ten years

[JimK]

Here's one of my usual short routes, up a nice hill, just 7.1 miles but a tad over 1000 ft of climbing - at about 9% grade. The 17 inch low gear makes it not too much of a struggle, but... I like the bar ends because I can put my hands further forward to lower my torso and help position myself to put some torque on the pedals!

The view from the bottom of the hill:



There's a pale speck in the center of the photo - that's a big house up at the top of the climb. The view from the top:



That flag is huge. They just put it up this morning, in honor of Veteran's Day. It'll be up a week or so:

https://followtheflag.org/event/unfurling-the-major/

A bit on kit: I've got a couple upgrades in my handlebar bag...



The face mask and hand sanitizer, of course... it's 2020! The pen is a Fisher bullet space pen. I like the toughness of the space pens, but I had been carrying a Fisher capomatic which is very nice but the shaking about would get the thing to unscrew itself and then there is this little spring to find in there lost in the mess... the bullet pen is simpler! And the reading glasses... they have no hinge, it's just bendy metal. The screw in the hinge would shake loose... forget about finding that ever again! And I don't carry a screwdriver that small! I need those glasses not just for jotting notes or reading labels in the shops, but if I need to repair something on the road... helps to be able to see!

I weighed the whole package before leaving on my ride, bike plus water bottle and all the rest: 65 pounds, roughly. I've promised myself, if I can take the 30 pounds of flab off my belly, and keep it off for a year, I'll reward myself with a Thorn Audax! My wallet seems quite safe, though, so far!

[Andre Jute]

I have a Victorinox Swiss gadget knife which I bought for the temperature or barometer gauge, can't remember which but the thing never worked well, so now I'm out of replacement batteries until the end of the Chinese Black Death; it was relegated to my desk to cut apples and suchlike instead of being carried on the bike. One of the gadgets is a dedicated screwdriver for spectacle earpieces, and presumably other tiny screws. Photos below. The screwdriver handle is shaped to screw into the corkscrew. You can also buy the tiny screwdriver loose for a few dollars as a spare part. I can't see a type number on either the knife or the little screwdriver, but the screwdriver fits almost all the Victorinox knives with corkscrews, so it's pretty common. Amazon sells the tiny screwdriver for $3.46 or a pack of six for under $15. Doesn't solve the problem of not being able to find the screw, though.

Impressive mountains...

[JimK]

We just had a couple F-35s fly low over that flag... and over our house. Shake things up, they do!

[leftpoole]

We just had a couple F-35s fly low over that flag... and over our house. Shake things up, they do!

[Comment edited to remove a direct political endorsement. From long years as administrator, I have learned politics can bring down a forum. There are some topics so off-topic and volatile (helmet use for example) they can blow up, dividing membership to such an extent the community can no longer function. I'm even-handed about this: No matter how much I may agree with or oppose the view espoused, it is best to keep politics off a bike forum. -- Dan.]

[leftpoole]

It is for you to delete as you find. This Forum is your domain and you are in charge. Only things that you agree with can be posted of course.
Happy day tomorrow 😂😂😂😂

[Mike Ayling]

It is for you to delete as you find. This Forum is your domain and you are in charge. Only things that you agree with can be posted of course.
Happy day tomorrow 😂😂😂😂

Everyone writes these sort of comments  when ticked off by the mods!

Now what have we done with our Thorn bikes today?

Mike

[JimK]

Another loop of my little hill climb, today! Funny thing, most of the mechanicals are essentially maintenance-free. But somehow my rear V-brake decided to cause trouble. It was way off center and rubbing the rim, so I adjusted the spring a couple days ago. By the time I got back from that ride, it was the other side that was rubbing. The arms seem pretty freely moving, so the problem isn't lubrication I don't think. Maybe after today's adjustment it'll settle back down!

I should add - it's no big fuss for F-35s to fly by here - there are two fighter wings based at Hill Air Force Base, maybe 15 miles away. Here's a shot I got in April of another fly-by. They usually head west from the base to get to the training grounds on the other side of the lake. But they'll head north, up by us, on occasion.

[JimK]

More on Hill AFB, from the local newspaper:

Approximately 45,000 flight operations take place at Hill’s airfield every year, according to an Air Force fact sheet, making it one of the busiest flight lines in the military. Aircraft from all over the United States and internationally fly into Hill’s Ogden Air Logistics Complex, which performs maintenance on dozens of aircraft.

Hill’s UTTR also draws aircraft from all over the world. The west desert training range is the largest contiguous block of supersonic training airspace in the United States. It’s frequently used for the disposal of explosive ordnance, testing of experimental military equipment and ground and air military training exercises. The 388th Range Squadron operates and maintains the range.

[Danneaux]

Those are some wonderful shots of moving airplanes, Jim.

They remind me of a tour I took with my now late father when I was in my upper teens. We were cycling up a forest service road near a reservoir when we heard a loud roar we couldn't account for, echoing off the canyon walls. At first we feared the dam had burst but then just overhead above the trees two military jets appeared, flying a NAP (nap-of-the-earth) course through the canyon.

They were there and gone in a blink leaving us much relieved, a little deafened and very impressed by their skills. It became a highlight of our memories for that tour.

Best,

Dan.

[JimK]

Our house is pretty close to that big flag, and they flew right over our house to get there, maybe 200 feet up, I don't know, but wow. This week we're hearing lots of big rumbling from the AFB - that newspaper article says there are some extra planes in town, including B2 bombers. They must be kicking up the desert out west something fierce! But we get a couple weeks of extra rumbling. How much fuel they must burn to make all that noise, it boggles the mind.

[John Saxby]

Sorta in the same vein:  raking leaves the other day, I heard a distinctly different engine note high above.  Looked up, and it was a Spitfire, warming up for Nov. 11.  There are a couple here in Ottawa, restored by fans of old aircraft. They, and a Lancaster, are used v e r y  carefully during Remembrance Day flypasts.

[JohnR]

Seeing the planes photo reminds me that I was out cycling last year when a big noise approached me from behind. It wasn't the usual old lorry or piece of farm equipment but a B52! It was quite low and not very fast and I should have stopped and grabbed a photo but didn't, to my retrospective regret as it was my first and probably last certain sighting of this beast which disappeared into the distance followed by a smoky trail. They aren't seen in old England very often but this sighting was during one of their occasional visits to Fairford so they can familiarise themselves with the local landmarks. I used to have the RAF Hercules flying over my house like oversized bumble bees but that stopped when someone thought it a good idea to close RAF Lyneham.

[JimK]

I love my bike because it enables me to get out exploring out in some pretty remote territory - I'm the limit, not my bike!

It turns out, if you follow the rail trail far enough, it turns into real rail!

https://www.strava.com/activities/4371592102