Big J
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Everything posted by Big J
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Argh! The weather turns to shit on Monday here 😲 😄 If anyone is in need of an inexpensive holiday - we have holiday cottage availability until the end of September. We even have the May half term week available too - flights from Stansted. It's all very easy. Here is our Facebook page for the holiday side of things: Swim Cycle Sweden WWW.FACEBOOK.COM Swim Cycle Sweden, Virserum. 1 528 J’aime · 120 en parlent. An English family in Sweden, working to develop swimming and cycling tourism for our village
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It is actually the current position in the league!
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Glorious today. Cafe berget 080523.mp4
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The amazing weather continues, though it's getting a lot warmer through the day. I went out at 07:00 on the bike this morning with the GoPro. It was actually frosty, but warming quickly. I had the absolute privilege of seeing a white tailed eagle quite close (about 50m) and for about 15 seconds. It was enormous! The GoPro footage sadly doesn't do it any justice, but this was the spot where I saw it:
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Only about 10c today, but full sun. Minus 2 this morning. Did 101 miles of gravel riding today and couldn't have asked for finer weather. Warms up tomorrow. Most of next week is sunny 17-19c. Thinking about it, we've actually only had 2-3 days of rain since 16th of January. A few more days of snow but it rains so little here. It's very welcome after four years of going mouldy in Devon! 😄
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It's a bit grey here today, but we had nice weather over the weekend. Cooler, but dry and sunny. Maybe 12-14c. Sweden in spring and summer very often has what I'd describe as "Springfield Sky" (think the opening credits of the Simpsons). Pillowy clouds, very high that have no effect on the weather and just look pretty. Here are a couple of screen shots from a bike ride I did yesterday to illustrate.
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I only hope that this was a joke:
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Surely he'd be hiding in a fridge?
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Aye, but you see, I'm a sci-fi lover. Being of that persuasion means I respect the ambition, even if most of the rest of it was forgettable.
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The Oscars. Now I'm a massive sci-fi fan. I'll watch almost anything so long as it's based on a good idea, even if the execution is poor. Everything, Everywhere, all at Once is a film I watched last year. It was OK. The idea was OK, the execution was OK. I considered myself moderately entertained. I can think of about 50 sci-fi films that were better. Without wishing to devolve the conversation into aspersions of forced inclusivity, is there any rational explanation for it cleaning up at the Oscars? I just cannot understand it.
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I very much agree. If a God existed and was all-powerful but allowed pure evil to continue, why would anyone worship them? If a God existed but was powerless to prevent evil, by what measure are they a God? Personally, I believe (like the Jatravartids of Viltvodle VI) that the Universe was sneezed out of the Great Green Arkleseizure's nose and fear the coming of the Great White Handkerchief
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The Cross Climates have really revolutionised all season tyres (as I understand it). Excellent performance in European type snow/winter conditions (as opposed to Nordic) with little compromise in summer performance. There aren't actually that many 4x4s here. The studded tyres make a massive difference and I guess so does having to drive in snow for 2-3 months a year (at our latitude - a lot more further north). I'm glad that your Panda is living up to the hype. They always make me smile when I see them. I just wish Fiat would put one through the photocopier at 125% and then I'd have a chance of fitting!
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You've got to think differently about it here. For a start, we have maybe 3% of the traffic you have. And on much bigger roads. 80% of people here have studded winter tyres. The other 20% mostly have full winter tyres, and a few all season (but Nordic rated). People are used to driving on snow. We're in the south and we'll still have had 8 weeks of snow cover this winter, in what has been a less snowy than average winter. In just over 2hrs on the bike today, I think I saw 10-12 cars in total.
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It sounds like a cliché, but the biggest difficulty with cycling in snow is learning all the different types. How cold was it when it fell? Has it melted and refrozen? Has it been ploughed or just driven on? Did it fall onto a frozen base or not? Is it tarmac underneath or gravel? What is the current temperature. All these things and many more affect the way it behaves. Next winter I'm going to shift more towards my mountain bike with much fatter tyres. The 35mm Schwalbe Marathon Winter tyres aren't really aggressive enough, especially for the gravel roads.
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If you like cycling and it's snowy you don't have much choice! On the right tyres, you're pretty secure if you are sensible. I reckon I've done a couple thousand kilometres on snow over this winter. Including 47km today.
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A fantastic photo from yesterday morning by someone else in the village. It'd be about minus 12-15 at the point this was taken. Extreme cold here really doesn't feel especially cold. It just makes you want to go outside, preferably on cross country skis!
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Brilliant car. Always loved Panda 4x4s. Being a bit skinnier now (with all the cycling) I might even have a chance of fitting in one. I know I bang on about winter and all season tyres, but come on! That sort of snow is an absolute and complete doddle for any 2wd car with the right tyres. The one you have to watch out for here is melted and refrozen snow on the gravel roads. That's nasty. It took me off my bike and onto my chin a month ago, and I was on studs! Lesson learned though. Avoid the gravel roads if there is any chance of ice.
