Biked to work for the fifth day in a row...the first time in a long time. With last Sunday's longer ride, that's 6 days in a row...first time in a very long time.

Yesterday I rode my main commuter, the 2015 Charge Plug (not an e-bike). I chose a 6-mile mid-south route through downtown and rode easy...in fact I didn't even break a sweat, and yet only added 5 minutes to my commute time. It was clear, dry and 68F.

For the ride home I chose the 8-mile trail to trail. It was 94F, dry with light haze. I again dialed back slightly due to the heat and added only 5 minutes to the commute.

The trees are very full with leaves and there is lots of green everywhere...even the lawns, thanks to a wet spring and early summer.

I kept forgetting how low the gearing is on the Charge Plug, a mod I made right after buying it. And how high the gearing goes...although not as low as the Rockhopper. I believe the Plug's gearing is even higher than my 2006 Felt F-65.

Despite the construction and human obstacles, I am still getting long enough stretches of pathway for mostly uninterrupted high-speed cruising. The surface street routes can be pleasant and empty, but there are plenty of cross streets and intersections that keep me from flat-out cruising for long distances. Even if there is no cross-traffic, the sight lines are often obscured by homes, bushes and parked vehicles, so I have to slow in case there is traffic coming.

The 700x35 2x8 Charge Plug performed flawlessly. The rear disk brake, which needed constant tightening for ten years hasn't loosened at all since replacing the original Shimano Clarus brifters with the Microshift units, quite a few weeks ago. The shifting is still pretty crisp, but I did have to tweak the rear barrel adjuster last week as the chain wasn't centering on the rear cogs. And I sure am enjoying the Microshift's non-twist shifting where I can shift the long levers with a sweep of my middle fingers, and especially the short lever which works more like a button that I can just nudge with my knuckle.