack to support such a large bag properly from beneath. I added a shortened, lightweight, black plastic, corrugated, washing up, draining tray from the local Coop for even better base support. The tray is simply zip tied to the rack to ensure no movement. The tray was also well rounded along all the edges to avoid all risk of cutting through the bag material. It never did with the old bag.

Some trike tracks may be too narrow to allow the bag to sit between the rear wheels. I find it perfect with my own trike. The bag does become narrower with filling to its basic box shape but you can't rely on it for safety if clearance is too tight.

It's a shame the bag is too big for most bikes even if they do have a rear luggage rack fitted. Though it might be possible to have the bag arranged lengthways if a stiff platform was fixed securely on top of the rear rack. Don't take any chances with bag slippage though. If it happens in traffic it could easily cost you your life! But then, the same thing goes for swinging carrier bags from the handlebars. 50 years since we went to the moon but most bikes still have no carrying capacity. How's that for an engineering cul-de-sac?

The UK supplier of my new saddlebag has apologised and given a generous discount on my postal charges as compensation. 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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1st September 2019 Tentative triking.

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Sunday 1st September, 62F, overcast and calm. Overnight, thundery rain should be over for morning walks and rides. I used the stubble fields to loop up to the woods as the cloud thinned. Turning back to photograph the view and the western sky had gone black. Even the nearest wind turbines appeared soft as if engulfed by heavy rain. The overcast became much heavier but it stayed dry as I took a short cut across the fields in a hurry for home. Countless crane flies low down. While flocks of small birds foraged or moved away along the hedgerows.

If it clears up a bit I might try for some Sunday shopping on the trike. An outlet is open every day about 10 miles away. Or not, as a heavy shower passes over. The idiot passed up another chance to call it off when the radar showed a band of rain crossing his intended target.

Half way there it absolutely tipped down with a headwind to boot. The lanes were awash. Streams running downhill, floods on the flats. I turned in to shelter in a shop doorway and discovered an English, lady cyclist doing Germany and Denmark in a fortnight. It stopped raining almost immediately after that so I did my shopping.

A gentle tailwind on the way back helped me to feel stronger than I was. A psychopath in an illegally speeding convoy of Sunday drivers tried to close the gap as I crossed through the chain to take my rural exit. You missed me! Only 20 miles but everything I was wearing was still sopping wet on my return after two hours away.
 

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