1st January 2023....

[Tiberius]

First ride of the year.....and after just 12 Kms I get a puncture. A fine start.

Happy New Year y'all....

[Pebble]

First ride of the year.....and after just 12 Kms I get a puncture. A fine start.

Happy New Year y'all....

I can join with this delight, I too got a puncture on the first ride of the year. So far we have both had punctures on every ride of the year - forever the optimist but I'm certain our luck will change.

[Mick F]

Chucked it down most of the day yesterday 1st Jan.
Busy today, though the weather is great.

So .......... I've not had a puncture all this year!

[Audax67]

Chum out yesterday had three.

[Tim Holman]

Not a puncture for the 1st January but my pump decided to remove the inner core of the valve as I was pumping up ready to ride out at 10am. After some messing about all was eventually well and a lovely ride followed in spring weather. Today there's a hard frost but it's sunny so I'm off....
Tim

[eileithyia]

Having been away over the holiday period, didn't get a ride in on NYD but whilst going to visit the outlaws, saw a cyclist ahead with bike upturned and wheel out... pulled over to offer assistance and discovered it was a cycling friend... assisted to get the rather large thorn out of his tyre and the use of a track pump to ensure the tyre was inflated sufficiently.
Good turn of the year done.

[foxyrider]

My NYD ride was uneventful other than being wet. Only 32km but i enjoyed it all the same

[Pebble]

to add to my woes of the 1st. I knew the front tyre was getting softer and softer, so I rode for many miles in a stupid sitty-up position trying to keep most of the weight on the rear wheel. I seem to have semi hurt a muscle in my hip. Although luckily it is only bothering me walking, if I keep well bent forward when riding its OK

2 rides and only 1 puncture now - 84 mile down, 6416 to go. well on target

[Tiberius]

I was hoping to get a run out this morning but the wind is not playing ball - XC Weather says 45/50 MPH here (N.Yorkshire coast) and the trees bent double in our garden would indicate that that's about right. My cut off for riding is 40 mph, if I cut it much lower I would hardly ever ride.

Curiously. The wind is coming from the west but I can almost guarantee that if I cycle west (away from the coast but into the wind) then the wind speed will start to drop.

Looking like 25/30 mph tomorrow - that's more like it...

[Mike Sales]

Curiously. The wind is coming from the west but I can almost guarantee that if I cycle west (away from the coast but into the wind) then the wind speed will start to drop.

The wind is stronger at sea, because there are no surface obstructions. You are near the coast.

[Tiberius]

The wind is stronger at sea, because there are no surface obstructions. You are near the coast.

I sort of get that but there are no surface obstructions just a few Km inland, it's all open fields. How come it isn't as windy there?

We live just above sea levell on the east coast facing the sea and the wind is blowing like the clappers from the west towards the sea (not off the sea) - to our west is mostly cliffs and the town. If I ride west to the other side of the town, even into a very exposed area, the wind speed drops significantly. I can ride way up above sea level, to very exposed areas and the wind speed is nothing like it is where we live. Hope that makes sense.

Still 45 mph wind speed here, I'm going out, in a westerly direction....

[Mike Sales]

The wind is stronger at sea, because there are no surface obstructions. You are near the coast.

I sort of get that but there are no surface obstructions just a few Km inland, it's all open fields. How come it isn't as windy there?

We live just above sea levell on the east coast facing the sea and the wind is blowing like the clappers from the west towards the sea - to our west is mostly cliffs and the town. If I ride west to the other side of the town, even into a very exposed area, the wind speed drops significantly. I can ride way up above sea level, to very exposed areas and the wind speed is nothing like it is where we live. Hope that makes sense.

Still 45 mph wind speed here, I'm going out, in a westerly direction....

On land there are always items which increase friction with the air stream. Trees, hedges, vegetation of all sorts, as well as relief.
You mention riding to the other side of town, presumably past buildings.
This land/sea effect on air speed is really noticeable. I have come back from a exciting day's sailing in a brisk wind to be met with friends (who spent the day half a mile from the sea) and who guessed I had had a dull time without wind. I remember passing through sunbathing crowds on the beach still wearing a jumper and waterproof.
Wind behaves in unexpected ways. Only sailors pay it more attention than cyclists! I have been running with the wind from behind and seen another boat, on a reciprocal course towards me, also running! Before we meet things change, of course.
You get used to the behaviour (sometimes perverse) of wind in your area.

[Tiberius]

Mike Sales - Your explanation is as good as any, thank you for taking the time to post.

Re - 'Wind behaves in unexpected ways' - You can say that again !!

Well I got out anyway. The wind was so fierce that I actually walked the bike (westerly) for approx' 1 Km until I felt the wind speed drop. From here on it was a doddle. At one point I could not feel a scrap of wind, I looked down at the cycle computer and I had cycled just 7 Km inland. From raging wind to nothing in 7 Km.

Local knowledge eh? It would have been SO easy to just stay in.

AND.....Only 40 Km but NO PUNCTURES !!