It’s almost summer here in NZ, so I rode my trusty Giant TCR2 to my favourite cafe today, but took a few detours to make it a bit longer. I was going pretty well until I dropped the chain off the front sprocket when I tried changing both the front and rear sprockets at the same time.

When I got to where I was going, I had a look at the front derailleur and decided it was dropping down too low, allowing the chain to come off. there’s an adjustment screw for setting how far the derailer moves, so I adjusted that by half a turn and all was good again!

The cafe served up breakfast on a proper plate today, because they are getting pissed off with ‘over the top’ regulations with this present lockdown.

I rode a different way home from my usual route to get a few hills in. I used to really attack those hills five years ago, but nowadays I don’t feel I have anything to prove, so I look after my knee’s and simply take it easy and keep the cadence constant.
(It’s been months since I’ve had to go to a physiotherapist and I like it that way)

Strava says I did a mere 27km (16 miles) with an average speed of just over 19km/hr (11.8 mls/hr). it’s a bit slower than 25km/hr (15.6 mls/hr), which is what I used to achieve, but I’m happy with this as any ride is better than none.

Shared from MitchTeemly @ WordPress -Redeeming All Hallows Eve

Few people realize that the ancient church’s All Hallows Eve (“Hallow-e’en”) and All Saints Day were intentionally focused on both harvest and death, not in mindless emulation of pagan traditions, but for healthy, meaningful reasons. 

Harvest festivals celebrate the ingathering of fruits and grains. And yet, at the same time, all around the town are the now-dead crops that produced them. Sad? No. Because this means they’ve accomplished their purpose, borne their fruits, and now rest in the earth. It’s a healthy perspective, one of death as fulfillment, not fear, as a time of rest and, although it cannot yet be seen, of a coming resurrection in the spring. 

People too complete their work, die, and rest in the earth, All Hallows Eve reminds us. And yet they too will be resurrected one day. Therefore, on All Saints Day, those who’ve completed their purpose in life are honored (the Latin world’s two-part Day of the Dead stems from this idea, as well). And for those whose souls are less secure, the predecessor to trick-or-treating emerged: 

On All Hallows Eve, the poor, especially children, would knock on doors, offering to pray for the souls of the family’s dead, and would be rewarded with sweet, fruit-filled little “soul cakes.” One spiritual-minded baker even put holes in her soul cakes, making them into circles representing eternity (and in the process inventing doughnuts!). 

So let us refuse to surrender All Hallows Eve to that dark, unhealthy fear of death as something evil, something to be feared. Richard Rohr was right: one of the best ways to celebrate life is to acknowledge death as a grace, as a rest, a passage. For without death, there is no completion of this life’s purpose, no resurrection to the life to come. But for those whose souls are truly at rest, death is not an end… It’s a doorway.

†

I brought this bike secondhand in 2012 for competing in small triathlons and riding on the road. It’s a circa 2002 Giant TCR2 which is similar to the Giant OCR1 I had a few years earlier.

The difference between the OCRs and the TCRs is geometry. The TCRs place the rider in a somewhat more agressive position and are designed for faster more agressive riding. The OCRs have a slightly taller head tube and place the rider in a more upright position.

The TCR has a stronger frame than the Giant OCR, which tended to flex a bit at high speed, because of the carbon fibre seat stays on the back end of the frame.

All this makes for a bike thats pretty stable going flat out down hill and the fastest I’ve got out of it so far is about 70k’s an hour (43MPH). I even took a photo..

It has mostly shimano 105 components, most of which was pretty worn out when I got it and I’ve replaced the chain, cassette, gear change cables, etc since I’ve had it.

It was common ten years ago to use narrow 23c tyres, which I think made it faster but at the expense of comfort. In those days I used to do small distance triathlons.

Nowadays, I ride between cafes and I’m running wider 25c tyres with less air pressure to give it a nicer ride.

One of it’s oddities is that someone had converted the back wheel to a 10 spd from a 9 spd at some point, which means the whole back wheel isn’t standard equipment for the bike.
I’m quite glad about this as my last 9 speed bike never had an ideal gear for me when riding on a dead flat road.

It’s starting to get warmer here down under (New Zealand), so even with the present lockdown, I’m getting out on it quite often.