1st August: Did the extended 22 today on the Giant. It was quite hot and humid but very windy. Nonetheless, it was quite a fun ride and I felt strong and averaged a hair under 17 mph so pretty good and 24.0 more for August.
3rd August: Did the same again tonight after work in what proved an eventful ride... First of all a taxi driver in a Mondeo narrowly missed removing my right kidney with his wing mirror, then one of a gang of young kids yelled "Bike wanker!" at me as I shot past (I can't really object because I get the almost uncontrollable urge to yell "Golf wankers!" whenever I see people playing golf...) followed by an Audi that overtook me on the industrial park that ran over something made of black plastic in the road which shattered flinging a small piece right past my face like a ninja throwing star. Still, it was hot and sunny so a good ride for the tan and 24.2 more miles.
5th August: Same again today... I decided to clean the chain on the Giant because it was looking fairly manky and ended up deciding to stop using Muc-off wet lube. The chain was a bit dry and dirty but the chain rings were gross. There was a thick black crust of dirt and congealed oil that actually came off in lumps as I scraped it. Muc-off is a vegetable oil based lube and the problem is that the vegetable oil oxidises and solidifies in use (a process known as resinification). I'm switching to Purple Extreme next time I change the chain but until then I'm going to use Finish Line ceramic wet lube which is petroleum based and not prone to solidifying. Anyhow, a great ride for topping up the tan (although it was mentally windy!) and 24.3 more miles for August
8th August: Same again today. It was a bit overcast and quite windy but warm, the wind dropped as I was waiting at the main traffic lights in Kirby and it was like standing in a commercial oven. I'd replaced the chain before this ride with a freshly degreased and Purple Extremed KMC X11EL (quite a posh chain, I must have bought it in a sale for the spares box...) so the shifting was extra smooth and crisp which is always a bit of a treat. A good ride with an average of 17.0 mph and 24.1 more miles
12th August: The BBC weather website was predicting a hot and sunny day all day today so a bit of frantic synchronised applying for leave saw James and I doing the 'Southport the long way' ride we did last spring.
It was a fun ride and there were a couple of times, there and back, where we were holding a steady 23 mph for several miles which backs up my theory that hot sunny weather makes you cycle faster. Southport itself was absolutely rammed so that killed our average speeds for the day but we had a huge chip balm each for lunch which was awesome and it was 40.7 miles for the day.
15th August: Did the extended 22 again today. It was a fun, uneventful ride except for the weather. It was hot and sunny but with a very cold wind which was strange for August. Any how, 24.1 more miles for August.
17th August: And again... The weather was warm and sunny but very windy but pleasant enough overall. I have spag bol at my mum and dad's on a Monday evening at 7ish so I had to set out at twenty past five so the traffic was mental but another 24.0 miles.
22nd August: And again! The weather was overcast but a bit less windy than it's been recently which was a relief. It was deceptively warm though and I was a sweaty mess by the time I got back in but 24.0 more miles for August.
26th August: Did it again on my day off. It was hot and sunny but about as windy as I ever want to ride in again, I actually felt the wind tug on my front wheel several times which is unusual because the Hunt wheels are pretty shallow rimmed. Anyhow, 24.1 more for August. My current total for the month is currently 233.5 miles so I've got a few days left to really start nibbling away at the current deficit.
28th August: Did it again today and apart from a minicab driver nearly pulling out onto me as I cycled up the by-pass it was a fairly uneventful ride. It was warm and windy but the wind wasn't as bad as it was a couple of days ago which was a relief. 24.0 more miles.
30th August: Met James today to do a ride we did earlier this year in the spring. It was overcast but fairly warm and only slighly breezy for a change!
I'm beginning to regret James buying a proper road bike because our average speed is definitely getting faster! Anyhow, a great ride and it's always nice to catch up with James and 30.0 more miles to finish August off.
It's been a good month for getting the rides in due to the warm (occasionally very windy!) weather so I've taken a good bite out of the annual deficit with a monthly total for August of 287.5.
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