PAULB
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Wed, Feb 8, 2012 - 19.70 mi [Cycling] |
19.70 mi in 01:50:00 hours at 10.75 mi/h on CARRERA VENGEANCE LTD EDITION. [Cycling] Longer commute with hills on way home . Now this was perfect conditons . Much colder and so cold lost the gears on top of the hills ( gear cables freeze below -1)
Plus very dry atmospheric conditons throughout the day had dried everything up . So tracks bone dry rock hard and smooth , mint ! a few areas of ice and frost on the top of the track but just keep bik totally up right and no braking on them bits . Light in red now though , won't last the week this week , but that's because had the second lowest setting on for longer this week . still 4 , 5 days on one charge , perfect. |
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Tue, Feb 7, 2012 - 13.22 mi [Cycling] |
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13.22 mi in 01:23:00 hours at 9.56 mi/h on CARRERA VENGEANCE LTD EDITION. [Cycling] SHorter commute in with hills on the night time run . Still wet and muddy but much colder and track conditons high up very good . Coming back down into the valley the Magic shine was casting a weird shaped shadow further down the track, always very carefull down the tracks looking for rabbits running out don't want to hurt them or of course fall off myself . slowed down and on closer insepction it was a duck sitting there . He got up quacked and plodded off to the side of the track. That's one thing you really notice when riding with such a bright light , it shows up small objects more as a cast shadow , I remember last year riding through the night on a one day c2c , even the slugs and frogs created a cast shadow behind them , which shows them up more than the actual light casting on them . |
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Mon, Feb 6, 2012 - 18.99 mi [Cycling] |
18.99 mi in 01:48:00 hours at 10.55 mi/h on CARRERA VENGEANCE LTD EDITION. [Cycling] Longer commute with hills on the way home . Was hoping the trails were still frozen and covered in ice but the lower more doggy walking bit was wet and very muddy ,.BOO!!!!!!!! freshly cleaned bike now very muddy .
The climbs up to the top were getting better though , less people go up there and of course more exposed and colder so nice firm frozen compacted track conditions. More testing on the tyres . Wet muddy track sort of surface really saps the energy , the tyres squach and bit rtight in making it hard to climb , but as soon as you get higher and the tracks when firm they are great , give grip without that drag . It's quite weird in the dark as you know it muddy and wet and the light is very bright but it feels liek the brakes are binding or something yet then you hit a hard frozen bit and you can feel the bike become more free flowing and faster. |
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Sun, Feb 5, 2012 - 17.18 mi [Cycling] |
17.18 mi in 01:57:00 hours at 8.81 mi/h on CARRERA VENGEANCE LTD EDITION. [Cycling] CLASS- trails in the snow , well ice crystals lets say.
This was one of the best rides I've ever done , well best one in a long time anyway. Set off along valley , slushy at the sides of the roads that had been gritted but the best bit was to come ,when I reached the start of the tracks and trails . Last year rode loads in the snow ,but this was the first snow this year so got my head back into the techniques etc , felt the grip , braking etc . Riding along on the snowy covering was mint , it wasn't snow as such , more of a covering of frozen ice crytals lying fairly un compacked together on the gorund. Rarely see such conditions , it's normally snow , or wet sleet that lands and freezes , but this was frozen water droplets laying on slightly warm ground. As you were riding along the crunch under the tyres was soo loud , much louder than the almost squeaky crunch of riding through snow . The noise on the downhills was like the nosie made by a truck tipping 10 tons of gravel out of it's bed, but constant . Never heard the crunch so loud . Tried the grip regularly so not to get too confident but it was soo grippy , I would even say it was more sticky than riding on the tracks in the dry . you had to really be trying to even lock the wheels up and when they did they bit hard into the ice crystals and pulled you up really fast and in control . Was loving it , such unusual riding conditions , nothing like the snows of last year . There was a bit more drag though as riding up the hills was pretty tiring as the tryes were really digging into the surface . Up on the tops into the bright sunny skies and got to the rollercoaster section , that was were the best bit of winter riding ever happened. The tracks seemed smoother than ever with the ice crytals filling in the ruts etc but still giving this unbelieveable grippy surface . Riging along and came to a section with taller trees either side and the white surface became more opaque , then the crunching noise went silent , you know it when it goes all quiet you are on compact sheet smooth ice . Deep breath and keep bike as straight as possible and smooth with no braking . The early morning sun had obviously melted the frozen fingers of icy trre branches , dripping down onto the track melting the surface , making it smooth then re freezing again , making it sheet icy . Came across a few of these sheet icy patches, so it's crunch crunch then smooth , hit a few section on the long descent down back to the valley , but if you needed to slow down or brake a bit to keep control you just went more to the edge of the track to take advantage of the larger bits of gravel sticking out of the ice for grip . Of course these larger gravel bits actually give more grip because they are frozen to the ground and don't move which they would if not in frozen conditions .
Awesome ride , wanted to go further but had lots to do .
Truly unique riding conditions , can't describe the grip , like nothing I've ridden in ever before and I rode every single days in the last two bad winters we have had . Imagine riding through tiny sized pea gravel compared to riding on larger gravel chippings . the tiny gravel does give more drag but also much more grip as the treads on the tyre have loads of irregular edges to catch on and giving grip . Same for braking , imagine pulling a rake through a pit of very finy gravel but not as fine as sand , but with the advantage of the ice crystals all being compressd together and sticking together . The irregular shape of the crystals have a lot more surface area than larger particals . The braking effect was amazing. |
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Sat, Feb 4, 2012 - 11.21 mi [Cycling] |
11.21 mi in 00:54:00 hours at 12.46 mi/h on CARRERA VENGEANCE LTD EDITION. [Cycling] At work today , set off early still dark so ran Magic shine for the sixth day in a row on same charge , running it on full to try and run he battery down , but still it's holding on , then bringing bike into the office the meter went back up to blue , what an amazing light and battery .
On commute home went the long way just as the snow started to fall . It wasn't snow as such or sleet , it was like frozen crystals falling , if you looked closely at it , it was like tiny splinters of broken glass . Weird , it kept falling for the rest of the day , untill the ground had a few millimeters on it . |
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User Highlights
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| Longest distance in a single ride |
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07/12/2010 |
200.43 mi |
| Overall average speed |
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11.84 mi/h
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| Number of rides in last 30 days |
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28 |
| Last 7 days |
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100.00 mi in 09:42:00 hours at 10.31 mi/h |
| Last 30 days |
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404.64 mi in 35:17:00 hours at 11.47 mi/h |
| Since Jan 1, 2012 |
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469.42 mi in 40:20:00 hours at 11.64 mi/h |
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CO2 |
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Tagged 'co2' since Jan 1, 2012 |
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Distance:
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0.00 mi |
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CO2 Emissions:
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0 tons |
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(based on 0.00 MPG)
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No cost savings.
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Groups Statistics since Jan 1, 2012
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Consett Clowns
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2 members have ridden 575.14 mi at 11.66 mi/h |
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Dickie Dees
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2 members have ridden 828.26 mi at 12.20 mi/h |
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