Thorn Cycles Forum
Community => Muppets Threads! (And Anything Else) => Topic started by: rafiki on March 18, 2020, 07:11:41 am
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We're beginning the 4th day of a 15+ day total lockdown here in Spain due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Neither my wife nor I have any of the symptoms, fortunately. Everyone must stay in their houses unless going to work (home-working encouraged), for shopping, going to the bank, pharmacy or medical centre. When out on the street one must observe a 1 metre exclusion zone around one another. Cycling, jogging or walking for pleasure prohibited. Dog walking is permitted and I have three pooches so I can get out a few times a day. Police patrol the streets checking those moving about for their reason for being there. Proof is required and instant fines common. Spanish citizens and residents are supportive of the measures and comply well but the Brit holidaymakers particularly caught on the Costas are flouting the regulationss regularly.
I'm missing my daily cycling already. I've spent time doing non-urgent jobs on the Sterling and the Brompton. However, working on the bikes makes me want to ride more! I have an old exercise bike out the back covered in junk and dust so my job for today is to rescue it, clean it up and see if I can get it working.
We live in a small village which is normally very quiet, now it's silent for most of the time. I know of nobody here who has symptoms yet but in UK my grandson has a barking cough and high temperature. My daughter has the sweats but no cough and granddaughter seems clear at the moment. Fortunately my daughter has an excellent employer and she can do most of her work from home anyway. Their instruction for the past week has been to take their laptop home with them every night in case of this eventuality.
The closest to this experience I had in my life were the weeks after the coup attempt in Nairobi, Kenya in 1982 with a curfew and army on the streets but this is tougher than that in many ways.
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Very best wishes, Brian. My son and family also in 14 day quarantine, similar reasons, and my daughter, a junior doc in a London hospital, talks about how difficult things are there. Things are likely to get pretty bad.
I was out on the bike yesterday, probably tomorrow as well, general cycling not advised against . . .as far as I know!
Good luck. Whereabouts in Spain are you??
Lewis
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I was out on the bike yesterday, probably tomorrow as well, general cycling not advised against . . .as far as I know!
Lewis
[/quote]
Lewis,
Ive have read and reread as much as I possibly can, the advised rules etc.
Cycling is exercise and exercise is recommended as long as you keep away from others!
All the best,
John
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At last a golden opportunity to tidy up not only the garage but the loft and most importantly the bike shed.
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Very best wishes, Brian. My son and family also in 14 day quarantine, similar reasons, and my daughter, a junior doc in a London hospital, talks about how difficult things are there. Things are likely to get pretty bad.
I was out on the bike yesterday, probably tomorrow as well, general cycling not advised against . . .as far as I know!
Good luck. Whereabouts in Spain are you??
Lewis
Thanks Lewis. We live in a small village about half an hour from Seville. They take it all very seriously here. Walking the dogs yesterday afternoon a police car stopped beside me to check where I live in case I was out on a hike! Walking, jogging and cycling for pleasure/fitness specifically excluded.
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At last a golden opportunity to tidy up not only the garage but the loft and most importantly the bike shed.
Getting a few jobs sorted out this afternoon too.
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Some places have expansive restrictions...
http://cycling.today/italy-and-spain-ban-cycling-completely/?fbclid=IwAR1zqSMlckrLKZbernxvuA6V9SLgnSzrU5X-RpXlKPwBASgi9XgJi0q6OPQ
Stay safe, folks.
All the best,
Dan.
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Stay safe Brian, try and avoid too much DIY it's likely to be higher risk than cycling.
Here in the UK we're still allowed to go solo cycling, though all the national bodies have advised against group rides. It could all change of course.
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I was out on the bike yesterday, probably tomorrow as well, general cycling not advised against . . .as far as I know!
Lewis
This is the latest advice from Cycling UK, it follows government guidelines and is worth a read.
https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/coronavirus-qa-it-safe-cycle?fbclid=IwAR3WYI7WGXfnsGwFEz45Pz_tgsLjVlk8LgWrXRpMEm0KXEwlOkZDvp8F0C0
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Where I am in USA, many stores and businesses closed. My dentist office closed yesterday, so my appointment for next week is now farther into the future. But I do not know if the authorities have the legal authority to prohibit recreational cycling. My gym closed yesterday for an undetermined period of time. For health reasons I need some cardio exercise every few days and I would much rather do that outside than on an indoor trainer. Fresh snow outside this morning, so probably no cycling today.
... I have an old exercise bike out the back covered in junk and dust so my job for today is to rescue it, clean it up and see if I can get it working.
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Several years ago I bought an early 90s mountain bike from a neighbor, it had been stored outside in the weather unused for over a decade, perhaps several decades. He only wanted $5 USD for it.
It took two days to get the bottom bracket out of the frame. I applied internal frame treatment to limit or prevent future rust inside the frame, re-greased all bearings, it needed a lot of new stuff after being stored outside for so long, but became a very nice errand bike for short trips for groceries, etc.
The photo is after I fixed it up. I still store it outside, see second photo that was taken during winter a few years ago.
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A nice errand bike. I have those Conti Town and Country 2.1" tyres on my Sterling. A comfortable tyre.
I need to sort out this exercise bike otherwise my old joints will seize up!
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Banning cycling for pleasure is a bit of a bugger.
Mike
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Banning cycling for pleasure is a bit of a bugger.
Mike
Could always pretend you're not enjoying it.
Even in Spain the takeaway delivery riders are still working. I do a bit of that, if it comes to it maybe I could sub contract it out to housebound cyclists.
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We can still ride a bike in Utah... and there is a lot of space in which to do it - a very easy place to practice social distancing!
Sorry for the tilt - I put the camera on a rock that was almost level!
yeah I shaved my beard. Will that reduce the risk of contagion? Maybe... it's a cheap step!
(https://app.box.com/shared/static/0p5yj2u85e0ep73zruujpmq815m3dgyk.jpg)
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yeah I shaved my beard. Will that reduce the risk of contagion? Maybe... it's a cheap step!
More aerodynamic. ;)
Lovely photo and a stunning background, Jim.
Did you feel the earthquake?
All the best,
Dan.
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My wife is now mandated to work from home, something she does not like to do, but it does free up more time as students seem to consider this crisis as an excuse to any real work, and though classes are now changed to online only, they seem to find the virus is stopping them from online homework.
So work is slow and time has freed up for her and we were thinking of going camping (lake Pungo in the coastal region of North Carolina - a serene place with great birding opportunities ) a few days. She is nervous about traffic on her new Audax (and has crashed twice due to panic) and is really eager to cycle camp where there is only one or two cars in each hour, while she build up her confidence and her cycling muscles.
But in what I call a head scratching moves, all NC state parks have been closed due to the pandemic. My trust of the paternal wisdom inherent to government is taking a hit, I have to confess.
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Yeah the earthquake was about 50 miles from us. We got shaken pretty well for maybe 10 seconds. Nothing tipped over. Crazy enough on top of everything else! I think nobody got injured but around 70,000 out of power for a bit. The airport I think is still closed - the epicenter was quite close. Even closer is a huge copper mine. I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled so that was a bit of a panic, but they managed to handle it somehow. Most spilled into a containment pond.
Now we're just back to the normal panic!
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Stay safe Brian, try and avoid too much DIY it's likely to be higher risk than cycling.
Here in the UK we're still allowed to go solo cycling, though all the national bodies have advised against group rides. It could all change of course.
Thanks PH. I got an old exercise bike cleaned up and working this afternoon so I feel better for that.
Hmm DIY... Her indoors is reminding me of several jobs that need attention but now I can tell her I don't have time cos I'm cycling again!
In the urban areas at 8pm every night people stand on their balconies and applaud. The applause is for the health and emergency services who are risking their lives every day caring for the victims of the virus. A nice touch I think.
One wag has proposed a further round of applause at 9pm - for all the husbands who have endured another 24 hours in the house with the wife!
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Banning cycling for pleasure is a bit of a bugger.
Mike
Could always pretend you're not enjoying it.
;D ;D ;D
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I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled
Could be expensive in tyres, shoes and even feet to cycle into that! Loved your photograph, Jim.
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I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled
Could be expensive in tyres, shoes and even feet to cycle into that! Loved your photograph, Jim.
I am not sure which mine that was, but if it is the one I think it is, it is the largest man made hole on planet earth in volume.
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Yeah that's the place! They have some kind of visitor vista point or something. One of these days I need to check it out!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennecott_Utah_Copper
https://www.mining-technology.com/projects/bingham/bingham2
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I think it was 5000 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled
Could be expensive in tyres, shoes and even feet to cycle into that! Loved your photograph, Jim.
I am not sure which mine that was, but if it is the one I think it is, it is the largest man made hole on planet earth in volume.
When I was a schoolboy, the largest manmade hole in the ground was the open-cast mine was at Kimberley. We would refer to an odious person as "Kimberley".
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We are sitting in Buenos Aires after three months on the road in South America, mostly Patagonia. We rushed back here three days ago from towns further north that have now been sealed off completely from the outside world. We are struggling to get a flight home and it looks like a curfew might be imposed from tomorrow so we could be stuck here for weeks. At least we are in a good and affordable hotel (never knew that I could say those words in the same sentence when talking about a hotel) and they have a safe place where the Thorn Raven's have been stored. But cabin fever is not far away.
Spare a thought for Martin and Elspeth, stuck in Carletta Tortel with their Thorn Nomads (we met them on Tierra del Fuego where there were five Thorns together at the one wild camping spot). Carletta Tortel is in total shutdown - and it has basically no internet access, no ATMs and few shops that accept cards. We last had word from them more than a week ago so they must still be there now.
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Spare a thought for Martin and Elspeth, stuck in Carletta Tortel with their Thorn Nomads
This thread is well-named, though your examples of stir crazy-generating circumstances are more shiver-making than most.
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We are still allowed to take the dog for a walk here in Melbourne Australia (although that might change soon because the Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews is far more proactive than the Prime Minister who seems to be a fence sitter at the moment.)
Anyway Betsy the retired greyhound who usually just manages to get to the end of our street for a dump wandered around for about forty minutes today and I have never seen almost every lawn and nature strip neatly mown at the same time.
The concrete pavement (or sidewalk for Danno and others in the US of A) is next to the front fence and on the other side before you get to the street is a strip of between 1.5 metres and three metres wide or more if you are unlucky of grass which belongs to the Council but which the homeowner is obliged to maintain.
Stay well
Mike
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The concrete pavement (or sidewalk for Danno and others in the US of A)...
Thanks, Mike. :) Stay well
You too!
All the best,
Dan
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We now have a further 15 days lockdown added to the first which expires on Saturday.
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An update on our situation and what has happened over the past five days.
Since arriving in Buenos Aires we had been trying to change our flights back to SA from the middle of April to as soon as possible. The only feedback from our travel agent was that they were only handling cases where the flights were scheduled for the next 72 hours. I had planned to break the curfew on Monday and cycle to the offices of LATAM, the airline with whom we are flying, and make the changes there. Unfortunately, on Saturday afternoon we were told that the lovely hotel in which we were staying in would be closing down because of the pandemic. So we decided to take the risk of going directly to the airport and making the flight changes there.
To cut a long story short, it took two days at the airport to finally get on a flight to Sao Paulo and get a flight booked from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg on the 28th. Once in Sao Paulo we booked into a hotel near the airport to wait for our Saturday flight back to SA.
On Wednesday we got the announcement that all border posts and airports in South Africa have been closed until the 16th of April. This means that it is impossible for us to get home until then.
We are staying in touch with the South African consulate here in Sao Paulo. Communication with them has been good but they are as much in the dark as to what we should do as we are. So until we get more information we are stuck in another hotel room.
A big Thank You to my nephew for passing on his Netflix credentials . It makes for far more pleasurable viewing than the news on TV.
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I am in Wisconsin, USA. A few days ago they issued a shelter in place order. But, they understood that going outside is pretty safe as long as you are not close to others, and they realize that some people want to walk or run or bike for exercise. To make a long story short, page 7 in the 16 page order lists biking, running and hiking as outdoor activities. And outdoor activities are listed as an essential activity provided that you maintain social distancing. And you can do essential activities.
So, a couple days ago I rode one of my bikes for 42 miles (~~ 65km). In a few minutes I will go out for a half hour walk now that the rain has quit.
I think too many people are at home streaming movies, my internet keeps cutting out.
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In response to a query on another Forum board...
PS:- Dan, I hope that you are well.?
Better now, thanks. I had lobar pneumonia confirmed by x-ray back in January/February making for "walking" pneumonia (or in my case, also "cycling" pneumonia ;) ).
I'm taking the usual precautions here as Coronavirus bites deeply into the US' Pacific Northwest. We are still allowed to walk and cycle while observing proximity restrictions, but I don't expect that to last as things worsen. Everyone is currently urged to stay home, all nonessential businesses are closed and all congregations of people are banned under penalty of fines. I wore a mask and gloves yesterday when I had to venture into one pharmacy to pick up a prescription and used the drive-thru version at another. The few essential stores remaining open have either banned cash sales outright or have stated a strong preference for credit out of fears the virus will linger on money...and then everyone stands within half- to one-meter of the cashier and presses the same "ACCEPT" button on the credit card machine!
Stay as well as possible, everyone, so you can cycle on whatever kind of bicycle you prefer. ;)
Best,
Dan.
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Dan wrote:
Better now, thanks. I had lobar pneumonia confirmed by x-ray back in January/February making for "walking" pneumonia (or in my case, also "cycling" pneumonia ;) ).
Mary is just getting over what was diagnosed as dry pneumonia which was onlt detected bt a CT scan which I suspect may be si,ilar to what you had.
She was on anti biotics for about two months but is now much better.
Mike
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Swipe cards here don't require any contact. However, after every third swipe transaction, the card must be put into the machine and the card owner must enter his PIN. Perhaps that has been extended to more transactions; certainly, the upper limit of any individual swipe transaction has been increased from 30 to 50 euro for the duration of the coronavirus.
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Swipe cards here don't require any contact. However, after every third swipe transaction, the card must be put into the machine and the card own must enter his PIN. Perhaps that has been extended to more transactions; certainly, the upper limit of any individual swipe transaction has been increased from 30 to 50 euro for the duration of the coronavirus.
You must have expensive shopping habits. The European regulation that came into effect last year requires a second form of verification (Not necessarily the PIN) every 150 Euro. That may only last you three transactions, but it does me about 15 ;D
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Swipe cards here don't require any contact. However, after every third swipe transaction, the card must be put into the machine and the card own must enter his PIN. Perhaps that has been extended to more transactions; certainly, the upper limit of any individual swipe transaction has been increased from 30 to 50 euro for the duration of the coronavirus.
I have become quite a fan of tap and go as we call it here and seldom use cash.
However I noticed that the scrotes att Aldi Oz have charged me 0.5 percent for tapp and go.
Next time I will put my card in the slot and enter my pin as usual.
Mike
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Lovely and sunny for the last few days here in Derby,
I do a bit of cycle couriering, Just Eat, Deliveroo and some obscure ones you probably haven't heard of. Mostly takaway food, but some grocery and non prescription medicine.
Since Monday all the takaways have shut and most of the students (Who make up 60% of customers) have gone home. So I have no jobs, yet I'm still paid a retainer to remain in the pick up zone (A couple of miles square) and be available. I don't like it, it's both incredibly boring plus I feel a bit exposed, I wouldn't mind if it was busy. I sit around in a deserted town for a while, then ride round in circles for a bit, then sit around again. I could afford not to work for a while, but I fall between the gaps for the governments billions, so no handouts for me.
I volunteered for some NHS delivering, though it seems that's been oversubscribed, and the rumour is they'll call on the younger ones first.
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I have just got home frm my physio (little knee cartilidge so I have to strengthen my leg muscles)
First he took my temperature which proved normal before he got to work.
Anyway he said that half his patients had cancelled and he was hurting financially.
Mike
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A number of businesses here (US) are folding from the loss of customer traffic and it seems to have hit bike shops hard. I just received emails from three well-established firms that are going out of business or on the cusp of it.
Best,
Dan.
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My bit of the UK is full of sunshine at present.
Out on bike yesterday saw/met numerous pairs of cyclists and walkers all keeping their distance as instructed by our biking PM.
Came across a mother and teenage daughter (?) cycling on wrong side of road into oncoming traffic apparently to keep maximum distance from everyone else.
Not too sure if that was a good idea.
(bike shed is immaculate now !)
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I was out on a relatively unimproved rail trail yesterday. For maybe 20 yards I was reduced to walking the bike! It was just bare dirt and somehow had dried in an extremely lumpy condition - maybe cattle had come through while it was wet, hard to say. I saw a couple individuals walking dogs, a solitary stroller, a lady on a horse, and then when I got to the end of the section of the trail that is open.... beyond that point is closed March 1 to August 1 to let the birds do their thing(s)... there were three cycles in spandex with pretty fancy bikes, hopping over the gates out of the restricted zone. I've been out in that district a fair amount, and even on a weekend I never see anybody. I'd say people here are outside more under the conditions! Our governor is just announcing this afternoon some new more restrictive directive... I have yet to see the text, but I saw a summary that said being outdoors is still fine, just keep your distance from others.
(https://app.box.com/shared/static/netzmagikfxhx730z0k78m35ila0bzm4.jpg)
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Ireland is in lockdown since last night, with people allowed out of their homes only to drive to work (if their work is essential), to shop for food, to visit the doctor or the pharmacist, and "briefly" for exercise within 2km of their homes. Fortunately I have a very agreeable figure of eight ride that falls (arguably) within 2km of my house, yet is long enough to last 40 minutes, and is all lonely farm lanes on which you exceedingly rarely meet anyone on foot, so it should be safe enough.
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A number of businesses here (US) are folding from the loss of customer traffic and it seems to have hit bike shops hard. I just received emails from three well-established firms that are going out of business or on the cusp of it.
Best,
Dan.
Yes it's a tough time for a lot of businesses, I'm sure many of them won't survive. When we get through this it will be a different world.
On the up side, the market stall I sometimes buy fruit and veg from have started doing deliveries, apparently they've had a record week!
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We are at the end of our first lockdown period in Spain, about to begin the second. It is a tight lockdown but those with jobs which cannot be performed from home have been allowed to go to that work. From Monday even those workers must stay at home so the means of production apart from essentials and the essential services will shut down for 10 days.
A few of the Guardia are becoming a bit edgy. My wife was standing at our front door which opens onto the street last evening and was one step onto the pavement to listen to children singing from their balconies for the emergency services. A police car stopped and told her she must step back into her doorway not 'stand in the street'. With that in mind I have modified my dog walking route to keep it almost within sight of the house as some have been fined for being too far from their houses.
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Ireland is in lockdown since last night, with people allowed out of their homes only to drive to work (if their work is essential), to shop for food, to visit the doctor or the pharmacist, and "briefly" for exercise within 2km of their homes. Fortunately I have a very agreeable figure of eight ride that falls (arguably) within 2km of my house, yet is long enough to last 40 minutes, and is all lonely farm lanes on which you exceedingly rarely meet anyone on foot, so it should be safe enough.
Thanks. I like the figure of 8 idea.
No distance guidance here in Scotland, yet.
I'm sure it must come.
My allowable, usual ride yesterday was 40 miles. More or less 20 in the same direction.
I'll work on a figure of 8 run in preparation for further clamping down.
Like your good self, I can use country roads where I see more livestock than folks.
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I'll work on a figure of 8 run in preparation for further clamping down.
Considering that I live in Ireland, with the aid of ordinance maps I'm trying for the proverbial 4-leaf clover ride, but it isn't so easy without riding through at least a good part of the town or riding further uphill than down. (I did say it was proverbial!) However, some roads I would normally not go on, except on Sunday outside of churchgoing hours, because they carry heavy, fast motor and truck traffic, become usable if not relaxing for cyclists in these unusual times. I might even have a kind word for Google Maps soon. (Normally I am of the opinion that the entire Board and top management echelon of Google should be in jail of trying to steal all the copyrights in the world until a wide-awake American judge saw through them and put the kibosh on that scheme.)
Like your good self, I can use country roads where I see more livestock than folks.
Bring some of the livestock home for dinner, then you won't need to go out again to shop. Last night a young hedgehog, this year's crop down in the orchard where a couple of families live, was eating cat food put out for the stable cats, looking up calmly at me, which it wouldn't be if it knew what I was thinking, which was that hedgehog would bake nicely in clay, with the clay bringing the quills with it when cracked. Churchill, who kept a duckpond at Chartwell (most biographers gussy it up as a "goldfish pond" or even a very unlikely but presumably in their minds posher "carp pond"; trust Andrew Roberts to get it right), once when duck was served averted his eyes and said to his wife, "Would you mind carving, my dear. It was a friend of mine."
Still, as I wrote on RBT:
Of course a writer starts with an advantage. His vocation is sitting alone in his study for fourteen hours a day. He doesn't even notice Chinese Virus Lockdown until someone tells him about it. Stir crazy isn't a symptom for a writer, it is a rich living.
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just been out and bought 20l paraffin & 3.5l meths, I still need some aspen4t or panel wipe ideally 10l
I'm going to be servicing a few stoves and tilly lamps plus my Bialaddin bowl fire getting ready for any power outages should the power firms have too many people off ill
might be worth getting some candles in if you have no other emergency lighting
atb Bill
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I have a bunch of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries that are at a reasonable state of charge. And have a couple headlamps, one takes AA and the others take AAA.
I can't say how things are working in other countries, I am in USA and I have a high level of trust in the utilities in my area.
And, this morning listed to this 3 min audio on the radio, again this is specific to USA.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824358200/utilities-aim-to-keep-specially-trained-employees-healthy-and-working
The city that I grew up in (Minneapolis, MN) had a lot of overhead electric lines. A bad ice storm or wind storm could take out enough lines that power is out for quite a few days. But the city I live in now (Madison WI), the power lines in my area are buried, more immune to ice storms. We had a bad storm and flood here about two and a half years ago, I was out of town so missed it, but I heard later that power was out several times for several hours at a time. That was why my DVR did not record the tv shows I wanted to watch when I got home. About a half km from my home, there was standing water maybe a meter in depth from the heavy rain, but I am a geological engineer and worked with water for most of my career, I think about that sort of thing when shopping for a home, my condo was high and dry from that storm.
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"I heard later that power was out several times for several hours at a time. That was why my DVR did not record the tv shows I wanted to watch when I got home."
Nice to live in civilisation, where your chief worry in a natural disaster is that a power outage deprived you of a few TV shows ... and one's chief consideration is where you can cycle without inhaling a deadly virus. The Zombie Apocalypse fades into insignificance when the Thorn rider returns from distant parts!
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There's stir crazy and there's stir crazy. Reckon we have a ways to go before we approach Stan Rogers' account of being cooped up over winter near the Canol Road in Yukon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0htgidWbtc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0htgidWbtc)
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I am retired, I canceled my planned bike tour for this summer. But other than that, it is not changing my daily life much. I used to go to the gym about three times a week to try to stay in shape, but the gym is closed. That is the biggest change to my daily routine.
The population of my county is about 560,000, and we have 209 known cases confirmed by testing in my county, but testing is so limited in USA and results not available often for almost a week or more, it is likely that the 209 number grossly underestimates reality. From the data I have seen, USA growth rate of cases exceeds all other major countries, so care is needed here.
I am basically staying as isolated as practical and trying not to let anything bother me. There is risk in everything we do, just trying to minimize exposure and risk to the greatest extent practical.
I could try to order groceries on-line but I am willing to take some risk and go to the store. I went grocery shopping this morning. Last time before today that I had been inside any building other than my condo was on March 19, that was also a grocery shopping trip. Trying to avoid people as much as practical so I was in the store less than a minute after they opened, and was out about 25 minutes later before very many people had come into the store. And have all the groceries I need to last for at least a couple weeks. So, it is unlikely that I will be inside another building where anybody else is for at least two weeks.
I plan to do a long bike ride tomorrow. I need some exercise and the weather forecast looks good, wind should be about 10 km/hour and temp should peak at about 10 degrees (C), partly cloudy.
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Bought a new chain measuring gauge, the cheap little ones I do not trust, they always say a chain is shot long before it is. But pulling the chain off to measure on a four foot long ruler is rather inconvenient, which means I rarely check them for elongation or stretch. Bought a new one that is not much more expensive and not much bigger, but it is supposed to be much more accurate. The net result of that is that I needed to replace chains on some bikes. My inventory of chains is starting to run low. But Amazon tells me I will have three more chains to put in inventory in about 10 days.
If you are curious, I bought the Pedros chain checker.
https://www.velonews.com/2020/01/gear/measuring-chain-wear-accurately_504301
SJS does not stock it but they have a similar Park on their website.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/park-tool-cc4-chain-checker/
It takes some practice to use that chain checker properly, you have to put tension on the chain between two of the tabs and maintain that tension while trying to stick the third tab into a chain.
If you do it wrong and do not maintain that tension it will give you a wrong answer, so if you get one spend some quality time to understand how to use it correctly.
More on how to do it right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOaFF_4CqJg
Stay safe everybody.
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I used to go to the gym about three times a week to try to stay in shape, but the gym is closed. That is the biggest change to my daily routine.
i have a multigym and more free weights than i'll ever be able to lift again,used to be right into my weights but haven't used them as much as i ought of late
but it looks like i'll have time on my hands and not much else to do
always did like the way i used to sleep after a workout and a bike ride, this might well be the push i needed to get fit again, been off the bike most of the last year really bad vertigo then a burst bakers cyst ::)
dunno where i stand with the kayaks, i did read we can swim if we can walk or cycle to the sea but dunno if the plod will allow it as they have told shop keepers they can't sell Easter eggs and they do seem to be over zealous at the mo on making up the law to suit their own agenda, even former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption say they are overreaching https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-52095857 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-52095857)
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just been out and bought 20l paraffin & 3.5l meths, I still need some aspen4t or panel wipe ideally 10l
I'm going to be servicing a few stoves and tilly lamps plus my Bialaddin bowl fire getting ready for any power outages should the power firms have too many people off ill
might be worth getting some candles in if you have no other emergency lighting
atb Bill
My grandfather used to have all that sort of gear at his beach cottage on the South African Wild Coast when I was growing up in the nineteen fifties.
Brings back memories.
Mike
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It's a mixed bag here in North Carolina. My wife walks about 13 miles on most days, and encounters a lot of other people walking around for fitness and sanity. Mostly people are pretty observant of the distancing rules, but it seems young people, from teens to early thirties are not taking this seriously at all. they walk down the street in groups of five to eight and all abreast so they take most of the road, and all within a foot or two of each other.
At Walmart it is horrible. There are distancing rules, but just an hour ago my wife came back from buying some food and dog food. She twice had a hispanic man of about 40 brush past her, and when she said, "you are supposed to be six feet away" he snarled at her "I know". That kind of shook her up.
But mostly people are complying. Now mind you, despite myself being the poster boy for who this disease kills ( past cancer, current cancer ,transplant, weak immune system, Kidneys at 30% and a mild heart condition from the chemo) I tend to think that this is grotesquely over done by Local and state officials who make illogical decision. But we are all in this together, so if my Governor (who I would never vote for) makes any rules - I follow them. It makes me furious to see groups of twenty to forty young people all partying it up, just a mile or so in our towns projects. Have young people no respect for rules? My father used to admire Americans most for their reputation of coming together in times of crisis. Seems a quaint notion all of a sudden.
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Pavel, I was shocked to hear about those groups of youths congregating.
Over here in UK, the police would have broken up the group and sent them home.
There certainly have been instances of party bar b ques. But less now and not so many groups of young folks meeting as you described.
Unless the county/ country comes together and observes the government guidelines, the recovery period will be extended needlessly whole more folks than necessary die.
Stay safe.
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I feel that young people just don't take things as seriously as older adults, and that's the way it's been always. I guess the young have that admirable quality of feeling invincible.
On the rest of it, I don't know how I really feel, other than conflicted. On the one hand, I'd like people to fall in line with what the authorities are telling them. On the other, some people in charge make rules that show they have not really though things through. I've long believed that part of being a good citizen involves challenging the over-reach of of the government over the individual, as long as it is done through fully peacefully means.
I fear the long term loss of individual liberties and any neutering of the weight of the American constitution. That makes me kind of a major hypocrite if I support overly enthusiastic policing, doesn't it?
In Philadelphia, there was a video posted online where eight policeman were forcibly dragging a black man off of a subway train. He was not wearing a mask. The transit authority subsequently had to announce, and point out, that masks are recommended, but not required. Do I want to see things like that? It's a bigger fear in me that the virus itself. So I don't know what to think, except that we all come out of this soon, and it's made me see how much I've taken for granted.
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It is a beautiful Autumn day here in Melbourne Oz, 21C sunny no wind so I did the annual oil change on my Mercury.
I don't try to reinstall a drain plug with the flushing oil, I just place a strip of electrician's tape over the hole as I hate fiddling with that tiny grub screw.
I only managed to drop the new grub screw once when installing it, an improvement over previous years!
Mike
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Good tip about tape and the flushing oil. That grub screw is a ^$#@#. There are few more things more stressful than dropping one while changing the oil while on tour.
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I normally keep several grub screws on hand because I'm a serial cack-hand.
Makes you wonder why Rohloff hasn't long since designed and supplied a rim-top machine screw of just the right length not to be screwed into essential spinning gibbons, maybe even magnetic so it sticks to the Allen key in the right orientation.
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I have a hex key out of a cheap set that's a tight fit in the grub screw, push it on and it stays there, I keep it with the kit just for that. Lock the wheel with the hole right at the top, full turn of the screw in the opposite direction and then it goes straight in, I then have to wiggle the hex key to remove it, could pretty much do it blindfolded. If you don't have a well fitting hex key, maybe a blob of Blu Tak or similar would hold it on, or even just a bit of thick grease.
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Good tip about tape and the flushing oil. That grub screw is a ^$#@#. There are few more things more stressful than dropping one while changing the oil while on tour.
Or dropping one in your back yard right at your feet and not finding it after an hour of searching.
X3 were ordered the next day from SJS.
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Replying to various posters:
I normally keep several grub screws on hand because I'm a serial cack-hand.
I can relate to that. I have a jar with all my old grub screws and two in their original ziplock bag from SJS!
or even just a bit of thick grease.
I tried that this time and it did seem to help.
Or dropping one in your back yard right at your feet and not finding it after an hour of searching.
I do my oil changes under the carport which has a concrete floor. To slow down the bounce of dropped grub screws I place an old blanket underneath the bike. This time when I dropped it I found the grub screw right on the edge of the blanket. In past years our son has found dropped grub screws on the concrete weeks and months after the oil change.
Mike
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I place an old blanket underneath the bike
+1 for that, Mike.
I've wondered why this situation should exist -- surely there's an easy design fix? When something that should be easy or straightforward doesn't appear, then it's probably not a technical issue.
So: My guess is that there's a power struggle going on between engineers pursuing simplicity and elegance, and sales reps chasing profits on behalf of their grub-screw manufacturing company, which holds all the patents and a substantial percentage of shares and/or investment financing of R****ff. What chance would the engineers have?--Status quo is very profitable, thank you very much.
(This is what stay-at-home regulations and lousy weather do -- force you down rabbit-holes chasing ghostly symbols of political economy.)
Cheers, John
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When I used to service my motorbikes on the driveway many years ago, a lost nut or washer was always quickly found by placing a bounty of 50 pence on it. My eagle-eyed son, then about 10, would find it in no time.
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In the interests of science and because I really am that bored, i thought I'd put theory to the test.
This is a spare grub screw on a lose fitting ball end hex key, with a blob of white Blu Tack, I hung it on the windowsill for an hour, it could be moved around easily without becoming detached and when I'd finished playing the Blu Tack was easy to pick out with a small screwdriver.
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If you don't have a well fitting hex key, maybe a blob of Blu Tak or similar would hold it on, or even just a bit of thick grease.
Thanks for the tip. Actually I have a pack of some tiny BlueTak spots on a sheet somewhere which I use to apply the motor cutout magnets to the brake handles. They would do well for this job too.
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Pretty slick, PH!
I find this to be very useful around the shop, chasing wee steel things that run away and hide: https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/toys-and-games/crafts/44260-pocket-magnet-pin-retriever (https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/toys-and-games/crafts/44260-pocket-magnet-pin-retriever)
Especially helpful too, I've found, if you're deep in a rabbithole & wondering where all those branching horizontal tunnels might lead... ;)
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I place an old blanket underneath the bike
+1 for that, Mike.
You guys are lucky still to be married. There was the case of the Porthault towel, which was eventually forgiven, and the case of the Persian carpet (how the hell was I supposed to know the ragged thing was a valuable prayer carpet?), which wasn't.
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Left over from my seagoing days a bl+++y great Magnetron Magnet strategically placed near to where I'm working, drop anything and (as long as it's magnetic of course) no problem !
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i wouldn't have thought the SS screw was very magnetic, so I tried it and it is, a stronger attraction than I though, though still weak compared to a similar size steel screw. If I had a need I might magnatise a hex key, but as I have a tight fitting one there isn't the need... as I wrote that I realised I have a box of magnetic bits...
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When I used to service my motorbikes on the driveway many years ago, a lost nut or washer was always quickly found by placing a bounty of 50 pence on it. My eagle-eyed son, then about 10, would find it in no time.
When I was much younger (!) I owned Motorcycles. Whenever I worked on them I was certain to have screws or nuts leftover. Bikes always worked fine until the day I found a small circlip on the garage floor!
Those who know engines will know where the circlip came from.
Needless to say it wasa not until out riding that a problem occured......
John
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End of the most restrictive phase of lockdown here in France today.
8 weeks of being restricted to 1 hour of walking a day has taken its toll.
I managed 23 kms on my Raven Sport Tour this morning. Using the lowest gear on a hill where I would normally be in 3rd. And an average speed of 16.7 kph rather than the 20-22 kph I would normally do on that loop.
But a great relief to finally be allowed to do more than a very short shopping trip on the bike.
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8 weeks of being restricted to 1 hour of walking a day has taken its toll.
On my treadmill at a spot over 3km an hour to stretch it out before I wear out, I look out over the trees and imagine I'm riding my bike slowly down a favourite hill to enjoy the view longer.
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Here, the weather gods have been reinforcing lockdown regulations: we're still denied access to the hills of W Qué, but could we take advantage of an opening? Forecast for this aft is 2 - 4°, gusty winds, and snow showers or flurries. Tomorrow, we're due to have our Weekly Cycling Day, 17 and sunny, so I'll go with a buddy to a small village on the NW outskirts of town.
Precursor of spring attached below: a photo of a cardinal in our backyard apple tree, taken from our back door some distance. The few early leaves signal a spring that's about 3 weeks late.
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Lockdown was eased in France on 11/05, so I did a 20 km ride on my Raven Sport Tour.
Which showed me how unfit I was after 2 months of virtually no cycling and only 1 hour a day of walking allowed. I only averaged 16.7 km/h.
Much better today after 18 days of gradually increasing distances and speeds on my (mainly utility) rides. 47 kms at average 22 km/h on a moderately hilly circuit, and for fun 60 km/h pushing gear 14 at 130 rpm on a long downhill.
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Lockdown here in Scotlandshire easing. And I've managed daily rides.
My son lives in NYC, 3,100 miles away from me, as the crow flies.
I've set myself a goal of riding that distance this year.
So far I'm ahead of schedule.
I could be with him by July......
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Wow! Good work/pleasure, Matt!
I thought of you the other day, harking back to our correspondence about your once-possible trip through Ontario this May. I didn't feel much like cycling, not even on an unloaded bike: less than two weeks after my post above, we had a 3-day heatwave, daytime highs in the high 30s on the humidex, nighttime lows in the low-mid 20s. For me, that's heatstroke weather if I'm riding a loaded bike, the more so in hilly country.
Such really hot weather can zap the mozzies; OTOH, it can also advance & prolong the black flies' reign of terror. On balance, I prefer the mozzies.
(That weather has just broken, thankfully, and tonight's forecast low is 4.)
A reminder that May weather in Ontario can be lovely, but also dangerous.
Cheers, J.
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In Spain, in those areas which have moved to phase 2, we can now cycle any distance for as long as we like so long as we remain within the province. Previously it was just the municipality. Fortunately I haven't suffered much of a fitness problem as I used an exercise bike daily at home for for 5 weeks whilst we were totally confined.
Deaths in Spain down to just 1 or 2 per day now. However since the lockdown has eased there is a small but significant rise in infections. My fear is that many are feeling it's all over and aren't as serious as they were with the remaining precautions.