Wordle 1,134 4/6*

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟨⬛🟨⬛
🟨⬛🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Good one, two mins.

I just hope France's failure with the opening ceremony doesn't carry over into the actual competition.

Ye gods. The French have made a right dog's breakfast of the opening ceremony. Never seen such a vulgar, tacky spectacle in my life.

Another nice day if a little windier than I prefer. Things to do this morning and this evening, but plenty of time for a Bypasser. So, that's what I did.

Pretty much the same route as last time, except that I had a bit of an excursion toward Dordon at the south-western end. I took a left turn from Grendon Road on a whim. Didn't think I'd been that way before but I recognised the junction at the end of a road called Dunn's Lane, so I have. Perhaps I'll have a look at the segment explorer function on Strava and find out when.

Once again on the way back up I took a detour to Nailstone, but I took a shorter route from there to Ibstock this time. Saw a beautiful shiny blue steam engine parked outside the pub at Carlton. Would have taken a pic, but because I'd left my usual phone on a charger at home I only had my non-smartphone Nokia with me. No camera. However, I did find a pic of it online (I searched on its name, 'Baltasha').



Listened to 5 Live, mostly discussion about the almost-upon-us Olympic Games from Paris.

Back on 40.12.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11988389378

Quote from: pxr5 on July 26, 2024, 07:38:33 PMWatching the opening ceremony. What the fuck is this? A novel idea gone horribly wrong - it's awful. even Gojira can't lift this mess.

Clearly the weather didn't help but even in the warmest sunshine I don't think it would have been anything but dismal. Really feels low-rent and amateurish. Bit of a disaster.

Just leave them for a bit, works for bananas.

Wordle 1,133 6/6*

⬛⬛🟩🟩⬛
⬛⬛🟩🟩⬛
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩
⬛⬛🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Phew

25 minutes!

I like the cycling, actually it's the only time I watch cycling as a competitive sport. Will probably watch some of the athletics. Maybe a bit of the tennis. No doubt I'll listen to other stuff while out on a bike from time to time.

Yes, ridiculous. And this sort of gesturing does nothing for climate change, it just reinforces the narrative that you can make a difference by measures that are in truth ineffectual.

Just did a bit of research, very (very) roughly a cardboard bed might have a cardboard footprint of 20kg. A metal bed might have a carbon footprint of 80kg.

But a metal bed will last a lot longer than a cardboard bed, and anyway both can be recycled. I'd be more impressed if they'd bought some cheap second-hand beds.

Most of the athletes travelling a significant distance will get there by charter flights I think, and the plane they're on will be knocking out about 15kg a minute. Of course there might be more than 100 athletes and support staff on a single flight.

Quote from: Slim on July 24, 2024, 05:54:23 PMSurprisingly I've done more miles this year now (3601) than I had by this time last year (I'd done 3565). Last year is my record distance year. But I have no particular wish to break the record.

Prompted by this observation I added a column to my spreadsheet to tell me distance done to the present date over every previous year. The other column is the total for the whole year.



So  (for example) in 2020, I did 3442.96 miles between Jan 1st and Jul 25th.

I see that 2023 has just overtaken 2024, must have done a ride on this day last year.

Actually already started! I was surprised to hear on the radio yesterday that some of the footy and rugby (if I remember correctly) were already taking place.

No rain in the forecast for a few days.

Wordle 1,132 3/6*

🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Very quick again, 40 seconds or so

Quite a touching tribute from Slowhand.

I'd occasionally see ads in the music press for John Mayall gigs in the '80s, or reviews of them and I'd think: why is he still performing at his age? Same with Alexis Korner of course, the other godfather of the British Blues. These days we think nothing of musicians performing in their 50s.

The forecast threatened rain in the late afternoon, but I thought I'd take the Cannonale out for 40 miles or so to check the gears are set up properly after yesterday's adjustments. I was going to do a Bypasser, but the wind was a bit stiff so I decided to keep it short and do an old-fashioned Twycrosser.

The first hour or so passed pleasantly enough, then the rain came down a few hours earlier than advertised. It mostly rained for the rest of the ride, though the last 25 minutes or so was dry. At least the wind was warm so I dried off quickly.

I didn't do Mythe Lane / Atterton this time, I went through Ratcliffe Culey and Sibson then down to Fenny Drayton and along Fenn Lanes. Very nice to get the respite from the wind when I turned into Fenn Lanes to come back up.

The gears are set up very nicely now, thankfully. Very happy to have got the Cannondale sorted out at last. The saddle feels a little bit low - unsure whether it's slipped or I set it up like that when I installed the carbon seat post. But I'll hoist it up a few mm and apply some of the grippy paste I bought for the Roubaix, which seems to work nicely.

Back on 35.98 miles, 514 this month now.

Surprisingly I've done more miles this year now (3601) than I had by this time last year (I'd done 3565). Last year is my record distance year. But I have no particular wish to break the record.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11970509187