Monday 5 May 2008

Speed and sneezing

Today's run


Set off from home today to try 20 miles. Got to Blyth in good time and decided to press on to Bedlington. Here's a site about a rather grand building just outside the village.

En route, I became aware of a tickle in the nose and a powerful aroma of plasticine. Rounding the corner of the road to Nedderton, (neat topiary sir!) I found myself bounded by two rape fields..

Pollen is interesting stuff. Not only irritating and , at times, debilitating of those suffering hay fever. I remembered that it had a part to play in the Einstein story. I thought for a bit and then remembered Brownian Motion was illustrated by the movement of pollen grains in apparent agitated ways when observed in water.

To my young mind, this was magical in a Clarkeian way (Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic). When I read about it as it seemed to link our world, with it's clumsy analogy seeking science to the quantum world where small things travelled huge distances but never impacted on us in any observable way.

Inspired, I took the next downhill corner at speed and broke the limit for the first time since I did my penance for infringement of the rules at a local roadworks (34 in a 30 area. I ask you!). My computer showed a 'mx spd' of 35.9 mph. The average for the trip (31.5 miles) was a mere 13.9 mph. This does illustrate the fabulous efficiency of the bicycle however.
Speeds of around 17 mph make very real distances achievable and make for a rival to the car. Whilst Claire can easily run to South Shields and make this a meaningful journey in emergencies, the bike makes such journeys possible in practicable time with plenty left over for life saving, retrieving lost sunglasses or a nice lunch out etc...



1 comment:

Tardyon said...

I was not very far from where you were cycling .... walking in the Plessey woods.

You just feel odd there without a dog to walk ... almost everyone has a pooch or atleast a leash...