Still can't get into typing up new posts, and still not able to manoeuvre shots around blog ?

Had a beautiful ride this morning, sun was up and blazing with hardly a cloud to be seen, but there was also a cooling breeze, well between 06.30 and 09.30., after that it got decidedly muggy and close. What do they say about that early bird? Rheola pond looked so beautiful, I had to take a few shots.

Then along by the canal at Abergarwed, you can see what pride the canal neighbours take in their gardens that back right onto the canal.

Not only was the sun shining but I saw two lesser spotted woodpeckers at Resolven, one flew across the road and settled on a telephone pole, and was soon joined by another, of course by the time I'd stopped, got off the Subway 1, and got my camera out, they were high in a tree and out of sight. But it's the first time I've ever seen one let alone two, and it's up there with the thrill of seeing the otter and her cubs last year.

Pleased to say I've been doing quite a few miles of late, 280 miles over a 7 day period, I worked 7 days on the trot, and did my commute for everyone of them, hence 7 x 40 = 280. My mileage for June this year must already be my highest for any month, since I started cycling. Even on my days off I'm managing 20-30 miles a day. I'll have to sit down and work it out.

Still I'm having to put up with a couple of problems, and I'm sad to say it's the butt end. Either my padded shorts have lost there cushioning effect or my saddle has turned very hard. I'm told that the gel in some saddles get hard over time, so I'm looking to get a new one. On the internet I came across the "Rido" saddle made by the same named company, looks very impressive, has anyone out there tried one ?

No time to type anymore.

Woke up early enough....

Yes,I could have gone for a ride this morning, but,very unusually,I stayed tucked up in bed until 08.00., had a leisurely breakfast, listened to some radio, then went for haircut. Later on in the morning Elizabeth and I went to B&Q to pick up a new rotary clothes airer, as they call it, but it's a rotary clothes line as far as I'm concerned, when I was growing up we called them clothes lines, and that's that.

On the way we stopped at the old railway viaduct at Cefn Coed, I've always wanted to walk over it, and the good news is it's part of the National Cycle Network these days. It's a very impressive structure, I'll have to try and get the details/dimensions of it, as well as a full shot of it for a future post, but for now here are a few I took while we walked across it.

Still haven't solved this problem of being unable to manoeuvre pictures around the blog, very annoying indeed. Hope you enjoy the shots, there's plenty more.

Best week's cycling so far this year, butt also a sad tail...

Managed to notch up over 200 miles this past week, I mean from Sunday 17th, to yesterday Saturday 23rd May. Sunday saw me do a local loop of about 25 miles, Monday the same, and Tuesday 30 or so, I really should write down my daily mileages. Then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday I did my roundtrip commute of 40 miles. Thus bagging a total for the week of approximately 240 miles.

This is where the but, or should I say butt, as far as this tale, or tail.... oh I can't help it!!..., comes in.

I worked on Sunday, but (butt) couldn't manage to cycle because of saddlesores. Recently I bought some base layer boxer shorts, with the padding, insert thingy, normally I use vaseline in the delicate places, but Thursday I forgot. As a result of the newness of the padding, and the lack of vaseline, I ended up with some chafing, which was sore on the way home that night. I treated said chafing, managed the trip Friday with only some discomfort, but by Saturday night's trip homeward, I was really struggling. So Sunday I had to take the car, discretion being the very best of valour. I've since stayed off the saddle for two days, and am hopefully ready to ride again tomorrow.

A sad tail, I think you'll agree.

Butt! what makes it all the sadder is the fact that the week has been glorious, sun shining, blue skies etc., a complete joy to be out there cycling. Still a valuable lesson learned, which I won't forget, if one isn't comfortable on the bike, it ruins the ride, so I'll make certain, those nether regions are taken care of, in the future.

New bike.....well sort of ?

Well I tried to fix the photo adjusting problem on this blog, but using 'system restore', which I thought would solve it, hasn't worked. So I'm going to have to press on and put up with it, hopefully only for a while, jnr where are you when I need you?

The two pictures above are of my old Raleigh Venture Pioneer GT 27-speed, a touring bike, which I had for free, about 2/3 years ago, and I never rode, except for a few attempts, but was never happy on it. It's the best quality bike I have, according to the sales catalogues, cost about £700, but I just couldn't get on with the gears at all, and didn't like the drop handlebars.

To cut a long story short, I took it to Halfords a couple of months ago, and had a chat with Russell etc., and asked them to put on straight handlebars, and rapid fire shifters, and hey presto, you can see the results above. I'm alot happier riding the bike, and progressing with the gears, sadly I'm still much more content on my "hack", or commuting bike, as I call it, because it's like a second skin to me now. But eventually, I'm hoping to make some long trips on the Pioneer, if I can get used to all those pesky gears.

Also one of the difficulties I've found with the Pioneer, and it could be psychological, is the narrowness of the tyres compared with the Subway 1. The more I ride the more I'll get confidence, I hope, but I'm serious about using it.

What do you think?

I'm still cycling the Neath Valley.

Yes, it's been a long time since my last post, looking at the date, over 2 months now. Time is the problem, I constantly use the Subway 1, for my commute, and still get out most days to do at least 25 or so miles, but time to write about my trips is hard to come by. I've done alot of miles, even wore out the pedals on the Subway, last week, the bearings had gone in the right pedal, causing a terrible creaking and screaching as I pedalled along. Quite disconcerting for people and animals alike, especially at 04.30 in the morning when it's still very dark, while I'm wending my way to work.

A complete change of subject I know, but for some unknown reason I'm unable to manoeuvre photos onto my post, the top picture, at the start of this post, is a shot of my new pedal, and the second the old one. Naturally I replaced the pair, and fortunately it was done for free, by Halfords, who are going up and up in my estimation. I explained to Russell, the manager of the bicycle repair section, that I'd only had the Subway 1, since September of last year, and even though I'd down over 5,000 miles since, the pedals should still have lasted 12 months. So he replaced them under the Subway 1's warranty. Not that they, or for that matter, the ones that they replaced were expensive, but it's always great not to have to put one's hand in one's pocket. Let's hope they'll be good for another 5,000 miles?

This problem with adding photos is severely hampering this post, because over the last 2 months I've taken lots of shots that I want to incorporate in this and future posts, and I've also alot to report. As the blog is headed, I'm still cycling the Neath Valley, virtually every day, and enjoying it so much. But reporting it is so much more difficult without the aid of a few relevent shots/photos. I'm going to have to ask my son Keiron jnr., to see if he can find out what the problem is.

Meanwhile, I went out for a ride this morning. Got up at 06.30., but didn't leave till 07.45. First I had to adjust my rear brake, after discovering I had very little in the way of stopping power on yesterday's ride, and then I spent a good 20 minutes sheltering in my shed, waiting for a good old fashioned downpour to pass over. As a result of the late start only knocked up 18 miles on a shortened loop, lately I've been averaging 25-30 miles, on my days off work.

Even though I'd waited in the dry of the shed for those 20 minutes, I still got a good soaking, within 20 more minutes of starting out, then as it usually does, it stopped raining, and I had yet another great ride, under gradually clearing skies, until when I got home, it was glorious sunshine amid the blue.

First bike wash.

Probably, what I'm about to write will be completely abhorrent to real bicycle aficionados, but today was the first time I've actually washed one of my bicycles. It was my day off, I'm nights tomorrow, and I've noticed, for quite some time now, that my commuter, the Carrera Subway 1 was looking really dirty and grimy. So as the sun was out I decided to give it a clean.

It didn't take that long, and I suppose I won't win any prizes for the result, but the Subway looked 100% better, even though I cut a few corners.

I should have taken the "before shot", but forgot in a haze of enthusiasm for the job at hand. Above is a view of the Subway half-washed plus all my bike washing gear, which was christened today, having been stored in the shed for at least the last 2 years.

The sight was so surprising to my son, Keiron jnr., that he grabbed the camera and took this picture, me hard at work, with Elizabeth in the background, hanging out some washing.

Since the Subway 1 replaced the Subway 8, as my commuter, it has seen alot of service and miles. Sadly, I'm very remiss at keeping my mileage figures up to date, but a conservative estimate of say 150 miles a week, since September last year, and taking out roughly 3 weeks of no cycling, because of icey conditions and my incapacity after my fall, and I come up with a guestimate of 3300 miles. That's quite a way without a wash.

Of course it's been into Halfords for a couple of services in that time, but they never wash the bike, something I'd very much appreciate. I've always lubricated the chain, and even wiped it free of grime on several occasions, as well as the bottom bracket and hubs, but otherwise I've done no maintenance whatsoever. Just goes to show what a fantastic low maintenance mode of transport a bike is. ( Says he who relies on Halford for taking care of virtually everything ).

Sorry, but I haven't felt much like posting lately.

Just to let you all know I'm still riding, but can't get into the habit of writing up my experiences, time is the problem. I've got plenty to tell you, and am still taking the odd photograph, on my travels, and I really want to write about so many things, loads of ideas to research etc., but it all takes so much time. Work is the biggest problem, but to get that sidelined I need to win the National lottery big time, so until that happens, I ( and you ) will have to console myself with spits and starts. Not that I suppose anyone has missed my absence from the internet, these past few weeks, but hey, I like to pretend you're all out there, hanging on my every word.



Enough fantasising, and by the way I've discovered a new blog, well actually I've been reading it for a while now, " Bikeskirt," I have to say I enjoy it, gives me a great perspective on what youngsters are doing on their bikes in the USA. I don't believe we have quite the same bike culture here in the UK amongst our set of young people, and it's a shame. God I'm really sounding my age these days. But back to fantasising, I just don't see any young women riding bicycles, at all, in my part of the world, and it's much the poorer for it.



So come on girls, get out there on your bikes, believe me the lads will soon follow.



Well back to me and my riding. I've had a couple of weeks off work, due to a combination of leave and my wonderful shift roster. During that time I went out every day for a leisure ride, between 07.30 and 10.00 round Glynneath and surrounds, did at least 20 plus miles each time, and really enjoyed tootling along looking for subjects etc., to photograph. But then, when it was time to return to work we had a couple of downpours of snow, and the return of very wintery weather, which kept me off my commute, taking to my car. I had a few days of wishing the snow and ice would go away for good, so I could return to my commuting.



That time came, much too slowly for my liking, at the beginning of last week, so I've been back to my commute and enjoying every minute. On top of that my speeds, not that I'm really concerned about my pace to get from A to B, have increased alot, my normal commute is about an hour and a half, these past two days I've covered the 20 miles in 70 minutes. No, I know I won't be troubling Lance Armstrong etc., but I have surprised myself, and inwardly, I feel some accomplishment. Perhaps, at long last, I've improved my pedalling efficiency and style to improve my power ratio? Yes you've guessed, I don't know what I'm talking about. Best thing is, I'm feeling really good as well. Just need that lottery win now, to sideline work and take it right out of the equation of my life. That way I can concentrate on what my family and myself want to do, for me that's my bicycling and I'd like to just let myself "go" at writing. You can all laugh now, but I see this blog of mine as a bit of practise. I'd like to get into the habit of writing something everyday, much easier said than done.



I'm so envious of other bloggers who write so well, eruditely and succinctly. My posts tend to go on quite a bit, while I love to read those few lines that some bloggers can put together which sum up their thought or experiences, in a paragraph. Great stuff.

Once again time has defeated me, I hope to get back to you all soon.

Cheers.