September 8th – I had to take a short cut across Church Hill in Walsall on my way back and as I passed St Micheals Church in Caldmore, I remembered it had a curious feature: A football perfectly wedged in the wrought iron cross on the roof.
Legend has it it’s been there for years, and bounced into it’s trap off the opposite wall.
Glad to see it was never removed. You can find out more about this little oddity here.
September 7th – Spotted as I cruised towards Brownhills just off the Lindon Road, a fine crop of bright red, hard crab apples, so ripe they were falling untouched from the tree.
Like previous apples of this type, scraping them with a fingernail revealed the smelled bitter and acidic, explaining the lack of takers.
I suppose it’s a thing to grow trees and shrubs for the beauty of the fruit and flowers, with no regard to utility of the crop. Which is a bit sad; whenever I see fruit rot like this I feel it’s a pity it can’t be readily used or consumed.
September 7th – It’s about time I started doing ride cams again, and having discovered how to overcome the piss poor battery life of the Hero 5, they should be a lot less hassle to capture.
On my way home on a grey day in North Walsall rush hour, life on a bike is faster and more efficient than many of the motorists around me seem to think…
Soundtrack is ‘Smash It’ by Fuzz Townshend (yes, THAT Fuzz Townshend).
September 6th – I met this king (or maybe queen) of the whiskers in north Walsall on my way to work. Undertaking neighbourhood watch duties from a garden wall, the bright eyes and confident stance attracted me from over the road. Quite happy to test out my ear tickle prowess, I clearly scored a ‘that’ll just do, matey’ before I took the photo.
But oh gosh, what a fine set of whiskers those are!
Not seen this one before. A welcome addition to the local cat spotting rota, I feel.
September 5th – A washout commute home, too. The traffic was murderous, I was tired and I wasn’t feeling the love. I took to the canals and cycleways, and wound my way back to sanctuary carefully and slowly.
In Goscote, I spotted a lovely apple tree, laden with rosy red fruit, glistening and dripping with fresh rain.
For a moment, I was spellbound by the sound and beauty.
Then I realised how wet I was, got back on the bike and rode home.
September 5th – I was lucky in the morning, my early commute just clipped the edge of the forecast rain, and I didn’t get wet, but when I nipped out mid day on an errant to Wednesbury, I was caught in a downpour.
The flowers in Brunswick Park seemed to enjoy it though. I most do more on Brunswick, it’s another beautiful urban oasis that’s often unappreciated.
Can we have summer back, please? Thanks.
September 4th – Returning to Brownhills in the evening, I was pleased to note that the development of new housing seems to have finally started on the site of the old market place off Silver Street, with earthmoving plant commencing operations.
Realistically, we have no chance of ever getting the market back, and the space it occupied has lain idle for five years or more. It’s open, sad and dispiriting and the houses being built here will be a great improvement, and will also mean an end to the serial occupation of the site by travellers.
A good thing, a long time coming.
September 4th – A slightly better day weather-wise, although rain was never far away.
On the canal on the way to work, herons aplenty, my favourite urban bird. I liked how one was sheltering under the M6 motorway flyover, an interesting juxtaposition, and the adult fishing by Bentley Mill Aqueduct had a spectacularly well-defined chest pattern.
Like cats, I’ll never tire of seeing these guys.
September 3rd – The day was grim and overcast, and the weather horrid, and I was wiped out from the ride the day before. I confined myself to a short ride around Pelsall, Brownhills and Shelfield via the canal and old rail cycleway.
From the day before, in shirtsleeves getting a tan and sweating in the sun, to this: There was an unpleasant nip in the air, a serious wind and autumn touching the greenery in a way I find sad.
I do hope that wasn’t summer’s last breath…
September 3rd – It’s been a while since I bored you with disc brake pads, so it’s your lucky day – or maybe not.
I favour a hydraulic disc brake on all my bikes, road or off-road. On road bikes, I think the Shimano 785 based callipers are the bees knees; combined with a decent disc and pads, they control my resplendent girth down the steepest of inclines and without snatching.
The only issue I have – and I’ve covered this before – is the mystery of what exactly happens to rear pads in particular when they overheat. Sometimes, despite the best care, pads will develop a sheen, lose the nice grip and squeal horridly. I’ve been trialling aftermarket alternatives all summer to see if other manufacturer’s inserts are better.
I tried Kool Stop, an expensive brand. They were nothing special, and glazed out. Clarks performance was tepid, but lasted well. My best results have been with Uberbike sintered and semi-metallic. These are an interesting design – 785 road pads normally have a backplate with cooling heatsink fins. Uberbike have separated the two, so you can re-use the cooling fins on a slightly thinner pad, which are only £6 a set instead of the £20 for a set from Shimano. And they work a dream.I had one set glaze out near the end of life, but other than that, great.
I thought the front set had taken the same dive while winding down from the Roaches the day before, becoming squeaky and losing friction, so swapped them in the workshop the next day, to find the pads had worn to the spring, and that was the wail.
I really do recommend Uberbike pads.
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