I’ll admit I haven’t been too thrilled with the performance of my homemade boat. On a positive note it doesn’t leak any water and it’s stable, especially when you consider it’s small size at just 2.1 meters at the waterline. Today I’d adjusted the angle at which the fishtail which propels the boat pushes on … Continue reading Testing the boat again.
After my last test I thought I was on the right track with the boat. My problems had been that it wasn’t nearly fast enough and that it bobbed up and down as it went along. There was a danger that water could have spilled over the side but also that I want to move … Continue reading Third homemade boat test.
It was around a year ago that I pieced together a downhill mountain bike ride which is now my absolute favourite. In truth it begins at the top of Great Hill but today I had to abbreviate my ride so I didn’t ride right from the top of the hill. Instead I climbed Brinscall Woods … Continue reading Back to my favourite downhill.
One of my brothers often entitles his runs, on the app. Strava, as “Fartlek” runs. Curiosity got the better of me and I Googled the term to find that it is a Swedish word meaning “speed play”. It’s an unstructured form of interval training where you intersperse periods of high effort with more relaxed parts. … Continue reading A Fartlek ride!
“Believe me my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” So says Ratty to Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s classic novel ‘The Wind in the Willows’. I'm building my own boat so in the spring, when I launch it, I'll be able to confirm or … Continue reading Wind in the willows.
In recent weeks I've only ridden twice a week. I don't think I've been training myself well and probably not maintaining the same level of fitness I had last autumn. In many ways it doesn't matter because I don't have much to train for apart from 2 challenges which I've set for myself to achieve … Continue reading Training for 2021.
It's easy to enthuse about a winter ride. You can enjoy it for it's good points but who are we kidding? Riding dry trails is far better. We seem to have had a wet winter after a strange summer. We barely saw a drop of rain in March, April and May then barely a dry … Continue reading Spring can’t be far away.
Did you leave school and think you'd never need mathematics again? I didn't. I've been doing various engineering projects over the years including 5 self designed, self built sportscars, one of which was battery powered. I built a suspension fork for my Proflex mountain bike around 18 months ago. I built a timber framed extension … Continue reading The mathematics of a boat.
Each month I receive a copy of Mountain Bike Ride magazine (MBR). I bought the first ever edition many years ago because it was clearly aimed at adults, whilst the other UK options at the time seemed to be oriented towards the youth. I haven't always read the mag. but for a few years I've … Continue reading Brushing up on my cornering technique.
Stupid title? Read on if you'd like to know how differently bikes and boats perform as the speed increases. I've ridden bikes the whole of my life but only now am I building a boat. I haven't had a big project for a good few years and had always intended to build a sixth sports … Continue reading The difference between bikes and boats.
