23 Aug 2016

23rd August 2016 Whingeing Limeys and battery heads!

0/00

Tuesday 23rd 64F, 18C, heavy overcast but still. The forecast is dry with cloud clearing to sunny periods. I walked new stubble fields to capture rarely seen views.

You have to admire the sheer, crippling inadequacy of drivers who overshoot blind corners by 2m, 6' or more. The manufacturers spend billions perfecting the handling of their cars. Then all it takes is some jumped up chump who can afford the purchase price to drive like a compete and utter twonk.

From the top of the local <cough> "hill" I spotted a tractor and trailer about to lime a field. This demanded a closer look. The problem was being downwind had I remained there for long. Lime between one's clenched teeth might not be very beneficial to my health. Fortunately the driver set off on an anticlockwise tour of the large field. Which took him and his comet-like, "special effects" tail to a nicely distant viewpoint. I snapped away as long as I dared and then beat a hasty retreat.

I remember a contractor liming the 20 acre field beside our rural cottage in a roaring gale back in Wales. Our window sills had collected up to an inch of white dust by the time he had finished. The glass on every windward window was opaque! I have no idea if the lime benefited the garden but the rhododendrons seemed quite unscathed.

Jet propelled tractor?

A late morning, hilly ride through the gorgeous beech forest with a tailwind. Lots of teenage cyclists riding single file going through a village. A headwind coming home. Only 10 miles.

Wednesday 24th 56-75F, 13-24C, bright sunshine from a clear sky. A day of lighter winds. Which means 20mph gusts in these here parts. The Danish rail service is buying electric locomotives to replace their fleet [?] of "inadequate" diesels. Since the new locos will run on electricity they can be fed with wind power. A win-win scenario I would think.  One small Australian village is going off the grid. They plan to install solar panels on most of the town's roofs. Quite unbelievably they needed permission from the electricity regulators.

Tesla's Mr Musk claims a new breakthrough in battery development. This will allow his sportier cars to accelerate faster than any other production car on the planet. It will also extend the range of the car significantly to well over 300 miles before needing to charge. It therefore follows that skilled drivers can expect even longer mileages. Only the leaden footed "battery head" will want to risk their license and vehicle at the next set of lights. A habit usually reserved for the inadequate owners of so-called, super sports cars with many more high currency notes than brain cells. There is an "electricity" joke in there somewhere for the hard of reading. ;-)

Rode with the wind on a wasted journey at up to 23mph on the tri-bars. A headwind coming home. Still managing to cruise at up to 17mph on the tri-bars but glad I didn't go on a longer ride today. A rather warm and sunny ride for 20 miles mostly on main roads.


Click on any image for an enlargement.

0\00

No comments:

Post a Comment