After almost a month without even a drop of rain we’ve finally had some thunderstorms. Yesterday morning the sun was blazing and drying the surface but the dust had been compacted by the previous night’s rain. It’s difficult to imagine better conditions for mountain biking. I’ve been testing my nearly finished pedal powered boat soContinue reading “Perfect conditions for a mountain bike ride.”
Another boat test.
Today was due to be hot, with temperatures reaching 29 Celsius or 84 Fahrenheit. We’re not used to this in North West England so I got out in the morning before the temperature reached its maximum. Since my last pedal powered boat trip I’ve lowered the paddlewheel height by 4 cm. I chose this figureContinue reading “Another boat test.”
Real progress with the boat.
I finished some modifications to my newly built boat yesterday, with the intention of testing today. After my last test I thought that I needed to gear up the paddle wheel to make it rotate more quickly. After a little thought I realised that this would be the wrong approach. I simply hadn’t been gettingContinue reading “Real progress with the boat.”
Flower of the Week, 6th June 2023.
We have spread our Camasias to several places in the garden. The only problem is that they are also a prolific self seeder. The trick is to enjoy the flowers then mercilessly cut the seed heads off before they spread seed everywhere. Our camasias are the rarer white variety. A blue form is far moreContinue reading “Flower of the Week, 6th June 2023.”
An unusual ride.
Normally I like a twisty trail in the hills to add action and excitement to a ride. Today, though, I chose a different type of ride on my mountain bike. I rode for around 17 miles, mainly along the canal bank. The main reason for this is that I had suffered some tendonitis in myContinue reading “An unusual ride.”
Testing the new boat again.
After my first test of my newly built boat I was pleased with its stability on the water. I tried a pedal to paddle propulsion system but wasn’t getting much power into the water, meaning that it was very slow. I decided that it looked impossible to develope this propulsion system so chose to buildContinue reading “Testing the new boat again.”
The joys of summer.
It doesn’t seem to have rained in weeks, though, due to global warming, it hasn’t been all that warm until the last couple of days. The ground was baked hard on my ride 2 days ago, which I have my excuses for not writing about until now, and the trails were running fast. I rodeContinue reading “The joys of summer.”
Flower of the Week, 28th May 2023.
Irises give a spectacular if ephemeral display at this time of year. The bearded iris likes to have its tubers exposed, not buried under the soil. Our smaller Iris Sibirica were donated to us by a neighbour and are very attractive to bees.
Why you should ride repeated circuits.
Back in the day, before my riding companions decided they were too old for mountain biking, we would never ride repeated circuits. Everyone seemed to think it was boring to ride a section of trail more than once but my view always differed. For one thing you can perfect the speed at which you rideContinue reading “Why you should ride repeated circuits.”
Back on the bike at last.
Normally my mountain biking life is very steady. I rarely leave home for more than a week at a time and sometimes when I have, I’ve taken a bike with me. This month, though, I had a trip to the island of Jersey by scooter, with friends. This kept me off the bike for 6Continue reading “Back on the bike at last.”
Mountainbiker 