My homemade pedal powered boat had been close to perfect but I couldn’t pedal quickly enough. This was barely making me breathe but stressing the leg muscles so I knew it would be difficult to cover longer distances on the canal where I sail. I added a chain and sprockets to double the pedalling speedContinue reading “A boat based workout.”
A lovely day for a trail ride.
Today was a great autumn day where temperatures must have climbed to around 20 celcius. I walked the dog and noticed that in the open the ground was quite dry. We’ve had only light rain this week and despite some muddy puddles under the cover of trees things looked favourable for a mountain bike ride.Continue reading “A lovely day for a trail ride.”
Time to train.
I took my pedal powered boat down to the canal today and expected to get some training in. Unfortunately I still have work to do on the chain drive element which I’ve added but it went well enough during my trip to suggest that my modifications are on the right lines. I needed to supplementContinue reading “Time to train.”
Modifying my boat.
My homemade, pedal powered boat took a long time and many incarnations before I was satisfied with it. I tried 4 different propulsion systems before I found one which propelled me at a satisfying speed. I then only needed to strengthen it for reliability and I had a boat which I could cruise around inContinue reading “Modifying my boat.”
Road riding at speed.
After an Indian summer during September we now have something more like a monsoon. I know that this is technically in the wrong order but it’s what we now have to cope with. During Britain’s tenure in India the monsoon would be followed by a glorious period of weather which was not too hot andContinue reading “Road riding at speed.”
My best boat trip so far.
We didn’t have anything important to occupy us on Sunday afternoon so I thought a trip in my homemade pedal, powered boat sounded like a good idea. My wife, Ali, is not convinced by the boat and flatly refuses to accompany me and bring the dog, Freddie, along. He did get the chance to seeContinue reading “My best boat trip so far.”
I just needed to get out.
Weather and life have got in the way of my mountain biking. OK, I could have ignored the drizzle and damp ground and ridden anyway but I seemed to have a lot to do in the last few days. I used my pedal powered boat 2 days ago and it’s easy to use this asContinue reading “I just needed to get out.”
Following the river to the end.
I’ve followed our local river, the Yarrow, on my mountain bike from it’s source at Horden Stoops at 1,066 feet above sea level back to home. Today I thought I should do something I’ve been thinking about for a long time and ride from home to the point where the Yarrow joins the bigger RiverContinue reading “Following the river to the end.”
Great Hill. Enjoying it whilst the weather holds.
We had a very late spring this year. It snowed in May and the garden and countryside were weeks behind what is expected. I’ve been surprised, therefore, to see an early autumn. Some tree, like the horse chestnuts, have already changed colour and lost leaves. Meanwhile were having a good, dry and often sunny spellContinue reading “Great Hill. Enjoying it whilst the weather holds.”
Two downhills, two punctures.
Maybe I should have joined the modern age years ago and fitted tubeless tyres to my mountain bikes. The reasons that I haven’t are a slight aversion to change, the difficulty and expense of making the change and the fact that around 3 punctures per year are barely inconvenient. I can certainly remember 2 punctureContinue reading “Two downhills, two punctures.”
Mountainbiker 