Sunday 17 March 2013 The forecast for today was grey skies and showers. The plan was to walk Poppy and then head off to church in Kempen. So Poppy and I ventured forth around the lanes. And she made friends with some random garden ornaments. She had a half hour walk and then I gave… Continue reading Kempen 17 March – Kirche, Kuchen und Konzert
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Kempen 16 March – Stammtisch in Krefeld
Saturday 16 March 2013 Today was the date of the English-speaking Stammtisch (a kind of social group) that Babs, who I had met when visiting Mönchengladbach in December, had organised to take place whilst I was here. Originally it was going to take place at the Royal’s Café which is an English-run café in Willich.… Continue reading Kempen 16 March – Stammtisch in Krefeld
Kempen 15 March – Windmills and Beer Bottles
Friday 15 March 2013 This morning was cold but at least there was no more snow. I decided to do a mid-length cycle ride this morning and walk Poppy in the afternoon. This is partly because I’m going out to meet some people for breakfast in Krefeld tomorrow which means I need to leave by… Continue reading Kempen 15 March – Windmills and Beer Bottles
Kempen 14 March – A railway journey on three wheels
Thursday 14 March After another really good night’s sleep I woke up to fresh snowfall. The roads were white, the gardens were white, the rooftops were white. That wasn’t in the forecast!! By the time I’d had breakfast and faffed about the sun was shining and Poppy and I went out for our morning constitutional… Continue reading Kempen 14 March – A railway journey on three wheels
Kempen 13 March – a walk, a ride and a sing
What a beautiful morning! Helped by the fact I had a wonderful night’s sleep. This might be due to one of the features of this Ferienwohnung (holiday accommodation) proudly listed on their website: bedroom with new 7 zone-cold foam mattresses Or it might be just that I was incredibly tired! Anyway, I was woken by… Continue reading Kempen 13 March – a walk, a ride and a sing
Kempen 12 March – Force 9 To Kempen
Tuesday 12 March 2013. Having spent a week slowly packing and organising everything for my eight day holiday in Kempen in Germany (and traumatising the dog in the process), last night it was time for me to set off for Harwich to take the overnight ferry to the Netherlands. Of course, we had a mega… Continue reading Kempen 12 March – Force 9 To Kempen
2013 cycling/cake diary – February
February 2013. This is a summary of my February cycling: And here is the detail of the cakes I enjoyed, using up my 27,934 extra calories! Friday 1 February 2013 Cycling: 26.53 miles in 2 hours 16 minutes. Average speed: 11.6mph Maximum speed 33mph Average heart rate 136, maximum heart rate 180. Calories burned: 1,039… Continue reading 2013 cycling/cake diary – February
Alfie gets a new chain tensioner
I have mentioned on previous blog posts the problems that I have with the Sora derailleur on my Alfine-11 trike. You may, of course, ask: “Why does someone with an internal hub gear need a derailleur anyway?” The reason is that I have a triple chainring at the front of the trike and thus need… Continue reading Alfie gets a new chain tensioner
How to boil your brakes!
My trike has Avid BB7 mechanical disk brakes which work very well and which seem relatively low-maintenance. I changed the pads at 10,000 miles and they have worked well. However, yesterday when I realised the left brake needed to be adjusted I discovered that the bolt that turns to move the pad in or out… Continue reading How to boil your brakes!
Alfie gets new teeth – changing the Alfine-11 sprocket
A couple of weeks ago my chain snapped whilst out riding. After being rescued by car by my husband I changed the chain and did some general trike fettling, after which it became clear the chain was skipping over the rear sprocket (the sprocket had done 11,000 miles and was therefore probably rather worn). Clearly… Continue reading Alfie gets new teeth – changing the Alfine-11 sprocket
2013 cycling/cake diary – January
I thought I’d keep a record of my cake consumption and work out whether my cycling for that day offsets the cake calories ingested. (This is of course extremely unscientific as it doesn’t take into account anything else I have eaten that day). Here is a summary from my Ascent software of my cycling for… Continue reading 2013 cycling/cake diary – January
Alfie – a winter service
It’s 25 January 2013 and I’ve cycled 610 miles this year through snow, rain, slush, mud and more. The chain on my Sprint (three KMC X9 chains joined together) was looking a bit sad and, when measured, had clearly stretched a fair bit. However I tried to keep it running as with all the salt… Continue reading Alfie – a winter service
Mudguards – a possible anti-rattle modification?
Those who have read my previous blog post 10,000 miles of slow sprinting will be in no doubt that I get irritated by rattling mudguards. Tony Collins posted a couple of comments on my blog suggesting a possible fix for this. So after procrastinating for ages (mucky mudguards and annoying rattles are just a pain… Continue reading Mudguards – a possible anti-rattle modification?
10,000 miles of slow sprinting!
Today Alfie the ICE Sprint passed a very significant milestone: So I thought it would be worth writing about how he has survived the last 17 months and what sort of maintenance he has needed in that time. Statistics for the first 10,000 miles Firstly, some statistics and information (for those of you who like… Continue reading 10,000 miles of slow sprinting!
Mönchengladbach – a visit to Mars and a recumbent trike shop
Thursday 6 December 2012: A trip to a crater on Mars and a visit to a recumbent tricycle shop! Today was my last full day in Mönchengladbach and I had nothing at all on the schedule. The morning’s weather forecast looked very favourable – a good day for a cycle ride! I had previously noticed… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – a visit to Mars and a recumbent trike shop
Mönchengladbach – Kempen and Krefeld
Wednesday 5 December 2012: A ride from Mönchengladbach to Kempen, Hüls, Krefeld and then back to Mönchengladbach In yesterday’s blog I wrote about talking with Babs (who lives near Willich) about where would be a good place for me to live during my year in Germany. I had come to Mönchengladbach on this little trip… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – Kempen and Krefeld
Mönchengladbach – Windberg and Willich
Tuesday 4 December 2012: Windberg and Willich A half-circle around Mönchengladbach Today was my second day in Mönchengladbach and had the only fixed event in the whole holiday – a meeting with Babs from the Toytown Forum (for English speakers in Germany). She suggested that we met at 2:15 at the Landescafé Streithof which is… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – Windberg and Willich
Mönchengladbach – a snowy welcome
I am in Mönchengladbach! Not for the first time, of course – I cycled from Venlo to the railway station in MG a couple of years ago on a cycle tour but you don’t get much of an impression of a town when running late for a train and pedalling as fast as you can!!… Continue reading Mönchengladbach – a snowy welcome
Koblenz – a boat trip to Boppard
No cycling this morning, instead we took a boat trip from Koblenz to Boppard and back. First of all, though, we had to walk to Deutsches Eck. The long route involves going over the Balduinbrücke (bridge) but there’s a shorter option via little passenger ferry, which James and I and Poppy took. 1€ each for… Continue reading Koblenz – a boat trip to Boppard
Koblenz – Nassau and the Lahn River
James and I decided to do a train-assisted cycle ride today to have a bit of variety and go a bit further. Having enjoyed our brief look up the Lahn river the other day we decided to take ourselves by train a fair way up the river and ride back. I looked at the map… Continue reading Koblenz – Nassau and the Lahn River