Here comes the sun
Sunny times are hear again.
I have had my new winter kit from Spatzwear long enough to write some meaningful reviews. Apart from the expected tightness of the kit when putting on (and taking off) its really nice to wear. It also encourages me to loose a bit more weight (or not put any more back on at least).
From the review I received a 20% discount, so I treated myself to cargo bib shorts and a cargo jersey. Both have a large mesh at the back so will be useful to carry clothes and food over the warmer months.
Last week I submitted an invoice to MLH for user research. They use 
Ramp to manage payments. I created two accounts, one for a local bank account and one IBAN account. Its not clear which MLH would prefer, so I left them a comment.
Practicalliλ︎
Continuing my testing of Zensical static site generator as a replacement for Material for MkDocs.
I am doing a little work on Practicalli Clojure Web Services, so to speed up review of changes I used zensical to run a local build and server.
The build seems to work okay, so I added a GitHub workflow to build and deploy the site via GitHub pages.
The CI site build works but the deployment failed as the Zensical workflow has a different and simpler deployment.
The previous workflow with Material for MkDocs used the "Deploy from branch" deployment source. This adds a separate gh-deploy workflow.
With the Zensical build I used the "GitHub Action" deployment source. This fails as there is a previous deploy from branch source published. Selecting "Unpublish Site" removes the existing published site, allowing the new GitHub workflow to deploy.
Zensical GitHub Pages workflow
name: Documentation
on:
# Manually trigger workflow
workflow_dispatch:
push:
branches:
- master
- main
permissions:
contents: read
pages: write
id-token: write
jobs:
deploy:
environment:
name: github-pages
url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }}
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/configure-pages@v5
- uses: actions/checkout@v5
- uses: actions/setup-python@v5
with:
python-version: 3.x
- run: pip install zensical
- run: zensical build --clean
- uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v4
with:
path: site
- uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4
Cyclingλ︎
Sunny days means more cycling, yay!
I am still awaiting a pair of gloves to be returned from Spatzwear, but started to write some reviews for the products I bought.
Box Hill rideλ︎
Wednesday was the sunniest day of the week, so another ride to Box Hill. Its a really nice route as it starts with a typical club ride climb to warm you up. A decent to add a little fun leads onto Pilgrims way, which always provides a beautiful view of the countryside.
A relatively flat ride down to Crawley eventually leads us to "The Shop at Strood Green", just before Brockham. The people running the shop are very friendly and there is seating inside for colder days. It was about 19 Celsius today, so we had a quick rest outside before tackling Box Hill.
The sun was out in full force as we climbed up Box Hill. I did my usual slow start (first stopping to remove my neck warmer). By the time I got to the switch-back I could see my riding partner, Jack, still quite a way ahead. By the time I got to the end of the painted road I was significantly closer and overtook Jack before the top.
I was surprised at how strong I was feeling on the ascent. I guess all the hill training and extra stretching is working.
Then there is mostly fast descents taking us back into South Croydon. This is the slowest part of the route and there seemed to be even more traffic than usual. After about 15 minutes we got to the last big climb that takes us out of South Croydon and up to Addington.
The route finishes with a fast blast from Addington to Hayes (traffic lights permitting). Today was pretty quick but didnt feel as fast as the 15 minute record (there was more traffic and a couple of red lights).
There are still road works between Hayes and Bromley, so I cut through the park and was welcomed home by one of my cats.
Marden Cafe Rideλ︎
A faster than normal (24.4 kmh) ride to Marden Old Post Office Cafe.
A misty cold start to the ride until we reached Kemsing / Pilgrims way when the sun started to peer through.
Once past the Kent Alps it was quite flat all the way to Marden. We had a quick pit stop at East Peckham along the way.
In Marden it was very sunny but only if standing on the edge of the pavement outside the Cafe (or on the opposite street).
Back through Yalding and past Tea Pot Island (will this ever open again?).
Back over the Kent Alps via Seal, Kemsing and Otford.
After a slow start I managed a decent push up Polhill. I got a bit carried away (led astray) along the A21 for a quick blast.
The last push up Farnborough village and then back home to sunbath in the garden.
Spatswear BURNR 4 season arm warmersλ︎
Very warm and comfy arm warmers that stay in place.
I have worn the arm warmers on many rides over the winter months, including several rides of over 120km and they stayed in place.
They are a very snug fit on my arms (which are quick large) so it takes a little longer to put them on. However, they are very aero when in place and do not feel restrictive.
Over the winter months I have worn these with the Spatzwear base layer, mid-layer fleece gilet and 4 seasons jersey. This combo has worked down to about 5% Celsius (on really damp misty days then 5 Celsius was a bit too chilly, 8 celcius was okay though)
Spatswear GLOVZ Race Glovesλ︎
GLOVZ Race Gloves with fold-out wind blocking shell
Surprisingly warm and comfortable on long rides.
The GLOVZ are a thin material so I was surprised how well they kept my hands from getting cold, down to 5 Celsius with the fold-out shell.
As the material is quite thin, they feel very light and I barely notice them on my hands.
The fold-out shell does make the gloves feel thicker as they turn the fingered gloves into crab-like mittens. Using the fold-out shell did feel quite weird on the first ride. After a couple of 5 Celsius rides I quickly got used to having crab-hands and now enjoy it.
The gloves are very aero and so are very tight to put on, specifically over the ball joint of my thumb (I have very large hands - usually XXL).
To make them easier to put on (and remove) I keep the fold-out shell loose (not on fingers or tucked away). This seems to help a bit.
Once the gloves are on though they feel very comfortable indeed. I thought the seam under the thumb might rub, but I haven't had any issues.
One pair of gloves did have a very small split on the thumb seam, but Spatzwear exchanged them for a new pair at no cost to myself. I have a couple of these gloves and they are working well between 5 and 14 celsius (it hasnt got any warmer yet).
Thank you.