MONDAY:
somewhat cold in the morning but it warmed up in the afternoon. the ride in was from my parents' house and was brisk and uneventful, just the way I like it.

in the afternoon I left work planning to get a few fun miles in. about a mile and a half in I hear the tell-tale "thok" of a spoke breaking. damn, not another one! ok, this wheel is dead. I was trying to wait until my new tires were in to put my new rear wheel on, but it's time, whether my tires are in or not.

I went to the LBS to see if the wheel was in so I could either replace it or get the loaner bike. the shop was closed. damn that's right, they are closed on Mondays! damn! I bagged the long ride and trudged home as best I could. I don't know how I managed to do it, the rear wheel was dragging considerably (two broken spokes will do that) and slowing me down a lot. kind of a rough ride back.

TUESDAY:
no ride, since I had a doctor's appointment right after work that I had to race to since I was kept late. then schlepped the bike on the car rack to the shop to take it in for the wheel replacement and it's tri-monthly tune-up, and got the loaner bike, a Trek 1000 rigid-fork mountain bike. looks like I'm an MTB commuter again for the time being.

WEDNESDAY (today):
57 in the morning warming up to the 70's in the afternoon.

good ride in. the MTB is heavier and a little slower than my Coda Sport, but it's only a marginal difference in speed really. plus it's fun to be able to go offroad if I want, and not have to worry about every little road imperfection.

was hoping for a lunchtime ride, since it was in the 70's out, but no such luck, I ended up working through lunch. again.

I was kept an hour and a half late and got out raring to go for a fun ride. today, after depositing my bike lock in my locker near the metro after deciding it was too heavy to carry on my back for two hours, I paid a very rare visit to the Lake Artemesia loop and Northeast Branch Trail. apparently I like torturing myself since I picked a nice day when I KNEW all the idiots were going to be out to do it. I actually had to use my temporary steed's offroad capabilities a few times to get around groups of people sitting down in the middle of the path, cutting me off, and doing other assorted dumb stuff. ugh. time to cut down on MUP riding in general methinks (except for the Trolley Trail), now that it's warming up. other than that it was a good ride.

the rain I was expecting decided to hold off on me. but, I stayed out too late and was racing to beat the sunset home since the loaner bike had no lights. back to my locker to get my lock then through campus to get home. since I didn't feel like doing the hairiest section of my commute today, I used a combination of the path and some offroading to get around it. going uphill is hard on this bike. good ride overall today.