SV-Wolf's Bike Blog

[sv-wolf]

This is a company I've dealt with. If they're not in their shop, they're out riding hard somewhere...

http://www.bestrestproducts.com

A little bit out of my current geographical range, Doc. Seems like a good outfit though. How ya doin? Haven't kept up to date with you for a long time.

[sv-wolf]

Gym's.....I know what you mean.....belonged to a couple with the express idea of getting back into some sort of normal shape and ended up getting po'ed at the steroid boys and the anorexic beauty queens. Once when on a stationary bike trying to peddle off a full pizza pounds, I had one of those those anorexic beauty queens bend over from the waist in front of my neighbour a right steroid boy and begin lift weights as if she was trying to fly, guess she was showing off in front of steroid boy...got a good shot down her top and bugger me, if my moobs (man watermellons) weren't bigger and better shaped then hers.

Crazy places: gyms. You pay good money to a gym so that you can spend time after your daily work activity in some tacky environment trying to achieve what used to be a natural by-product of your daily work activity. Crazy places: crazy world!

Being a skinny oik I know nothing about man watermellons. I have the opposite problem: how to put weight on. My great-granddad D ickie was the village blacksmith and strongman who used to win wagers on how much he could lift and carry etc. So what happened to me? Darwin I hate you!

When riding in hot climates I used to do without leathers and heavy jackets, and just wear bike armour. I don't do it any more because with my helmet on it makes me look like a tall fourteen year old!

[sv-wolf]

The pest controller came today at 8.00 am and checked out my ceiling. He was a cheerful bloke, naturally good humoured. You have to be good-humoured by nature to carry off a beaming smile at 8.00 in the morning after being kept out in the rain for ten minutes. (I wasn't up when he arrived.) He reckons I have rats in my roof, not squirrels. Apparently they come out of the drains this time of year when the weather gets wetter, looking for drier lodgings. And who can blame them? He laid down some ghastly poison which makes them bleed internally and kills them. God, I hate winter! It makes me feel like a murderer. Every year I crunch dozens of snails on my paths in the dark when I am getting out or bringing home the bikes. Now I am hiring a corporate assassin to kill rats in my roof. At least he seems to enjoy his work. He is employed by a company called John Connor's. I will have to ask him next time he comes whether that is really the name of the owner or a Schwartzenegger 'Terminator' joke.

I rode the DR out to the bike club meet last night in the rain. It was only a few miles, but, hey, I love this bike. I just can't get enough of it.

[sv-wolf]

I've had no opportunity to ride today, nor will have, possibly, for several days to come. This morning I woke up to find that all the toes on my right foot were almost too painful to bear weight and those on my left foot were not much better. There is no obvious bruising. I can think of only one circumstance that could possibly explain it: I ran for half-an-hour at the gym yesterday on my toes. Yet I always run on my toes, and this has never happened before. Annoyed and perplexed!

As the weather is bad and walking is not now so straightforward, I spent the day watching several helpful and informative 'Horizons Unlimited' videos on how to modify your bike for long-distance riding. Sensibly, the vids don't lay down the law. They are made up from dozens of interviews with long-distance bikers giving the benefit of their (often contradictory) experience on every conceivable bike-related matter - and then some. Overall, two views prevail: do everything you can to make your life comfortable and convenient on the road, and anticipate all and every possible difficulty or disaster that might ever befall you - or sod it! get on the bike and just go: you can sort things out on the way. The message is, there is no message; here are the facts, now it's up to you. Good advice, and great vids, full of stunningly ingenious ideas for bomb-proofing your bike or turning it into a rolling hotel.

What can you say, for example, about the guy who installed a hinged steel plate directly above his can (muffler). After a couple of hours riding, he has only to dismount, lower the plate onto the now sizzling can, and, hey presto, he has a griddle for cooking his meal at minimum effort and zero cost.

When not watching bike vids, I'm reading an awesomely good sci-fi thriller called Lexicon by Max Barry. I haven't been gripped by a book like this for years. I guess the rest of my weekend is now sorted.

..........................................................................................

And on that other delicate matter: there has been not a single scratch or footfall from my kitchen ceiling today. I think the wretched deed is done.

[ceemes]

And on that other delicate matter: there has been not a single scratch or footfall from my kitchen ceiling today. I think the wretched deed is done.

That orrr.....the crafty little buggers are quietly plotting your untimely demise...............

[drumwrecker]

Richard, Why not go one further like the blokes in Australia who prepare their meal and slow cook it on the engine. I bet they have had some nice stews and very tender meat from that method. As you would be riding solo there must be somewhere near the engine to cook a meal for one.

[sv-wolf]

And on that other delicate matter: there has been not a single scratch or footfall from my kitchen ceiling today. I think the wretched deed is done.

That orrr.....the crafty little buggers are quietly plotting your untimely demise...............

Don't put ideas like that into my head, Ceemes.

I am definitely going to be staying away from Stephen King over the next few weeks - and Dickens as well, or I shall be fretting about a visitation from three furry, flea-ridden ghosts.

[sv-wolf]

Richard, Why not go one further like the blokes in Australia who prepare their meal and slow cook it on the engine. I bet they have had some nice stews and very tender meat from that method. As you would be riding solo there must be somewhere near the engine to cook a meal for one.

Am thinking, DW.

[sv-wolf]

Toes are much improved today, but not enough for a windy ride down to Salisbury plain. Today is the winter solstice, but it is also the 'minor standstill of the moon' which occurs only once in every 18.6 years. According to many archaeo-astronomers, the ritual marking of this day was the purpose for which Stonehenge was built. On this day, and only this day, the rising sun appears in the lower 'window' of the Grand Trilithon as seen from the Helestone, and the rising moon, in the upper window. It won't happen again until 2034.

The popular idea that the monument marks the summer solstice seems to be incorrect, but it's a lot warmer in the summer on Salisbury plain, and that's the day everyone goes down there to watch the sunrise and to party. Today, the plain will be dull and windswept, and the monument a grey and misty form rising from the earth. A few nerdy professors with instruments will be there to mark the occasion, and a couple of hardy anthropologists and their students who are interested in the neolithic herding communities that built the place. And there will be Lionel Simms... Lionel has dedicated his life to studying Stonehenge. He is probably the world expert on the subject - fascinating to listen to. I've been to a couple of his lectures. That's how I know this stuff.

Disappointed I can't get down there.

[blues2cruise]

Question.....

When you know you have a sensitive stomach...and you know you're riding into hostile territory....ALONE....why would you choose to go there and not some place else more conducive to finding food you can eat and less chances of being bombed?

Inquiring minds want to know.

You might need this....