It looks as though things are calming down on the moth-trapping front.
It was pretty breezy last night and felt decidedly autumnal out there this morning, although the temperature did only drop to 14ºC it felt colder.
There weren’t many moths in the trap either.
- 1 x Gold Spot
- 1 x Drinker
- 7 x Flounced Rustic
- 11 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
- 15 x Small Square Spot
- 4 x Flame Shoulder
- 6 x Large Yellow Underwing
- 1 x Archer’s Dart
- 1 x White-line Dart
- 1 x Dark Arches
Nothing very exciting but at least it didn’t take too long to sort through them this morning.
I’m waiting to hear from Commencal and Madison about the warranty claim on my cracked Commencal Meta 5.5. Madison have said they will raise a warranty claim with Commencal but that was 10 days ago and I’ve yet to hear back. It doesn’t look as though I’m going to get it sorted in time for the Isle of Man End 2 End in a couple of weeks, so my lack of preparation continues.
I haven’t been out on the bike for a few weeks because of the cracks, but with the End 2 End looming I thought I’d better get my old Specialized Rockhopper hardtail up and running and at least make sure it works. I did manage to get out on it last night for a nice easy ride around Nant yr Arian.
I started in Penrhyncoch and rode up the Bont Goch climb at a nice easy pace despite the head winds. I met John at the Pendam Car Park at the base of the Hippity Hops and we set off for a fairly slow ride around the Summit Trail. John wasn’t feeling too good after one too many the night before so we took it easy most of the way.
I then had a nice ride down the hill back to Penrhyncoch afterwards. The hardtail felt OK, although it did take a bit of getting used to. I don’t think it necessarily climbs any easier and definitely doesn’t descend as well but I prefer cornering on it.
All in all it was almost 22 miles and I felt OK – The End 2 End is more than twice that distance though with more climbing!
Tags: Bikes, End2End, Isle of man, MTB
I’ve always been a fairly good swimmer and enjoy swim sessions in the pool, but driving back and forth to Aberystwyth to get to the pool is a bit of a pain.
I’ve therefore ordered myself a wetsuit and cap so that I can do some open-water swim training here in Borth and Ynyslas. I’m hoping to be able to use my Garmin Forerunner whilst I swim so that I can see how far / fast I go and with water all around us there should be plenty of places to swim.
I don’t know how well it will compare with swimming in the pool when it comes to quality swim training as the external factors of wind, tides, waves and of course the cold will all affect my swims but it should be fun. When it is calm I’ll be able to swim along the beach off the seafront, but as I’d like to swim in flatter water where possible I’ll probably head to the estuary and swim there instead. There are also a few buoys in estuary that I should be able to swim between / around which will allow me to do intervals and reproducible sessions.
I might also try swimming in the River Leri as it will be nice and calm there, although the currents will add to the fun! There are plenty of lakes in the hills around here too that I’m sure I will have to swim at some point. It may not be the best time of year to start as it’s going to start getting cold, but what better way to start the day than a cold 5am swim in the sea.
It seems as though there is a quite an few people into outdoor swimming or wild swimming and plenty of websites with information on doing it and where you can swim.
Wild Swimming has lots of information. It is trying to sell you a book about Wild Swimming but the website has lots of freelay available information as well.
The Outdoor Swimming Society has a nice website with lots of information too, including maps of places to swim, events and tips.
Hopefully as well as having some fun and exploring some new places from a slightly wetter perspective than usual, it will help with my swim fitness as well. Once a week at swim fit just isn’t enough to keep my swimming as good as it should be.
Tags: Outdoor Swimming, swimming, Wild Swimming
Phew - survived
It looks as though the garden has just about survived the recent onslaught from the approach of autumn.
Everything looks a little worse for wear and most things are a little windburnt but nothing has been destroyed. Despite the onslaught the courgette plants have of course continued to supply us with a steady stream of vegetables!
Maybe the shelter we’ve been gradually adding is working as there are still various plants in flower and nothing got snapped off even though the winds blew all day long on Tuesday at about 40 knots.
Time for a tidy up
I do have a bit of work to do out there though as the grass has grown well with all the rain and warmth and there are leaves and pine needles everywhere. In fact, everything is beginning to look a little tired out there as if the garden knows that autumn is pretty much here and winter is just around the corner. What a cheery thought!
The bees seem to have survived as well. The hive remained upright which is a start and there are still some bees coming and going although the activity levels are quite a bit lower than they have been. I’m hoping that all is well within the colony and that some sunshine will have them out and about over the weekend.
September is only a week away but it looks as though autumn has arrived early.
GPS Windsurfing
It was pretty windy yesterday and my windsurf session on the seafront did have an autumnal feel to it. The sun was shining but the sea felt as though it meant business. Although it was a nice easy sail there was just something a little more menacing in the air. It dropped off a bit after a while but I did manage a nice long run to Borth and back. Then last night it arrived properly The wind filled in to 30 knots, with the weather station measuring gusts to close to 40 knots. That’s Gale Force 8.
The sea now DOES mean business and I can’t wait to get out there. I knew this would happen though as I’m working at the university this week so don’t have quite so much time to play and certainly less flexibility. It is forecast to drop this afternoon, just about the time that I’m available for a windsurf – Typical.
It is however forecast to come back from a NE direction tomorrow afternoon which could give me chance to finally use my speed kit in Ynyslas estuary for an attempt at my ‘Life Begins at 40 Knots’ challenge. The tides won’t be great for it but I may be able to squeeze a bit of a session in if I’m lucky. Fingers Crossed.
Tags: life begins at 40 knots, Wales, Weather, Windsurf, Ynyslas
Buying new toys is fun, but there’s just so much choice out there that it isn’t easy.
I’ve reached that stage in my life (call it a mid-life crisis if you want) where I want nice things if I’m buying something. I can’t afford new sports cars -or even a nice 2nd hand car at the moment – but I can afford a nice shiney new bike. I could get away with spending less money and get a run of the mill bike, it would still be an improvement on my current bike which is over 20 years old and has seen better days, but part of the pleasure of riding it will be the love of the machine itself.
I’ve therefore been looking to spend a considerable amount of money on a nice bike. I’m not going top of the range as the tops of the ranges for bikes these days are in the region of £7,000 to £10,000. Yes, we are talking push-bikes, not motorbikes.
Giant TCR Advanced SL
I have seen a few deals around, the first was a Giant TCR Advanced SL3 reduced from £3500 to £2125. I thought about it for a little too long though and it has now gone out of stock in my size. Probably a good thing as I wasn’t really wanted to spend more than £2,000 and it had a integrated seat-post that I wasn’t sure about as it means that once you’ve cut it you only have 1″ of adjustment. I was confident enough of getting my positioning right before riding it properly so was a little wary of that.
For those in the know, I’m looking for a bike with a decent full-carbon frame, Ultegra groupset and a decent set of wheels such as Mavic Kysrium Elites.
The Giant Range, also contains the TCR Advanced 2 which fits this description and has a traditional seat-post, so that’s what I have my eyes on at the moment. I’ve seen them reduced from £2700 to £1999 which is just about the right price point too. I’m just going to have to see if I can get one locally at that price and if they still have any in stock.
There are a few others on my radar. A couple of places are selling the Raleigh Avanti Carbon Team for £2125. Raleigh are making a bit of a comeback and this bike has recieved rave reviews. With a full Dura-Ace groupset it’s quite a bargain at that price, in fact it was still quite a deal at the RRP of £3500, but I’m not too sure about the availability again.
Ribble Nero RC
Ribble also have some good prices, but I’ve heard that their frames flex quite a bit. I’m not sure how true this is as I’ve also heard good reports about them and for the spec something like the Ribble Nero RC can be got at an amazing price. Using their bike-builder I can spec it just the way I want it for less than £1,800, or as a special edition bike I could get it with lesser wheels for £1350, an and £375 will get me some nicer wheels too, so for £1700 I could have a suitably specced bike and a spare set of wheels. Sounds promising doesn’t it, I just need to have more of a think about the frame which after all is the most important part. I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with it but Ribble don’t quite have the kudos that certain manufacturers and big brand names have.
Decisions, decisions! Morgan just told me to get the fastest one, although to be honest, when I give him a cycling magazine and ask him to pick bikes he does have very good taste! I doubt that any of them will make me any faster, it’s my legs that do that, but it will make the pain of trying to get faster more enjoyable.
Tags: Bikes
The moth trap went out last night. No rain, moderate winds and a minimum temperature of 15.3ºC resulted in 22 different species, 135 moths in total and one new species to me. Nothing too exciting but quite a large number of Small Square Spots.
- 22 x Silver Y
- 4 x Archer’s Dart
- 13 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
- 1 x Yellow-tail
- 2 x Common Marbled Carpet
- 4 x Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet
- 1 x Willow Beauty
- 14 x Large Yellow Underwing
- 1 x Dingy Footman
- 2 x Purple Bar
- 3 x Dark Sword Grass
- 6 x Flounced Rustic
- 9 x Flame Shoulder
- 35 x Small Square Spot
- 1 x Sallow Kitten
- 1 x White-line Dart
- 6 x Dark Arches
- 1 x Gold Spot
- 4 x Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic agg.
- 1 x July Highflyer
- 1 x Antler Moth
- 3 x Rosy Rustic*
Rosy Rustic
Tags: Ceredigion, Moth Trapping, Moths, Wales
Our forgaing for food is going well. Anna and Morgan got some more blueberries yesterday and the blackberries are almost ready. We even had a little expedition on the beach earlier in the week looking out for Razor Clams.
We went armed with a bucket and a pot of salt. Apparently once you’ve found a hole that a Razor Clam lives in you can coax it out by pouring sand into the hole and then grab it and ease it out of its hole ready for cooking and eating! We haven’t eaten them before so we’re not sure if they are nice or not, but if we can catch some for free then we may as well try them.
Fortunately for the razor clams we didn’t see any holes and therefore didn’t manage to catch or eat any. Not particularly successful as foraging expeditions go but it was a nice evening walk along the beach all the same.
Tags: Food, Foraging, Razor Clams
I haven’t been on my bike much lately. The frame on my Commencal Meta 5.5 is cracked so I can’t ride that and I’ve yet to buy a new road bike. Also, it’s been pretty windy so I’ve been out windsurfing and haven’t had much time. I have been on the Turbo Trainer a few times but only easy recovery rides after hard days windsurfing.
Yesterday though I decded to have some quality rather than quantity time on the turbo trainer. Time for a quick half an hour session with some 1 min intervals. As usual this is a 10 minute warm up followed by 7 reps of 1 minute hard and 1 minute recovery. Last time I did these I did the first 3 reps at 410 Watts and the next 4 at 420 Watts so yesterday I increased that and started at 420 Watts. I was doing fine at that intensity so did the seventh at 430 Watts I’m obviously improving somehow.
- 10 minute warm up – ramp from 120 Watts to 200 Watts
- 1 min @ 420 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 1 min @ 420 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 1 min @ 420 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 1 min @ 420 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 1 min @ 420 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 1 min @ 420 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 1 min @ 430 Watts : 1 min @120 Watts
- 6 minutes @ 220 Watts
- 5 minutes Cool Down
Turbo Training may not be the most exciting thing to do and you don’t get to paint red lines all over Google Earth as you do in the real world, but having a set workout to do and pushing yourself makes it a little more interesting – and you get to draw red lines with your heart rate traces instead.
Heart Rate Cadence and Speed trace
Tags: Interval Session, INtervals, Turbo Trainer, Workout
Windy Miller
I’ve just got back from another windsurf session here at Ynyslas. Today for a change the wind was South-Westerly so we were sailing on the opposite tack. Much nicer for me as I prefer jumping on that tack.
Despite the high expectations the wind wasn’t quite as strong as we had hoped and was hovering around the 20 knot mark, so my big wave board (Naish Hybrid Freewave 85ltr) and biggish sail (Gun Nexus 5.6m) was the order of the day.
To start with it was perfect and I was able to blast in and out through the waves and even gain some ground upwind. After about an hour on the water Dave and Sarah came over to the beach and started rigging so I stopped for a rest and wandered up the beach to sea them. Once they were rigged and we got back on the water the wind had eased and it was a struggle to get going in the water-water for a while, but out the back there was still enough wind most of the time.
Thankfully after ending up a little way downwind the wind did come back and I was able to sail back to where I started from but it never quite filled back in to make it into an epic session. Still I covered over 30 miles and painted lots of red lines on the sea via Google Earth!
Painting the sea red
Tags: Borth, Wales, Windsurfing, Ynyslas
