Category: Cycling

All I can say about today is “It’s not great” – 12 August 2018

Posted on by Zogman

A slight case of lack of concentration.

I offered to run the visitors to the train station to get the one-an-hour train to Embra. I was too busy talking and I took the wrong turning, or it could be that the Juke thought I was going to Auchinstarry, my usual turn-off at the roundabout. Anyway, for whatever reason I took turn-off three instead of turn-off four. I could have turned around after 100 metres or so, but decided to carry on and detour through Croy because we had plenty of time. Bad decision, because just after turning in to Croy, we got a ROAD CLOSED sign. Nothing for it but to do a 180º turn and head back to the roundabout and take the correct turning. Now the time was ticking away and if I didn’t get there on time it was an hour wait for the next train. Luckily I got there in time and the visitors got their train to Embra.

Came home, picked up Scamp and off we went to the station again. This time I took the correct exit from the roundabout and we headed off in the opposite direction to the visitors. To Glasgow to see the Men’s Road Race for the European Championships with the hope that the rain that had been falling since we woke up would stop. Got the train and walked out of the station into the deluge and grabbed some shots right away. Walked around the corner and caught some more action at a corner. Corners are always good for cycle action.

<Technospeak>
With some photos in the bag we walked down to Argyle Street because I wanted to change my ideas for more interesting photos. No longer fast shutter speeds and the inevitable high ISO on a dull, overcast day like today. I chose a slow shutter speed to balance a fairly small aperture in manual exposure mode and kept the ISO low as well. That gave me the basis of the PoD that is at the top. If all of the above mean nothing to you, then just see it as a way of getting that blurred effect. Used Lightroom and ON1 to accentuate the blur and saturation of the colours. I think it worked.
</Technospeak>

We walked through the Merchant City after that, but the rain was becoming heavier as we walked and we decided enough was enough. We went for coffee in the usual Queen Street Nero and then after a few more photos we crossed the road race circuit for the last time and went for the train home. Inevitably we just missed the train. On a Sunday there are only two trains an hour to Cumbersheugh, both leaving within 15 minutes of each other, leaving a gap of 45mins to the next pair. It was the second one we’d missed. I moaned about the stupidity of Scotrail’s timetabling all the way back to watch more cycling and laconic Scamp agreed “It’s not great”. That’s about as severe as Scamp’s comments get. We got one of the new extra-long electric trains back home.

JIC texted to say they were on the 5.30pm train from Embra and I drove down to collect them. This time I took the correct turn at the roundabout! On the way home some eejit in a silver Audi bumped into me at a roundabout and sped off without a second thought. Wee bump to the front wing and another scrape to paint over. Luckily the dash cam got a good record of the event. I’ve reported it to the polis, but I don’t see them doing anything about it. Nobody was hurt and no real damage done. Don’t think it’s worth claiming on my insurance as I’d end up paying more in excess and my premium would just increase next year. That’s just one of the joys of motoring today.

Tomorrow looks not as bad as today. The visitors may go in to Glasgow. I’ve got to go to fill in the forms for the polis. Oh joy of joys.

Testing the Spuds – 8 August 2018

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I’d sort of half intended to go to see the women’s time trial, but a good book deserves time too.

By the time I’d finished my reading for the day, the race was run. The trial was over. Instead, I decided on a trial of my own. I was going to try out the new SPDs and the shoes to match, but that would be after lunch. Procrastination is my byword.

After lunch, it was raining and the men’s time trial was on the TV, so I reluctantly watched it instead of going out. Halfway through, Hazy phoned and we had a wee chat about this and that then Scamp and I watched the rest of the race because we’d paused the live feed and the competitors didn’t seem to mind, well, it would give them a wee rest. It was a really tight race, but the best thing about it, the most fascinating thing was the way the starter counted down the seconds on his fingers to the rider. It took us a while to work out the exact sequence. It was quite complicated. Far too complicated to write down here and, well, you had to be there to get the full story.

Finally, with time trials, lunch, phone calls, rain and finger counts behind me, there was nothing for it but to get out and do it, so that’s what I did. I didn’t fancy wearing the shoes to go out on the main road, so I wore a pair of trainers and carried the shoes in my rucksack to cycle to the industrial estate where there were quiet roads to test out the release mechanism of the Spuds. They worked fine and the trainers went in the bag and didn’t come out until I came home. I only fell once, which was pretty good for a first outing. My chain came off the chainring and I attempted to put my foot down, forgetting that I had to twist it out of the Spud first. Oh dear. Luckily I was on a path at the time and could gently fall down on the grass verge. Doubly lucky, there was nobody anywhere near me to see me do it.

PoD was the two trees behind a corn field. Some work was done on the shot to get the corn gleaming and some tidying up was needed too. That’s what photography is all about.

The Spuds are fine but the shoes are the most uncomfortable pair I’ve ever worn. Unfortunately, after cycling through about half a dozen puddles they are now covered with muck and I don’t think Decathlon will take them back.

Tomorrow? I may go in to Glasgow to see a photographic exhibition.

Early rise – 6 August 2018

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Up early to get the milk for breakfast.

I woke just after 7am and knew I wouldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up and dressed and went to get some milk for breakfast. Tesco is so much easier to park in, shop in and browse at this time of the morning. I should do it more often. After breakfast, Scamp left to go see her cousin and I did some essential cleaning up. After that, I fixed the new SPD pedals to the Dewdrop. It was a much easier job fitting them than removing the old rat traps. A dollop of grease on the crank threads, another on the pedal threads and male met female in perfect harmony. Tightened them up with the new pedal spanner, just because I could. After that I did the final tidying of the back bedroom. By that time Scamp was home for lunch before exiting again for her next meeting with one of the witches.

I’d considered going out to get a new external HD to back up July’s photos, but decided to plough on with getting the room ready for the visitors. Now they have a bed and also sufficient space to swing a cat. Fear not Hazy, no members of the feline community were injured in this exercise. Apparently the ‘cat’ in question was a cat o’ nine tails anyway, at least according to the InterWeb, that mine of useless and occasionally factual information.

By the time Scamp returned full of caffein, it was dinner time and I tried a variation on Spaghetti Carbonara which contained mushrooms as an extra ingredient. It was ok, but nothing special.

Salsa tonight was tiring and the moves confusing to a bear of little brain (me). Most people had their own variations on the moves and stuck to them. The new move was Setenta Chino, but this may have its name changed to something more PC.

Today our neighbours in the pensioner’s house next door left to move to a bigger house around the corner. I guess they need it now that their daughter is nearly six months old. Wonder who we’ll get now? Heavens, we would both qualify for a pensioner’s house, but how would we pack all our stuff into a smaller house. We’d need a ginormous version of a vacuum packer machine!

Today’s PoD is just some leaves with a bit of side lighting. Never really got out to get anything else. That’s the problem with shooting over 200 shots yesterday. You become sated and need a bit of a photo diet to bring you back to normal.

Dancing in town tomorrow, hopefully unless Scamp gets a phone call tomorrow to re-schedule. Hopefully not.

Merchant City Festival – 5 August 2018

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Today we tried to do as the CITRAC signs ordered and Use Public Transport.

Well, we would have used the nearest public transport, the slow X3, but it didn’t want to play today. Stood waiting and waiting before eventually giving up and walking to Condorrat. There we got the fast X something else which whisked us into Glasgow and we arrived there earlier than if we’d caught the missing X3. Went for a coffee and a wee pastry in Nero to fortify us for the day ahead, not knowing when or where we’d have time to eat again. Actually it wasn’t nearly as desperate as that. We were going to the Merchant City Festival which kicked off on Friday night, but was running at full steam today. On the way we had to cross the cycling circuit of the road race for the European Championships. Today it was Ladies day. It’s not hard to find the Merchant City, even if you’re a tourist. You just follow your ears. The sound of samba bands even drowned out the noise of whoever was on stage in George Square. Music, music everywhere, but thankfully no ‘Bastard Drummers’ or student pipers busking. Real music for a change.

First band we heard was the enthusiastic Katumba Salsa Band from Liverpool. Then, after wandering around we chanced upon the Pulse of the Place children’s band from Edinburgh who played a spirited samba version of the Doctor Who theme. Time for food again and Scamp got some churros while I waited in the queue for a margherita pizza. Both were excellent. The churros were fresh out of the deep fat fryer and covered in sugar. The pizza straight out of the wood-fired pizza oven on the back of a wee Italian three wheeler van. While we ate we listened to the Blast Furness Carnival Band. A slightly more mature group of individuals from Ulverston, dressed in striking red and black outfits. They were playing New Orleans jazz. Along the way we had bumped into Mr Mackintosh celebrating his 150th birthday and looking very spritely for his age. He was accompanied by one of his associates, both of them sporting what looked like extremely false moustaches. His wife was also with him (without moustache, false or otherwise). For some reason Chic was carrying with him a facsimile of one of his famous chairs and was encouraging people to pose on it. We rounded off today’s visit with an amazing performance of D-Construction by a French ’modern dance group’, Compagnie Dyptik. Some fantastic moves, jumps and leaps through space, all done with quite intimidating eye to eye contact and audience participation. Absolutely mesmerising.

After that we walked back through a eerily deserted looking Glasgow because all the roads had been closed for the road race. By this time the race was in its final stages and that’s where today’s PoD came from. One lone cyclist on the long descent of West George Street.

Got the X3 back home, yes they were running. Then had sausages, home-made beef burger, accidentally deconstructed beef olive (which will be forever called beef Clive in this house – long story) and a baked potato for dinner. Scamp had a parsimonious baked potato and beans. Followed by Scamp’s pineapple sorbet. After our usual Sunday coffee (with alcohol), we inspected the two hundred odd photos and videos and reflected on a good day.

Tomorrow, Scamp is booked for coffee in the morning and again in the afternoon. I’m going to fit the pedals on my bike and the cleats on my shoes and hopefully take the bike out without falling off!

What you need is a dirty big spanner – 4 August 2018

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Never a truer word spoken. If only I could get a dirty big spanner!

Both of us were loathe to get out of bed this morning. Both of us reading books that were totally unputdownable. Finally we sort of drew lots to decide who would go for a shower first. I chose to be the first to close the book.

With the plans for the day in ruins, we settled on Perf as Glasgow would be overrun with folk wanting to go to the Championships and Embra was winding itself up tight for the festival but the east was looking better than the west weatherwise. Also, I wanted some (more) coffee – you can never have too much coffee, can you JIC? Finally, I knew there was a good bike shop where I was sure I could get a pedal spanner. Perf it was then.

We drove through drizzle which turned to intermittent rain which turned to heavy and then torrential rain until we got to Gleneagles where the rain mysteriously stopped and blue sky opened out above us. The sun was shining and, although there were heavy black clouds in the rear view mirror, there was brightness ahead. We’d made the right decision.

Parked in our usual carpark which used to be an expensive NCP until they sold out to the Perf council who applied sensible charges. Not something that happens every day and not something that will ever happen to NLC. We walked in to the town and through the ‘farmers market’. I had a look in the Oxfam bookshop, but there wasn’t much to enthral me and the two prats who seemed to be in charge were too busy boosting each others egos with pompous reviews of films they’d seen and became so irritating I left empty handed.

Scamp suggested lunch in Cafe Tabou and we got a table without any bother, mainly because it was quite early. I’d forgotten just how good the food is there, but Salad du Chef and Traditional Cassoulet reminded me. Just simple good food well cooked and presented. Ok, it’s not quite so simple if you have to cook it yourself, but it appears to be simple food and that’s the clever part. We left feeling that we’d both eaten well. Scamp’s was Seafood Risotto followed by Coley en Croute.

Walked down to cycle shop, but he didn’t have a pedal spanner in stock. Typical. On to The Bean Shop, only to find that they’d run out of the coffee beans I was coming to buy. They’d have them in by Thursday or definitely by Friday. Disappointment number three. We went down to the river and stood on the overhanging vantage point to look down on the river. Just like being on a ship. The water was very low, even the rain we’ve had for the last week wasn’t enough to raise the water level by much. Turned and headed for the carpark although I knew there was another bike shop I could try near the carpark. Again, they didn’t have the spanner. This was beginning to sound a bit repetitive. However one of the mechanics gave me some interesting tips, like soak the joint in Coke! Apparently the phosphoric acid in Coke will destroy the aluminium oxide that causes the two metals to seize! Gave up and headed for home and Halfords.

The sun was still shining and it shone all the way to Cumbersheugh. Stopped at Halfords and yes, they did have a pedal spanner. It looked like a toy one. The handle wasn’t much bigger than the one I’d used last night. I said I wanted a ‘real’ one and he admitted that it might not be any good, then he showed me the one the bike mechanics used, but they don’t sell that one any more. Typical. It was a real one. I left empty handed for the fifth time that day.

I decided that it was worth driving in to Glasgow to see if Dales was open. Scamp agreed. Drove in parked and almost immediately found exactly what I was looking for. A sensible looking spanner with a long handle to give a decent bit of leverage and for a sensible price. Bought it, said thank you and headed home to sort that bike out!

Removed both wheels. Jammed the left crank in the workmate and tried that dirty big spanner. After the second try the white flag went up from the pedal and the bolt turned. Success at last. Both the mechanics in Perf had agreed that what was needed was a dirty big spanner. They were right. Now, before I put the SPDs on, I’m going to grease the threads well, so I don’t have to go through that rigmarole again.

PoD today was a macro shot of a rose. According to Scamp its name is Troika. It has beautiful colours and even more beautiful perfume.

Tomorrow I think we may be getting Public Transport in to Glasgow to see a cycle race and then I’m hopefully going to bolt the cleats on to my new cycle shoes, bolt the new SPDs in place with the dirty big spanner and then go for a run on my carefully washed and cleaned Dewdrop.

Seized! – 3 August 2018

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Right is right except when it’s wrong.

The Right in question is the right side pedal on my Dewdrop. The saying ‘Right is Right’ means the the right side pedal has a right handed thread and is always tightened to the right, i.e. clockwise. The left pedal has a left handed thread and is tightened anti-clockwise. So, to slacken or remove a left pedal you turn it to the right. That’s what I did tonight and after a couple of judicious taps with a hammer on the spanner, it slackened nicely. The right pedal was the problem, and continues to be the problem. Nothing I did would convince the pedal to slacken. It’s seized solid. I tapped the spanner lightly, heavily, I swore at it mildly, then loudly. I heated1 up the crank with a blowtorch. I soaked it in WD40 and still it wouldn’t move. In fact it has now distorted the spanner so I’m leaving it soaking and sulking in WD40 until tomorrow when hostilities will recommence, once I get a new spanner. Oh yes, and before you ask JIC, I was trying to turn it the correct way, anti-clockwise!

From the above you will have gathered that I got a pair of cycling shoes and a pair of Shimano SPD pedals in, and I hate to say this, Decathlon today. Prices were as good as anywhere else and I got to try on the shoes which is one big benefit of going to an actual rather than a virtual shop. We also went to IKEA to buy some new cutlery … and a pillow for Scamp and a toilet brush and an egg slicer. Quite a random selection. I think we did really well to come home with so little! We tried to go for coffee afterwards, but the sat nav got lost. It told us to turn left at a junction that would have taken us into a Holiday Inn, then switched off. Perhaps it thought we needed the holiday.

Went out before dinner, which was the rest of yesterday’s Aloo Saag, to get some photos in St Mo’s. I took a couple of landscapes to play with in ON1 but the main subject today was ‘beasties’ as Scamp calls them or insects as the rest of us see them. Mainly wasps and hover flies today. Lots of both around hover flies won, as you can see from PoD.

Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow. Glasgow will be jumping with these European Championships on, so we’ll probably point ourselves in a different direction, but where is anyone’s guess!

  1. Cranks are usually an aluminium alloy and aluminium expands more with heat than the steel of the pedal axle this should break the seal that has been formed between the two without melting the aluminium ;-) ↩

Big Boots To Fill – 30 July 2018

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I wanted to take my bike out today, but off-road, not on-road.

I’d seen a bloke down at Auchinstarry with a Juke, casually sliding his mountain bike into the car once the back seats had been folded down. I knew the car had a good big boot, but the secret to the ease with which he could carry his bike is that once the seats are folded down, the raised boot deck provides a flat surface from the rear of the car to the back of the front seats. If he could do it, so could I. I forgot that he had a mountain bike and I have a hybrid. His wheels are just that bit smaller than mine. That meant I had to remove my front wheel to make the bike fit, but fit it did. I also had to cover the folded down back seats with a sheet of heavy duty polythene that I found up in the loft. The main thing is it worked.

Cycled along the railway path almost to Twechar, then took a right turn and cycled along a rough track through some fairly recently planted trees out almost to Queenzieburn and from there back to Twechar. From there I went along the canal to the steps to Shiva Pend which is a tunnel under the Forth & Clyde canal to allow a burn to run down to join the River Kelvin. It’s a strange wee place which was built apparently in the 18th century. Wandered around there watching tiny wee trout trying to catch flies while I was trying to take some photos. Climbed back up to the canal and realised that it was beginning to rain. Down at the pend the overhanging trees had given some shelter, so I hadn’t noticed the rain. I decided that would do for today and headed back to Auchinstarry along the canal and passed four blokes in two canoes. Crossed over at the Plantation where I got today’s PoD which is a Painted Lady butterfly sunning itself on the warm stones. I thought I’d avoided the rain, but then it came on with a vengeance and I got back to the car just before I got completely soaked. Bike dismantled and back in the car then up the road.

Scamp made dinner tonight while I got ready to go to salsa. Salsa was all twists and turns and awkward moves which didn’t do my poor wee knee any good, but I survived and it feels a bit better tonight. Tonight’s move was called Venezuela. Jaime would approve.

Tomorrow we have no plans, but the weather looks wetter than today.

A day of three halves – 26 July 2018

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Hospital patient ambulance driver, laser patient, cyclist

Up and out early(ish) to take Shona to Stobhill Hospital to get her ambulatory BP monitor. For some reason, I got parked right at the front door of the hospital and then had a leisurely half hour watching the drivers circling around hoping for a non-existent parking space. Drove the patient back home and got in just in time for a cup of coffee before lunch.  Then I ordered more coffee and tea from The Bean Shop, to make sure there is plenty for our visitors from down south.

After lunch I started back on an old task, namely that of Annette’s Nexus 7 which I’d found another, yet another possible solution for. It didn’t work, and neither did the Nexus. However, I now have the solution and this one will work. It’s a heavy duty poly bag. You put the offending article in the bag, whisper the magic words and Abracadabra (That’s not the magic word) once you’ve hit the bag four or five times with a claw hammer, the problem is solved. It’s no longer bricked, it’s now broke. I’ll never have to waste another hour of my life trying to solve a wee challenge, as Val would say.

Once I’d settled on the Final Solution, I felt so much better and headed to the physio. As well as being a physio, David is an enthusiastic cyclist. I needed his recommendation for somewhere to get a new pair of cycling shoes and a pair of SPD pedals. His answer was Wiggle. It’s an on-line sports supplier. I’ve had a look and the prices are good and if it’s good enough for an exacting cyclist like him, it will be good enough for me. After that, he lasered me and stuck pins in, then lasered me again just for luck. Knee felt better after that.

Came home and dinner was ready. Salad with our own potatoes, (the last of batch one) salad leaves, tomatoes and prawns. Scamp had the same but with salmon instead of prawns. As the sun was still high in the sky and the temperature still in the 20s, I took the bike out to see if any beasties wanted their photos taken. Not a lot did, but on the way back I passed a field of barley and though I might get a landscape shot instead. I didn’t like the shot once I’d taken it, but as I was walking away I spied a ladybird on one of the stalks, and that became PoD.

Tomorrow I’m a hospital patient ambulance driver and then I’m off to have coffee with Colin, maybe in his greenhouse. Rain, life giving rain is forecast for tomorrow and lots of it to judge by the weather map. We’ll see.

Down on Glasgow Brown – 22 July 2018

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It used to be Glasgow Green, but that was before the sun shone for a month while the council watched and did nothing.

This morning we went for a walk down to Glasgow Green. It’s ages since we’ve been there and had heard that all the grass had been burned away by the excessive heat and the lack of rain for the past month. We found a cordon running all the way around the frazzled grass from the People’s Palace to the McLennan Arch, while teams of gardeners worked at laying turf and watering the little bits of grass that have survived. Apparently they are preparing it for the 2018 European Championships which are due to begin on the 2nd August. I think they may be hiking to get it finished in time. However, if they had, during the dry spell, taken some time to assess the damage that was being done to the grass from all the events they were running and put in some work to repair it, there wouldn’t have been this last minute rush to fix things. Too busy rubbing their hands at all the money they were making. Shortsighted as usual. Still, we don’t live in Glasgow region, so it won’t be our Council Tax that will be paying for the re-turfing of The Green! One thing’s for certain, the money won’t be coming out of Glasgow Council coffers.

Back home and after lunch I took the Dewdrop out for a run again. While I was out the clouds did open for a while to deposit a gentle smir but it didn’t get as far as real rain. All it did was increase the humidity that was already making cycling uncomfortable. Did about 40 minutes of decent cycling at something approaching a working cadence. Maybe more tomorrow. Although, the first hurdle tomorrow is the visit to the dentist 🙁

Today we lifted our first tub of potatoes and got a fair few for our efforts. The variety was Charlotte. We forgot to weigh them, but our estimate is about 850g. Not bad from only three seed potatoes.

Today’s PoD is from the visit to The Green (or should that be The Brown) this morning and is a lone sculler on the Clyde. I liked the way the buildings in the background seem to rise up and dwarf her.

Tomorrow is the dentist and hopefully some salsa at night.

Two wheels good – 19 July 2018

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This morning I was going to do my quads exercise on two wheels.

It was a beautiful morning again and warm too, so cycling shorts and a cycling top were the fashion of the day. Pumped up the tyres and set off in pursuit of some photos and some exercise. The physio had suggested ten minutes of cycling at a steady pace of 90rpm. I don’t have a cadence meter on my bike computer, so I just pedalled at my usual rate which is probably nearer 80rpm and kept going for about 20 minutes. Went off road on to a track for a mile or so and stopped when the track ended. Took a few photos of a hover fly and one of the Two Amigos, the two beech trees that used to be Three before the storm earlier in the year. About turned and cycled back on my circuit. Stopped beside Broadwood Loch to grab the shot that would become PoD, someone’s lost dummy! Back on to the bike and home. About an hour all in. Not all cycling, probably about 40mins. Leg felt ok, in fact he cycling seemed to ease the nagging ache that had arrived in the night.

It was lunch time when I got back and after that Scamp stated her intention to go to Asda, and as the road to the town centre is closed for a few days, it was actually easier to go to Robroyston. The fact that Robroyston also has a Watt Brothers store, one of Scamp’s favourite shops, had nothing to do with her decision to visit that Asda. After shopping (and a visit to Watt Bros) we went for a coffee then came home. It wasn’t long after we got back that we noticed a lot of police activity at a house across the road. It became a bit more serious when a couple of folk in white Tyvek suits appeared. We’re still not sure exactly what happened, but it’s not looking good. Police have now gone, but I’m sure they’ll be back tomorrow and the rumour mill will have answers, at least one of which will have an element of truth.

After dinner Scamp decided there was just enough warmth in the sun to give her just cause to sit in the garden for an hour. I wasn’t so sure, in fact, the cool wind that was blowing from the west was all the encouragement I needed to finish my reading indoors.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow, heavy rain, so we’ve got buckets ready in the garden to catch every drop we can. Rain is so much better for plant than tap water, they say. It’s certainly cheaper!