I once had a stem break off while I was riding an old mountain bike. I managed to gently apply the brakes and get stopped without wiping out. In retrospect there were plenty of signs of metal fatigue that I shouldn't have ignored.

I finished my school commuting for the semester on Monday, so yesterday I decided to head out to smooth road just west of the city. If you like straight flat roads this is the place to be. There is a dead straight section 6.5km long that was freshly paved in the fall. The only downside is the road leading to it doesn't have a paved shoulder. However this year they are supposed to pave another 3km to the north which is currently gravel.



There was a 30km/h South wind yesterday. So going south I could only managed about 19km/h, but when I turned around to come back I was able to cruise at 45km/h. As you can see, straight but not much in the way of scenery.