Challenges for End June 2020

Two down and one to go. This was the easiest one 😀😷

Yes, I have now cycled 2,000 kilometers with the 250 watt Bafang motor – since December 2019.

The next challenge was to get to 2,000 kilometers for 2020 on the Ride with GPS stats. That’s done too 👍

But the major task has always been to get to get the Career total in Ride with GPS up to 10,000 kilometers.

I began “playing” with Ride with GPS back in 2017 when I logged 3 rides to test it out. In 2018 I logged 49 rides towards the end of the year and then, in both 2019 (203 rides) and 2020, I have tried to log all rides. The thing is that the App does not always find satellites and sometimes fails to capture some ride information. A little bit frustrating but it has been good this week and it had better work OK next week because I am now at 9,878 kilometers ridden. Only another 122 to go by EOFY. I hope the weather is good next week or I will have to get the wet weather gear out.

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Ride of the Week

To get the numbers up I saw that if I linked together a couple of our standard rides I could get a circuit together of around the 65 kilometre mark.

I sent Colin an SMS – yes, he was interested.

We met at the Longford Brickworks and headed off up Wilmore’s Lane – after Colin’s off-side tyre was inflated, He said it had been pulling a bit to one side on the ride to brickworks and, indeed, the pressure was low. While Colin was at the pump a Ute stopped to ask if we were OK. An older couple were in the Ute; obviously as young people mostly don’t stop to check. When they heard we were heading off to Bracknell and then Carrick they looked skywards, blew out their cheeks and said something like “rather you than me”.

The day was grey and dismal but we were happy to be out and cycling. It was actually warmer than the previous day when I had knocked up a 40k ride when it was 5°C most of the day.

We cruised along Armstrong’s Lane and then down to Bracknell where we pulled into the picnic area. With the easing of Corona restrictions people are once again allowed to stop overnight in the grounds. This is provided their caravans are self-contained, i.e. have their own toilet and shower facilities. The toilet block is open once more – which is of great benefit to the older gentleman traveller.

We are travelling the CoronaVirus highway well in Tasmania. No new cases for donkey’s (years – well, weeks) and no active cases. This will change when the borders are reopened but for now it all feels quite safe. We watch other countries through the lens of the television and are saddened by their loss of life. There is also the uncertainty of what the virus has done to “survivors”. Each study of survivors seems to be it’s own harbinger of doom.

Colin damaged his back a little while back and so was being careful not to re-injure it. He decided to cycle with me up to Pitts Lane and the return to Longford. This would give him a 45k ride “tune up”. In the event it was what he needed and pushing on to Carrick may well have been a little too much.

So, as we cycled towards Pitts Lane I upped the power level one notch and said goodbye.

The air at Bracknell had been still, damp and cool to cold. We had joked that it would be be warmer at Carrick. Cycling along Oaks Road, this proved to be the case. The clouds seemed less thick, the sun could almost be felt and the little breeze in the air was coming in from behind! Or was it just my imagination?

About half way to Carrick a development of poly tunnel greenhouses has been growing and growing.

I know. These pictures don’t really show the scale of the operation but it never ceases to surprise. The question I mull over is – “where does all this product go?” Each tunnel is filled with 5 rows of waist height irrigated trays to hold strawberries. That’s one hell of a lot of strawberries.

While pondering over the mysteries of farming and marketing, I continued on to Carrick.

There I tried out the new, smaller Aeropress. Yep – it works OK. A bonus was to find when packing up that it fits into the cooking pot used to heat the water. The Aeropress tools fit into the Aeropress and the Aeropress fits into the pot – it’s all beginning to remind me of Matryoshka Russian dolls.

The cap of the Aeropress is made of some soft plastic material which picks up every bit of dirt it touches. As it had travelled in the pannier in which I store found wood, it was quite a mess.

25 kilometers left to ride. The battery was looking good so I kept the level up at 3 using level 4 sparingly to climb some rises. The clouds were looking flat at the bottom still so no rain was falling out.

I stopped for a few minutes at the entry to Bishopsbourne. The clouds were still there as they had been all day – so I took some pictures of them.

From Bishopsbourne it is a quick run down the road to home but no speed record going down Rumble today as the breeze wasn’t strong. Always a disappointment if 50kph cannot be reached on Rumble.

Another good ride was enjoyed.

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Trike Maintenance

Here’s a Greenspeed Magnum maintenance tip for other Magnum riders who may read the blog.

For a while the trike has had a rattle somewhere in the front right wheel assembly. It would go away and then return, normally starting when covering a rough bit of chip seal.

I checked the tightness of mudguards (fenders), steering arms, brake drums, kingpins etc but could find nothing loose. Eventually I decided to tighten up the wheel spindle itself. This is a bit dodgy as if it is tightened too much it would be possible for the ball bearings on the inside to slip inside the mounting – leading to the wheel falling off. An undesirable occurrence.

I tightened the outside nut 1 quarter of a turn and put the wheel back in. It seemed solid in the axle. Recent rides have proven it to stay in place and the rattle gone. 👍😃

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Now to finish the Challenge………..