1st December 2013

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Any cycle without a proper rear view mirror has a blind fool for an owner.

Something rotten in the state of Denmark.

Sunday 1st. 45F, 7C, windy, heavy grey overcast but dry. The DMI is dangling the virtual, sunshine carrot at me again. They are also promising 30mph NW gusts all day. If I'm going for a walk I had better fasten the chinstrap on my bobble hat!

Another hour: Another walk up to the woods. Despite it being a few degrees warmer it was marginally uncomfortable on my hands in the stiff breeze on the way back. My eyes were watering so much that I mistook churchyard bushes for church goers from half a mile away. I shall have to avoid riding in that direction. Not because of the supposed "crowds" of the faithful blocking the road but to avoid being reduced to a crawl by a headwind.

It's very odd how expectations of speed are such an integral part of cycling at the "enthusiastic" level. One might have thought that any cycling was good enough. Even into a strong headwind. The pedals still go round and around as is their wont.  It is just not nearly so much fun. Too much like hard work. Where's the reward? We associate our greater effort with increased speed and effortless climbing. The opposite, in adverse wind conditions, is certainly not true for most of us.

A tailwind merely makes us feel fitter and faster. We claim no special privilege for a tailwind as we sail along well above 20mph without a care in the world. It must be the same feeling as having an electric motor assist. Though it is certainly cheating from a purely "human-powered" point of view it must be an absolute blessing at times. Especially when an old fool is pedalling like mad to try and catch you on your electric bike! All this wind resistance stuff makes one wonder how fast we'd ride on the moon. Assuming we could have a flexible spacesuit, a decent air supply and a proper road surface of course.

Good grief! The wind has suddenly blown a lot of the clouds away. We might even be able to read outside by lunch time. Assuming we can all read. Enough waffling. I had better crack on. Go South East young man!

Gusting was the wrong term. It was blowing a steady 30mph with very brief quieter moments. I had only gone a mile or so before a car overtook me and the driver climbed out and waved me down. I thought he was going to tell me off for impeding him on a narrow, twisty lane. It embarrasses me to admit that I have been praised for the second time for my thoughtful and courteous riding. He was almost gushing in his praise for my road positioning and friendly wave of thanks for his holding back until it was finally safe to overtake. I may have to change the cycling Lycra for a a proper Superman outfit at this rate. <blush> 21 miles fighting the wind with all I had. And then some.

Monday 2nd 30-40F, -1+4C, quite still, sunny, white frost, low, patchy mist. An hour's walk then out on the trike. Bought some more winter socks for cycling and walking from an agricultural merchant. Loop stitch one side and smooth on the other. They are very thick, warm and seem to be long lasting. The old fashioned "open weave"  socks are too rough and open for real warmth and comfort. The Aesse jacket, GripGrab winter cap and thin overshoes and scooter gloves kept me toasty warm today without overheating.

I rode for miles on a lane where the hedges were being clipped. The mostly blackthorn and hawthorn clippings were carpeted right across the width of the road! Reached the end of the lane and promptly punctured. I though I'd got away with it until then. I rode the last mile or so home (slowly) on a flat front tyre to save time as I was already late for lunch. The mini pump made no impression on the flat tyre and it was no place to be working right beside the road anyway. I doubt the tube is worth much now. 21 miles.

Tuesday 3rd 40F, 4C, heavy overcast, breezy. I had better mend that puncture first. I checked repeatedly but there was absolutely no sign of a thorn or flint in the tyre. No obvious damage from riding with it flat. Cold on the hands when I went for a walk afterwards. Rode to Assens. Quite windy but going well. I saw a mostly white form of Buzzard sized bird and a much smaller one of Kestrel size. Both sat quite still on exposed branches while I passed. I keep seeing more fallen trees as I cover new routes. Another storm is forecast for Thursday night. 21 miles.

I am reposting this image to mark the felling of this superb avenue of mature trees. The October storm felled and damaged some of them and the drive between them was long disused. Unfortunately it was not the only avenue to be much damaged by that storm. Many old oaks and hornbeams suffered losses due to still being in leaf. Trees dramatically shape the mood of the landscape and their sudden absence can be quite a shock! The irony is that those who plant them rarely enjoy the full and final results of their labours. Mr Higgins looks typically well loaded with shopping. There's an equally full Carradice Camper Longflap hidden under there somewhere.

Wednesday 4th 45F, 7C, heavy overcast, breezy, showers. I went for a walk but it started raining harder so headed home again. It is still good to get out. Moles are becoming a real nuisance with their dark mounds of soil  popping up everywhere. With the threat of rain I kept my ride short. Only 10 miles depriving me of passing the 7,000 mile mark for the year so far. It did not rain and the afternoon became sunny. Allowing me to check around for the coming storm. The one in October was fierce but short lived. With record wind speeds for Denmark. Tomorrow's promises to be not quite so violent but last for 18 hours! I'm wondering how many weakened trees will survive the onslaught. I had better stay out of the woods tomorrow!

Thursday 5th 42F, 6C, already very rough and windy, overcast, showers. I went for my usual hour's walk, skirting the side of the woods. It was already blowing quite hard with the trees roaring. Just a few spots of rain. The storm is supposed to peak late afternoon with 35m/s or 70mph+ gusts. Starting Sou-Westerly and going round to the NW. Promised to turn very wet then wintry later. It's best to stay off the trike today, I think. There isn't much we can do but sit it out and hope nothing gets broken. I keep trying to remind myself that much of the world suffers far worse storms than we do. I wish it helped. It's the sense of the unknown.

I played it safe and stayed indoors all day. It is supposed to be not long after the peak now at 19.30pm but it has been relatively quiet with only occasional noisy gusts. We enjoy our best shelter from NW winds thanks to the trees and hedges. Far less noisy this time than I feared. Though it is now far too dark to check for damage or fallen trees. The northern half of the UK seems to have copped the storm as well. With severe flooding now forecast to exceed historical storm surges further south.

On a lighter note: "A good saddle is an asset." I have it on good authority from the Brooks website. Suit yourselves.

Friday 6th 35F, 2C, gales, wintry. 7.40am and it's still pitch black outside. The wind will be gusting to over 45mph until 6.00 this evening. There was an inch of snow on the car at bedtime. Cars seem to be travelling at their normal speed with little sign of snow this morning. I went for a walk with the wind still roaring in the trees. Though I stayed well away from them in case they toppled or dropped branches. As it was such a bad day for wind again I took another rest day.

Saturday 7th 30F, -1C, dry, winds light, promise of sun once it rises far enough to register. It felt very cold as I walked for an hour. The wind had already risen to between 15 and 20 mph. I left very late for a ride after mending another puncture. Those roadside hedge clippings seem to have found their mark but again I could find no sign of anything in the tyre. Very odd. Rode to Assens. Most of the shops were closed as it is half day on Saturday in Denmark. Though the supermarkets are open from early to late every day. I bought some more inner tubes as a reserve. 21 miles.

Sunday 8th 36F, 2C, overcast, raining, misty, still and very dark at 8.15. The rain is promised to fall all day though there might be a window for a ride later. While the wind picked up it stayed dry while I walked for an hour. Just starting to spit with rain on the last leg. The puddles were still frozen under the surface water and nearly caught me out!  I'll have to go out on the trike after coffee whatever the weather. The rain paused just long enough for me to get abut a mile and then restarted in earnest. The wind was blowing at 30mph just to add the fun. I was fairly wet all over before I reached the shower but still quite comfortable in my Aldi jacket. Only 9 miles. I didn't have the will to go any further.

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25th November 2013

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Monday 25th 24-33F, -4+1C, hard white frost, sunny, completely still. Walked for an hour and half. Mostly in brilliant sunshine with crunchy grass underfoot. Got lost in the fire breaks in the woods. I couldn't see the sun in the gloom of the tall conifers. Entered the forest with the sun on my back and ended up facing it on the exit! I had to back track along the edge of the wood to return in the right direction. My route on the GPS was a double serpentine like a pond in a public park. I saw a Buzzard and disturbed, gulls pheasants and ducks near a large iced-over pond. I had just put my camera away so missed the real excitement as the gulls took off.

A brilliant Bullfinch has just landed on a tree in the garden. I doubt I see one in five years over here. They were much more common in the UK. As were robins. I doubt I have seen one robin in the last ten years in Denmark. One used to feed from my wife's hand in our last garden. Constant Robin bird song and flitting about wherever we went. There were countless different kinds of birds there but very few birds of prey. The balance seem to be completely reversed in Denmark. No journey is complete without seeing quite a few birds of prey.

Yet the variety of small birds is quite tiny. Mostly Chaffinches, Great and Blue tits and Sparrows. A few Gold finches. Starlings are usually passing through and rarely hang about. Gulls, Crows, Magpies and Rooks are all extremely commonplace. I have heard a few Jays and even seen a couple in the last week due the trees losing their foliage. Making them more visible.

Farming is far more intense over here. While it was mostly year-round grazing where we lived in the UK. Similar amounts of woods and rough scrub but grass is a much taller crop here to make silage and is sprayed repeatedly. Spraying was a once-a-decade dose of lime in the UK. Applied when a gale was blowing to ensure wide distribution. No shortage of hedgerows in both countries for all my moaning about a lack of shelter from the wind sometimes.

I shall be out on the trike after coffee. Another perfect day. I just need a suitable goal!. Late morning and I was sent off to a distant garden centre. The first obvious mistake was going via the suggested route of an online mapping service. It took me via a muddy track through the woods. I had already warned them over a year ago about this route so was not going blindly where trikes ought not to go. Things settled down after that and I reached my goal, took my photos of their stock and then headed back via another even more hilly route. Remind me never to live within a mile of a motorway. What a a racket! A cold, but gentle, headwind coming home but I was cosy enough in my winter outfit. 35 miles. A good day thanks to the continuous sunshine and lack of wind.

Tuesday 26th 24-36F, -4-+2C, quite still, sunny, hard white frost. An hour and a half walk in bright sunshine listening to the distant traffic. Probably the last of this favourable weather. I ought to make the most of it. Where shall I go today? Another day; another late start and another garden centre.  It had turned cloudy by lunch time.  A gentle cross-headwind coming back in the increasing gloom. It was a race to get home before it was dark. Only just in time before I'd need lights. Which I'd forgotten again! Five Whooper swans flew very low over me. Probably less than fifty feet. Exactly the same thing happened a couple of days ago. Does the CIA have Whooper swan drones? Just asking...  41 miles.

Wednesday 27th 46F, 8C, windy, heavy overcast. The early rain has cleared but the wind is highly variable. Completely still one minute and blowing hard the next. Cleaned the trike of accumulated mud  from the journey through the woods. Just a short ride in intermittent drizzle. The Cateye 'Cadence' computer is proving unreliable. It keeps falling asleep and needs the head moving about until contact is restored. 10 miles.

Thursday 28th 42F, 6C, breezy, dry with a promise of brightness when the sun stops dragging its heels. Talking of which: Time for a walk. An hour and a half in the woods walking along new fire breaks. I disturbed a deer and there were lots of calls from Jays above the steady roar in the tree tops from the wind. The sun has finally escaped from the clouds just as I take to three wheels. Two Greater Spotted woodpeckers were in the willow trees outside as I dressed to go out.

It was blowing a gale!  The Cateye Cadence computer is getting worse despite my polishing the contacts. It lost a couple of miles today after several "outages." I might try a new battery but I'm fairly sure it's more about the contacts. Twisting or moving the head in the shoe brings the display back on again from the clock default screen. Only 14 miles.

Friday 29th 40F, 5C, very heavy overcast. It took until 8am to be light enough to read outside. (Assuming one wanted to) Not very promising. Rain and strong winds forecast. A rest day, I think. My hip needs a rest anyway and has been grumbling all week. It doesn't hurt when I walk or ride. Only when I'm sitting at the computer or get up. Having deliberately reduced my average mileage I had hoped for more relief from the pain. I have been careful not to lift anything heavy. So my shoulder is slowly improving at the moment. Lowering my computer mouse to the keyboard shelf may have helped. I fiddle with the height of my chair too. 7,500 miles of triking for the year still looks just possible but is rather disappointing. The increased number of rest days hasn't helped as much as I'd hoped.

An hour's walk. It started drizzling at half way. I have all but given up walking on the road itself. Walking on the grass verges avoids my having to constantly monitor the traffic for sociopaths. Though I still have to keep an eye out for psychopathic farm workers. A young tractor driver with a large implement attached to his shoulder didn't change his course by a millimetre last week. I had to take to the grass to avoid being mowed down by the giant LGP implement tyres rolling along the grass! There was no oncoming traffic for him to avoid. Perhaps he was still drunk from the night before? Registered blind? Or just having a bad day? Do I need a pedestrian video cam for the coroner to examine along with the corpse?

I spent a couple of hours working on the front gear changer. Just trying different cable dressing ideas. None of which worked so it was back to the original. I just need to have a softer curve for the offset cable wrap. At the moment the increased leverage only works over a narrow angle of motion. A small, round drum for the cable to wrap around still needs the cable to be clamped off. Which ideally needs a skewed, drilled hole from the circumference of the drum to near the centre.

I even considered using a lever but clamping the fulcrum is not an easy task using standard bicycle parts. A braze on changer clamp did not suit the job. I have heard several negative reports on the forums about the Shiftmate cable roller mechanism. Though it is entirely possible that certain users have not used the correct adjustments when installing the mechanism. Their cables tended to derail under certain circumstances. It might still be worth trying one to change the shifter:cable pull ratio of my Shimergo set-up.

There is one gear which does not change positively. It is a ratio I often feel like using but it changes up or down to the next gear seemingly at random. Perhaps I ought try different sprocket spacers? It is known that Campag gears use a different spacer thickness between two particular sprockets. This ought to be copied over where Shimano sprocket spacing is used with Campag levers. I have ordered a No4 Shiftmate from SJS. The unit is described as being suitable for 11speed Campag Ergo levers and Shimano 10sp.

Saturday 30th 40F, 5C, heavy overcast, almost still and thankfully dry. Sun promised for later and winds remaining very light all day. Had an hour's walk before going out on the trike. Left after coffee. A hilly shopping loop for 27 miles. It never did brighten up as promised. Cold too.

I ran up (at high speed) against a bunch of mountain bikers being very "untidy" as they waited for a mechanical repair to one of their number. Very selfish behaviour because a car arrived from the opposite direction just as I was going to weave through them as they wobbled about all over the road. Totally unnecessary behaviour since there was a wide track into the woods right alongside their colourful "peloton." The forest was probably where they had been playing before they decided to invade the road. When I first arrived it was such a mess I actually thought somebody had crashed. Bløødy cyclists, eh? It's not as if they even pay road tax!!!!

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21st November 2013

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Thursday 21st 25-35F, -4+2C, still, sunny, hard white frost again. Forecast doubtful.

There is political talk about making cycling right turn RLJs legal in Denmark. Many already do it without a second thought. I wonder who will notice any change? The ones wearing headphones? Or the ones who never look? Certainly not those who never indicate.

If it reduces the number of deaths due to blind lorry drivers turning then there is hope. Gravely Blighted has similar problems with blind, left turning lorries and cyclist RLJs according to the news. So that's all right then. They are only bløødy cyclists according to a (now unemployed) trainee accountant and all-round, blond interlektule online cleb.

They don't even pay any road tax! So you can't spend any money on properly segregated cycle routes, can you? After all, cyclists are barely human. And they wear Lycra in public. They're not like real people who have to pay their way.

We'll gloss over the global ramifications of the massively subsidised oil, roads and motor industries. The misogynistic, medieval desert dictatorships propped up entirely on Western oil purchases. The phoney Middle Eastern wars for resources. Despot-subsidised religious fundamentalism and terrorism. Not to mention global pollution and now damaging climate change. And have you seen the price of petrol lately? It's absolutely criminal! They ought to do something about it! Never mind those parasitic bløødy cyclists! They shouldn't even be allowed on the roads! Holding the traffic up and going through red lights! Who, the hell, do they think they are? And I said to her and she said to me, and, if looks could kill... well!

Walked for an hour and half as it clouded over from the north. I found another Danish "mountain" to climb. A beautiful view again but it had turned rather too dark for decent photography. The distant hills on the horizon are just woods on low hills. Exaggerated in height by the flat landscape. I blame the Ice Ages!

I left late morning on the trike. The council has been wasting taxpayer's money on more of those invisible speed restriction signs. While I'm all for subtly understated, roadside Xmas decorations they should know by now that only blue flashing lights make these speed lollipops visible to the driving public. Of the dozens of cars and six axle, GPS rat-running articulated lorries, which passed me in the 2 km stretch of new, lower speed limits only a solitary, knackered farm tractor was observing the law. Apart from myself of course. So that's all right then.

A great load of shopping. The pink bag and saddle bag were stuffed to the gills. The non-existent special offers were suddenly back in stock again at full price. Just as I predicted.

BTW: I'd like to commiserate with the driver of that huge Itella Logistics lorry who overtook me on that sharp right angle bend.  It must be awful to have to drive for a living without having a valid conscience. Only 15 miles. It drizzled all the way home.

Friday 22nd 38-39F, 3-4C, almost perfectly still, uniformly heavy overcast, incredibly dark this morning. Now 8.15am and "somebody" obviously forgot to switch on the lights. Perhaps they were at the latest, 5star, 1st class, Polish climate party junket swilling at the trough in front of a roaring, coal fire?

Dilapidated old wagon by a small lake in the woods. Probably once a shelter for hunters. It may still be one. Shooting is a popular sport pastime in Denmark judging by the frequent racket they make. Grain drum pheasant feeders are almost as commonplace as... er.. pheasants. But are well fed, semi-tame pheasants sitting ducks? They certainly aren't the brightest of birds. A sort of ground-based Wood pigeon. Neither has two brain cells to rub together. That's probably why they are popular shooting prey. Slow and dimwitted. Like shooting fish in a barrel. 


Time for a walk. I'd better take a torch! Another hour and a half of my retirement used up on a very muddy walk. It was odd to walk a wide, smooth grass track, beside a field hedge which came to a sudden end. I saw three small dear with white rumps and several hares. It poured with rain at one point producing a weak rainbow from an invisible sun..

I had to clean my mud-caked boots afterwards. They had remained dry inside despite walking through an inch of standing water in places. Crossing soggy fields by the spray tracks is not a short cut to anywhere! The forecast was for dry but cloudy weather. Much the same as yesterday when it rained for hours! I think I have now discovered all the potential walking routes within a sensible radius. It will just be variations on a theme from now on. The changing light, weather and seasons will have to provide the novelty.

Meanwhile, back on the trike, it rained hard all the way there. It rained while I was there and then it finally stopped on the way home. Not that the roads were suddenly dry because I was sprayed by almost everything which passed me. Mention of the day must go to that new Audi estate which overtook me at high speed in a built up area opposite a kindergarten. As usual, nobody else was taking any notice of the speed limits either. I managed to get my socks wet and the GripGrab Polaris gloves proved, yet again, to be completely hopeless below 40F. Nor are they remotely waterproof after a few washes. So my hands were both cold and wet on the way back. Thereby adding insult to injury. The rubber coated palms and fingers have rapidly worn away too. I saw a hovering female Kestrel. Not at all common around here. Where we lived in the UK they were overhead every day. 14 damp miles. Just another day in paradise.

Saturday 23rd 31F, -1C, white frost, slightly misty, quite still. I ought to be making the most of the early sunshine. It seems that Denmark is enjoying a revival in woodland birds and quite a number of birds of prey. Including Red kites and even the Golden eagle. I used Google Translate to ensure the correct identities of the Danish names in the online news. Then I glanced across at the other nature headlines and was told the Danish coastal seas were full of Guinea pigs! Marsvin is also the Danish name of the porpoise.
A walk first, then shopping on the trike. 15 miles.

Sunday 24th 37F, 3C, sky almost clear, windy. Promise of a sunny but windy day gusting to 30mph. A low, blinding sun and leaning on the eye-watering, NNW wind ensued during my hour's walk. No new photographs worth sharing. I ought to go East or West to avoid a headwind on my ride this morning. I ended up doing a loop to Assens and fighting the wind on the last leg. It was still a pleasant day to be out. Only 27 miles. Loads of shopping.

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