You know you're riding into a headwind when ...

You have to pedal downhill from Glencoe to the ferry.
(Daylight 1996)

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

dkahn400 said:

... a 5lb potato comes rolling along the road towards you

I saw that! Was it really a potato?

d.

In article <[email hidden]>, davek

() said:

dkahn400 said:

... a 5lb potato comes rolling along the road towards you

I saw that! Was it really a potato?

And how did Dave weigh it?

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
A *National* Socialist Government did you say, Mr. Chaplin?

davek said:

dkahn400 said:

... a 5lb potato comes rolling along the road towards you

I saw that! Was it really a potato?

I think it was but I didn't stop to examine it closely. It was
unusually large for a potato though. Maybe it was a potato-coloured
turnip?

--
Dave...

Dave Larrington said:

In article <[email hidden]>, davek

() said:

dkahn400 said:

... a 5lb potato comes rolling along the road towards you

I saw that! Was it really a potato?

And how did Dave weigh it?

I didn't have to. It seemed to know the weigh by itself.

Possibly it was Ireland's answer to tumbleweed.

--
Dave...

dkahn400 said:

... a 5lb potato comes rolling along the road towards you (Kennett
Valley Run). Luckily it had the good sense to be rolling on the correct
side of the road.

There is no such thing as a tailwind, of course. When you're cycling
you either have a headwind or you're going really well.

dkahn400 said:

davek said:

dkahn400 said:

... a 5lb potato comes rolling along the road towards you

I saw that! Was it really a potato?

I think it was but I didn't stop to examine it closely. It was unusually
large for a potato though. Maybe it was a potato-coloured turnip?

Depends on which Kennet you were near: if it was the Cambridgeshire one
it would have been a sugar-beet. Available at many roadside locations in
quantities up to 20 tonnes for immediate pick-up. You want carrots?
We've got carrots too. I'd avoid piles of onions by the roadside though,
they seem to be the ones that are rotting -- but you'll know that from the
smell 500m away!

Mike

Dave Larrington said:

In article <44034a12.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable (hrothgar19

@yahoo.com) said:

There is no such thing as a tailwind, of course. When you're cycling
you either have a headwind or you're going really well.

I overheard a couple of the "going really well" types opining that
perhaps it would be more sensible if, in order to get their 200 km in,
they carried on heading west as far as Weston-super-Mare and got the
train back :-)

Which is similar to what I tried on Sunday. After slogging it into a stiff
north easterly across Romney Marsh and up the Elham valley wind tunnel for
hours, I decided to head west and go really well to Canterbury where I'd
catch a train (all cancelled for engineering works). Which meant I had an
even longer slog across the Thanet marshes, bang into the wind, for another
hour and a half (nothing but fetch between me and Norway).

Dave Larrington said:

I overheard a couple of the "going really well" types opining that
perhaps it would be more sensible if, in order to get their 200 km in,
they carried on heading west as far as Weston-super-Mare and got the
train back :-)

Really bad idea. At this time of year there always seems to be rail
maintenance on the weekend between Taunton and Bristol so the direct
line which includes Weston-SM is served by buses. Definitiely the
case this year. I rode the Dunkery Dash on Sunday. I wanted a train
to Bridgwater and back but had to use indirect trains via Westbury to
and from Taunton instead.

Dunkery Dash was a great ride as usual. The Quantocks were clear but
as soon as we climbed the first Brendon hill all the fields were
white. (The roads were OK). The turn around control was a little
early because of ice on the higher part of Dunkery Beacon (highest
hill on Exmoor)).

Ian Blake said:

Dunkery Dash was a great ride as usual. The Quantocks were clear but
as soon as we climbed the first Brendon hill all the fields were
white. (The roads were OK). The turn around control was a little
early because of ice on the higher part of Dunkery Beacon (highest
hill on Exmoor)).

I rode it last year -- remains of snow on Exmoor then as well. 2 killer
hills: Brendon and the one on the way back (17%?). The Beacon itself wasn't
that bad; longish, but an easy gradient.

Simon Bennett said:

Ian Blake said:

Dunkery Dash was a great ride as usual. The Quantocks were clear but

I rode it last year -- remains of snow on Exmoor then as well. 2 killer
hills: Brendon and the one on the way back (17%?). The Beacon itself wasn't
that bad; longish, but an easy gradient.

I use it to find out how unfit I am.

3 years ago. I had a break from the bike. Very unfit and heavy.
Successfully climbed Elworthy hill Bonked big time just after Bishops
Lydeard so I walked Cothelstone hill.

2 years ago. I decided to stop and rest halfway up Elworthy hill so I
would not be so bad later. Climbed Cothelstone without stopping.
Conditions were hard. Very windy and the Dunkery control was early at
the cattle grid. My main memory is the momentry loss of control
everytime I cycled past a farm gate.

Last year. Pride has returned since the break. Still not a mountain
goat but despite a bad leg (a crash on ice earlier in the week) I
climbed all hills without stopping. I think it was colder than this
year but it was drier and much less snow lying around. My problems
started on the return near Raleighs Cross. My knee started to feel
very sore and my nipples were hurting. I climb up Cothelstone and
descend to the finish. The trains were having the usual maintenance
problems so I decided to ride to Bristol. I head through Bridgewater
and over the Somerset levels then the Mendips on the A38. When I get
to Redhill I was in trouble. My leg knee hurting, I was feeling very
hungry, very cold, and my nipples were really hurting. I walk up the
hill then continue into Bristol. On the station I look down my vest,
I notice my nipples had been bleeding. I have had slightly sore
nipples on 400k audax but nothing like this. I don't have problem
with my [censored], I'm a bloke!! Anyway when I get home I looked the
problem up on the web. Apparently this nipple abrasion is quite a
common problem among marathon runners. Usually male, the fairer sex
usually have a decent sports bra. Anyway I found these little
plasters called Nip Guards that fit over the nipple and protect them.
I use them on cold and long rides.

This year. I thought I am exceptionally unfit and demonstrably
overweight. The scales don't lie, unless I close my eyes. However I
ride the ride without any incident apart from the control being down
at the cattle grid again. Better, if not spectacular, time than
expected and I have an easy ride to Taunton. I am not as unfit as I
think.

Ian Blake said:

Apparently this nipple abrasion is quite a
common problem among marathon runners. Usually male, the fairer sex
usually have a decent sports bra. Anyway I found these little
plasters called Nip Guards that fit over the nipple and protect them.
I use them on cold and long rides.

Very painful when it happens to you. A blob of Vaseline is generally
enough to prevent it.

--
Dave...

dkahn400 said:

Ian Blake said:

Apparently this nipple abrasion is quite a
common problem among marathon runners. Usually male, the fairer sex
usually have a decent sports bra. Anyway I found these little
plasters called Nip Guards that fit over the nipple and protect them.
I use them on cold and long rides.

Very painful when it happens to you. A blob of Vaseline is generally
enough to prevent it.

Although I do rather like te sound of 'Nip Guards'.

"Two pairs of Nip Guards, please!"

Quoted message said:

Which meant I had an even longer slog across the Thanet
marshes, bang into the wind, for another hour and a half (nothing but
fetch between me and Norway).

And in the other direction, nothing but cabbages...

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

Which meant I had an even longer slog across the Thanet
marshes, bang into the wind, for another hour and a half (nothing but
fetch between me and Norway).

And in the other direction, nothing but cabbages...

True. And caulis. Not this time of year though.

Quoted message said:

and my nipples were really hurting

Ah, the Terror that is nipple rash.

It's bad enough for blokes, I hate to think what it's like for women.

<http://public.fotki.com/10041990/cyclingrat/>

Here we see Jandy modelling the ultimate in nipple protection: zinc oxide
tape.

jandy ultimate frisbee disc layout catch drop score worlds action greatest
copa cabana shot throw

(the above nonsense is in case he ever googles for himself)

Simon Bennett said:

Mark Thompson said:

Quoted message said:

Which meant I had an even longer slog across the Thanet
marshes, bang into the wind, for another hour and a half (nothing
but fetch between me and Norway).

And in the other direction, nothing but cabbages...

True. And caulis. Not this time of year though.

Who eats the cabbages? I mean I eat some, but not that much.

--
Ambrose

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And in the other direction, nothing but cabbages...

True. And caulis. Not this time of year though.

Who eats the cabbages? I mean I eat some, but not that much.

The only reason so many caulis get eaten is because they masquerade as
mashed potato.

p.s. The cabbages don't exist - I meant cauliflowers, but a childhood of
reading too much Pratchett has confused the endless cauliflower fields of
Thanet with the cabbage fields of wossname (Sto Lat?).

While I'm wittering, it's believed that the endless and impassable
cauliflower fields around Thanet were sown and maintained for much the same
reason as the river Swale was dug around Sheppey.

Mark Thompson said:

While I'm wittering, it's believed that the endless and impassable
cauliflower fields around Thanet were sown and maintained for much
the same reason as the river Swale was dug around Sheppey.

To keep out the undesirables?