S-Westerly

Round here with all the hills every other bike is electrically assisted and some of the loons have no idea what they are doing. Uphill and going to and fro across the lane. Makes passing them a bit of a lottery.

Possibly especially as it's almost 3 years since I was last on a leg powered bike. Kept looking for the mirrors and the brakes were crap. Still I enjoy the exercise except when people dig bear traps.

We have 2 street lights and a couple of bus stops. However the bus is limited to Tuesdays only and is 10:00 and 13:00. Tuesday hi as no special significance locally so quite what the point of it is I've no idea. The only people who seem to use it are retirees with bus passes.

Against my better judgement I allowed my wife to persuade me to go on a bicycle ride from where we live to Nailsworth and back. On a less used trail (which when I got to the bottom was closed to cyclists but no mention at the top where I entered it) I encountered some kind of anti-tank ditch into which my front wheel plunged and then stopped. At this point the law of physics took over and passersby were treated to the sight of a large red faced man hurtling through the air swearing horribly. At least until I hit the ground. My wife was totally lacking in sympathy and said I was going too fast. Dusted myself off, wiped down the blood and continued on our jolly. Now home and covered in scabs and bruises. Wife says she had a great time and we must do it again soon. I agreed which definitely makes me nob of the day.

Stu's short run pics showed what awesome weather we are having. Of course if it was normal times at the weekend it would be pissing down. Grovelling here.

Just why? Is there a gene that predisposes people to do amazingly stupid things?

Just bloody mad. Unless of course this whole thing is a massive con although I cannot for the life of me work out who would benefit from conning us in this way unless it's just a step on the road to Mr. X's master plan for world domination.

Exactly and thus creating the kind of environment that everything else is closed to try and prevent. If you look at the crowds at Durdledoor in Dorset that was caused by the authorities herding people out of the way so the air ambulances could land safely. Of course the idiots who needed the ambulances are another story.

Do you make the mead yourself? Looks drinkable at least. Tried Lindisfarne mead once and have to say I didn't take to it. Think it's an acquired taste.

Had to wait until later for my ice-cream. Just had it.

South Africa did well on the excess deaths by virtue of a huge reduction in the amount of murders due to lockdown. Doesn't mean that I think they've done a better job. Lies, damn lies and statistics. Still think we might have done better but we saved the NHS and totally f**ked everything else. Hey ho.

Washed about a zillion dead insects off it. Never seen it so crusty. Noticed my jacket was pretty bug spattered as well but it can wait.

You can see why so many spaghetti westerns were filmed in Spain as some of those pics don't look so very different from parts of Nevada and Arizona. Semi desert scrub.

Had my day out on Thursday. Today is back to painting and decorating. Why is modern gloss paint so bloody horrible to use?

Well bees knees aren't going to do much....sounds like you been scrimping on safety Scrimping no, tis bloody expensive but doesn't make you feel like you are Ned Kelly.

Just changed a lot of my armour for this D30 Ghost stuff. It's really good - super flexible, light weight and thin. Supposed to be the bee's knees. Certainly it's more comfortable to wear.

I know of quite a few blokes who have fitted fog lights to their Multistradas. Many of these leave them on all the time apparently and have - to my limited knowledge - never been stopped by the police for doing so. I think that they are mounted so low down that they are unlikely to cause an issue with oncoming drivers. If you get stopped for something else like excessive speeding they may throw that into the mix just to nail you down.

Mine is a bit of both. Never needed the evidence side but good to know it's there if I need it and the odd clip is quite nice to remind myself of good rides when I'm away at sea.

That's a bit more advanced than what I had as a kid. Still quite like looking at a good display now and again. Was in a restaurant in New England a couple of years ago where they had one running round the dining room. Kept my grandsons happily entertained for ages.

My spannering capabilities are probably on a par with your average chimpanzee. If it's not an obvious leak or disconnected wire it's a matter of phoning the nearest bike.mechanic or my son in law who's a proper grease monkey. So my most used tool is probably my mobile phone.

Ahem, 41 years in August. Jeezus.

Not sure really but it's good for a 350 mile ride or a 6 hour day. Never used it for longer.

They surely do and I've got the larger battery pack. That's good for a day though.

What I've got. Need to remember to charge it though.

Had a wee spin: home near Stroud to Bridgnorth via Tewkesbury and Worcester then home via Ludlow, Ledbury, Malvern Gap, Pershore, Stow on the World, Chipping Norton, Cirencester and home. No idea as to the distance but far enough. Plenty of bikes out too.