6 Jan 2016

6th January 2016 S'now fun at all!

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Wednesday 26th 26F, -3C, winds lighter but with risk of snow on top of half an inch of that lying from overnight falls.

My tinnitus is back again. Making me wonder if it is caused by the cold. I was standing outside for 6 hours yesterday in cold and windy conditions. At least the Trykit is mobile again after wasting considerable time on Shimergo cabling and derailleur clearance problems.

I had to turn the flash back off for this image to stop it firing in the dim light. You can see how little protection I was getting from the easterly wind by the bare hedges. They are usually completely opaque in summer. We inherited this 8-10' tall, shared "hedge" with recently lopped large trees embedded in it. We should have agreed to take these out to make the hedge much more manageable at a far more sensible height. The historical aerial images show that there was a row of large trees for years before we arrived. To find only a few, prickly tree stumps on the boundary when we moved here. The dense hedge is the result of my wife's planting activities over the years. As she tried to afford us some shelter from the cold easterly winds which blow at us so often while carrying toxic smoke.I was reading in the Danish news that hundreds of citizens complain annually to their councils about smoke but it seems they are powerless to stop it. Talking to your toxic neighbours is the only solution the councils say. Yeah right! It's no wonder there are so many gun deaths in the US! There's be a similar numbers over here if guns were so prolific.

The gales with sub/freezing conditions have resulted in a string of rest days. It was 4pm and getting dark when I finished working on the Trykit yesterday. So there was no time for a ride. I just have to put the saddlebag on the rack now and I shall be able to brave the elements. The tyres and rims are filthy from the permafrost melting last time and leaving the long, shared gravel drive soft and muddy. Not to mention potholed from the toxic neighbours coming and going in their cars at ten minute intervals. The pots for rainwater collection, from the trailer bed drain holes [usually reserved for watering plants in summer] were frozen hard. So there was no free water to rinse the wheels off for the photo session. The trike felt very odd with the newly raised handlebars as I did tight circles around the car on hard-frozen gravel. The bars look tipped up as well in the image so I may have to lower them to level again.

Just my usual walk up through the woods and back along the road. A JCB was struggling to dig holes in a frozen field while chaps with buckets looked on. I disturbed a large bird of prey which sailed off through the trees as if they weren't there. Though it complained just the same. A deer had been badly caught out by an iced-up puddle hidden beneath the snow judging from the wild arcs it had left behind. A flock of twelve to fifteen Blackbirds were foraging under apple trees. As solitary snowflakes fell onto McLardy's slug bait detritus strewn thickly along the verge.

Left on the Trykit mid-afternoon and returned at dusk. I passed under a pale Goshawk which continued to fly along just above me before veering off and settling into a tree. The gear indexing was mostly fine with just an occasional phantom change. I never even bothered to set it up properly on the down tube adjuster yesterday. I may not even have the clamp screws in the right holes in the swinging arm.  I'll have to check properly tomorrow. The Trykit felt very upright compared with the Higgins. I even whipped out a hex key to flatten the handlebars outside the first supermarket. [As you do.] It felt better but I'm still going to turn the extension over to its original position. It seemed as if too much weight was on my hands again. Almost as if I was propping myself upright on the bars in a continuous push-up. I also seemed to be pushing myself backwards onto the saddle at regular intervals. It's still good to be back on it again. With the thinner 2WD spacer it it feels much quicker. The roads were very busy. Only 15 miles.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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