Thursday 26 July 2018

Mon Jan 08, 2018 - Big Dummy ride out to John O'Groats with Caleb

Seeing one of those face book reminders of a post exactly 12 months ago and also seeing as how we hadn't had cake for nearly 24 hours Caleb and I decided to load up the Big Dummy after lunch and head out round the high road to John O'Groats where we would meet Heather for a cuppa.
It was a pretty cold day, I think colder than last year with the temp sitting pretty much between +2 and -1 throughout the afternoon and evening. We wrapped up really well, full merino, buffs etc and headed out. Another lovely afternoon, dry, with a stiff breeze from the north. Some ice on the back roads but generally pretty dry so could see it in patches easily.
Compared to yesterdays ride it was a slow trip due to the extra weight of the Big Dummy as well as Caleb growing like a weed. We headed round a few detours zigzagging about but must have got about 30 or so klm in which isn't to shabby on the BD.
Caleb had a blast and was laughing and chatting away the whole journey. By Groats he was getting cold especially his face and hands. He had his thick gloves and had his buff across his face but the temp had dropped as it was getting on and the wind made it feel worse. I had the benefit of being hot due to pedalling and moving about but he was just sitting there holding on so I stopped at Canisbay so he could have a walk round and warm up a bit. He was happy enough but came home from Groats with mum and I don't blame him as the car was already saying 0 degrees and it was just getting dark so would drop a bit more. I rode home in the dark and thought I was being well prepared when my front light died as I had spare batteries, well seeing as they were cheapos and they were so cold they barely kept themselves flashing on the way back. If I turned them on full they just died. Once back at Mey I turned up a dirt road to find it full of frozen holes so the light was put on a low beam as I needed a solid light to dodge all these surreal looking holes all over the road, looked like an ice minefield and hoped the light would last. It did thankfully. There was no real fear of nobody seeing me as the rear lights I have are very bright and as I carry Caleb all the time on it, everything is reflective and safe, the magic carpet seat has reflective trim and I have spoke covers that are reflective as well. you can see them in one of the photos. So another grand though cold afternoon out locally. Good to get some more miles in and always fun with the little man.
If he looks a bit strange in the way he is sitting in the photos it's because he naturally sits forward with his feet on the bar end pegs at the front but for a couple of these he just jumped on for the photos. The one of the two of us we put the camera on a stone bridge and put the timer on first time it didn't work, the second it took us a second to notice it was working and had to run to the bike and jump on before the 10 seconds was up :)

Jamie
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