I just squeezed in the final kilometres at the end of the month. Yep – 250k in a month again.
June has been a month of weather. It started with a number of wet days on the trot followed by a number of colder days with fog lasting until midday. Neither of those conditions is good for an old bloke with crappy lungs. Then came some clear days after frosty nights. Riding had to use them and fit in around certain appointments needing to be kept. Enough to get 250k, just.
Much of the riding was on the Brompton while using a short loop out of Longford. As time goes on I gradually feel fitter riding this non e-bike. With its new tyres I am keeping them pumped to 80 psi and really notice the benefit. The road flows under the tyres really easily compared to riding at 60psi! One downside is that any larger piece of gravel on the road or clumps of wet grass when off-road are very noticeable – the front wheel shifts and the rear wheel slides and/or spins. One gets used to it as the bike is very controllable.
One such short loop I cycled was after a rainy day followed by a frosty night and then a foggy morning. The fog cleared and sun came out after lunch and I had a ride. YES !! – the parachuting spiders were out in force. The weather conditions had brought them out in droves – there were floating bits of spider web everywhere.
I think we must have spiderlings using the method to disperse as I have not seen a spider actually ballooning anywhere – just the aftermath network of gossamer fine silk hanging about. Thank goodness we don’t have the 4” spiders flying about as in the US. Imagine a flying funnel-web or Redback attacking from the air.
Here are some images from the ride.
There wasn’t much wind, just enough to float the “lines” horizontally. After a bit of research I found a discussion of the possibility that the spiders use the earth’s static electric field to provide lift in windless conditions. What’s that then? Could I use it to float a bike?
In the following days there were a few silk lines floating about but not in the same quantity.
The “Short Loop” I am frequently riding.
The short loop is a convenient 15 k ride out of Longford on mostly residential streets and rural roads. Light Traffic. It’s quite a different ride should you choose to go clockwise or choose anti-clockwise – the gradient map shows how the climbing (what there is of it) changes dependant on direction. This gives the route some variation. Rides which take us further afield often use these roads as part of the out and/or back.
I’ve been riding around here for 15 years now, ever since I retired and moved to Longford. There has been plenty of change in that time! New houses, 1 house disappearing to allow for a new pivot irrigator, changing farmland usage, seasonal crops, a growing Longford – there is always something of interest.
Every now and again something different appears. I stopped to move a dead Wallaby off the road only to find the “carcass” was surprisingly light. It sort of unrolled and several severed feet fell out. It must have been a couple of skins that fell off the back of a shooter’s Ute. Good to get them off the road so the Ravens or Hawks don’t get skittled while investigating the remains. Back in the day roadkill was removed from the actual road as Tassie Devils kept on eating their tea when vehicles turned up. It always ended badly for the Devil. Sadly, the impact of the facial tumour disease means there are not enough survivors for us to see roadkill Devils any more.
Cans and Bottle Collecting
The Tasmanian bottle and can recycling scheme has been very successful. Over 140 million items recycled since March last year. Yes, hard to believe that number in’it? Even so, plenty of recycling of curbside stuff is still to be done.
I try not to collect on every ride! It’s tempting though and feels wrong to cycle past a can sitting by the roadside just ready to recycle. The thing is that on some rides there’s just not enough time to start picking up.
My result for this month was 100 cans accepted by the recycling machine. There always seems to be one or two that get rejected. 100 cans = $10 off the shopping bill.
July is usually a difficult month for cycling, it being mid winter with very short daylight hours. I think it will be a bit of a struggle to get to 250k but will give it a go. I did contemplate the idea of upping the distance to 300k but then thought “don’t be stupid!”.
Final thought.
An aid to cycling in July will be my electrically heated gloves! I have used them a bit during June and find they work well. On the lowest power level (of 3) they lasted for a 45k e-bike ride to Bracknell and only 1 finger lost feeling and that only to the first joint. Normally most fingers would be white to below the second finger joint. This is known as Raynaud’s phenomenon and it’s been a fact of life since I was small. Electric heating is the way to go !!
’til next time ………………………….
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 