Nothing of Consequence - January 2021

2020-01-30

Welp, that's January gone. The weeks seem to pass faster in lockdown limbo while the hours pass slowly. Tardis weeks, bigger on the inside.

Being press ganged into work (with very little work to do), while the majority of staff and students are at home this time around isn't helping.

On the plus side, the sky's are lightening and the days are slowly lengthening. It may be a while yet before the good weather arrives, but I can start up my after work training rides again from next week in daylight (which will beet trogging around the back lanes in the dark, sliding about in farm muck).

Hopefully begin to claw back some fitness and sanity.

2020-01-25

We had snow!

Around three inches, which is something we don't get often here in the lowlands of the English Midlands.

Gleefully pulled the studded tires down from their hooks in the shed, where they've hung since The Beast from the East rolled through in 2018.

These have low profile tungsten carbide studs embedded in the rubber which make a noise like tearing cloth when riding over tarmac and are capable of providing full grip even on sheet ice.

These seem to be manufactured mainly by Schwalbe and Nokian in Europe. I've got Schwalbe Marathon Winters.

While main roads and buisy routes will get treated around here, the quiet and convoluted side roads tend to get ignored. You're most likely to stack it at the very beginning or very end of your journy.

It's great fun gliding over the glassily iced side streets and compacted powder *just because I can*.