It was another nice uneventful commute with the temp at 40f degrees today. I was tired and contemplating not riding this am. But my good sense took over and told me I would be tired either way so ride and be tired and happy. The funny thing is I am looking to extend my ride this afternoon and do not have any idea where that energy plans to come from.

An uneventful ride (stealing words from [MENTION=297321]essiemyra[/MENTION] above) this morning, still sub-freezing (-2C/28F) but it didn't feel quite so bad as previous days. I was hoping to have done my 20km/14mi route in this morning but I was tired from a late night so I just did my regular 9km/6mi ride.

I'm pleased to say that last April's total riding of 176km fell last Friday and December's total (2nd lowest month in 2015) of 245km fell yesterday. I won't be able to make the 3rd lowest month total of 385km but that'll happen next month.


Happy Friday and have a great weekend!!

Uneventful is a good theme for the day. 65F and humid again this morning. We had some thunder showers roll through late last night, but they were short and I could hardly tell by looking at the road this morning.

If I ride 13.11 miles home tonight I'll hit 130 for the week. That would be my highest this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by the early arrival of my replacement right shifter yesterday so I was able to take the road bike this morning. The shifters are mismatched now, old Sora and new Claris, and I'm not sure if that's going to bother me enough to replace the other one.

Nice misty morning...reminded me of summer, but colder. 50 F. Good ride, made great time.

51F and ran into a couple commuting friends. I never realize how slow I sometimes ride until I ride with others. Even while chatting most of the hour I still cut about 8 minutes off "normal" cold weather time

Riding along the canal towpath this morning, about an hour before dawn, I saw a dark shape over the canal, huge wingspan beating very slow. I think it was a blue heron, flying right alongside me, matching my speed, but rising gradually. Eventually went off to the other side of the canal, over the trees. Pretty cool!

Light, misty rain during my commute this morning but not enough to really make me wet, and the temperature was a very pleasant 60 F. I missed riding on Wednesday and Thursday due to forecasts for afternoon thunderstorms. The Weds forecast was a bust, but we had severe thunderstorms that hit about 5 pm yesterday, with high winds, hail and torrential rain. I am very glad that I drove because the storms kept hitting in waves until about 10 pm.

After several weeks of relatively dry weather, we seem to be returning to our usual pattern of more frequent rain and thunderstorms. I'm not thrilled about that, but it was getting pretty dry around here and the rain certainly helps the lawns and other plants grow better. Unfortunately, the weekend forecast is also looking rainy as well as next week. Tomorrow is April 30 and my last chance to meet my self-imposed "metric-of-the-month" challenge. I've ridden at least one metric century every month for about two years, and the last month that I missed was a February when we got hit by several snow and ice storms.

Well, that was a new experience. Over lunch I rode from the office to a client's location. Part of the route took me on 4 miles of MUP that runs along a diversion channel. As I was riding along I saw a few geese with some goslings in the grass along side of the path.

Having experienced this many times before, I moved to the other side of the path. It's not uncommon for the geese to be aggressive and hiss and spit. Sometimes they even run towards you. Either side of the path had a steep embankment, so I didn't have any way to put more distance between me and the birds. But as I said, this is common so I prepared for the usual reaction.

This time, however, was different. Not only was Mother Goose not backing down, she actively came after me. I blew my Airzound at her hoping the noise would at least startle her, but she didn't even flinch. I started cranking as fast as my legs would spin, but the goose took off and waged a full-on air assault. I could feel her wings flapping against my back and head, and her claws rubbing in an attempt to spur me.

After about 50 feet she relinquished her attack and went back. I came through it unscathed, but surprisingly shaken up. Let's just say I'm going to be pretty wary around the geese on the way home.

Haven't been on here much this week due to big deadlines at work. Thursday morning I was running late, but I got all kitted up and ready to go, rode down the street a little ways.... then turned around came right back. Took a shower and drove to work. I just had too much to do at work, and riding would have taken too long. I hate it, too, because Thursday was awesome weather, and it's raining all weekend.

55F/13C Pea Soup

Woke up earlier than usual today, so I did not have to rush. It's weird, but due to this cycling thing, I actually look forward to Monday mornings.

The ride was interesting too. Misty out in the country, quite pleasant actually as I spent my first 15-20 minutes cutting through the farmland. But, once I got down into the valley, it turned to a think fog, almost a drizzle. I kept my lights on for the whole ride, which is rare for me. Figure better safe than sorry.

Made good time, and felt very strong throughout the hour-plus jaunt. I'm very close to being ready to do this everyday. Of course, though, it's the longer ride home that always dictates how I really feel.

Sticky morning. We had lots of rain from Saturday night to Sunday morning. Then some more last night. This made for a warm 65F and humid Monday morning.

I got a handlebar phone mount for Christmas and have been using it every time I ride. About a mile from work this morning it broke and my phone fell off as I was riding. I wasn't even touching it. The plastic part that goes up to the ball joint deal just broke off. I guess it wasn't built well enough for the vibrations of the road.

The phone case did it's job of protecting the phone. The case is a bit scuffed on each corner as it tumbled end over end. Luckily I was in a neighborhood with no cars behind. I was able to do a quick u-turn and retrieve it.

So that phone mount only lasted 4 months. I may contact the manufacturer, but I don't think I'd trust another one by the same company.

It has been a very dry spring so far, although they are calling for a little bit of rain on Wednesday. This means that every time a truck goes by, it kicks up a cloud of dust on streets that haven't had the winter sand swept off and today, a couple of times, the breeze was in my direction so I got a "mouthful" of dust.

Beautiful, sunny, cool, 4C/39F, morning with just a slight breeze. Still not mild enough in the mornings to feel comfortable in shorts but it is getting close.

FWIW, I'm on my 2nd one of these Topeak mounts, first one lasted 2 years and the mount never broke the vinyl finally ripped. A cloudy, drizzly, 51F yucky morning

One reason I made my own the curve in the middle goes under the bar and the big rubber band over the bar, clamping the ends tight on the phone. I don't use it that often but it's never failed me. No weak spots to break, takes seconds to put either the clamp or phone on and off. It is shaped from plastic trim with a heat gun (use gloves!) by just mashing the softened plastic around the bar and phone, and the rubber band that comes with light mounts and some bike computers.

Woke up and didn't feel like commuting. It was mid-40's, but not a bad morning other than that. I went ahead and hopped on the bike... and I'm always glad when I do. My mood always improves and I'm usually feeling pretty good by the time I arrive at work!

35 degrees out, but other than that it was a beautiful morning. Sunny and only a very light breeze. No complaints today!

Sure. Picture the weight of the phone oscillating millions of times over a long ride. Any joint that can withstand that has to be very well designed, and the result would probably be a joint that is at least as heavy as the damned phone.

I stick my phone in a small bar bag I have mounted on top of the center bar. In it fits both the phone and my wallet. Perfect.

Sunny, 53F, *way* too hot for long sleeves.

I hemmed and hawed this morning about whether to ride or drive. I ended up driving because my "spidey sense" was telling me this afternoon could be bad, and it was right. We are getting hammered by 60 mph winds, quarter-sized hail and torrential rain at 5 pm, and more storms cells are on the way. Sometimes you just have to let Mother Nature do her thing.

Yesterday afternoon was looking iffy. A thunderstorm rolled through at about 4pm. It came down sideways and heavy for a bit. Then by 4:30 it moved on. Photo is looking across the street. At least it would have been a tailwind.


The radar showed another little deal but it looked like it would go north of us. It didn't. It rained a little more. But by 4:55, it was done and gone. I rode home on wet roads, but didn't get rained on. But about 30 minutes after I got home another one came through.

More rain came through overnight and is expected again this afternoon, but my morning ride was good. Well, I got about half a mile of light rain, but not enough to really even get me wet.

ugh

No wind, nice cool morning: mid-forties; made for traveling at a good speed. I can live with this. Afternoon ride home should be even better. They are projecting mid-60's, dry and a 10 mph tailwind.

I felt the same way this morning but kicked myself out the door and onto the bike and in no time, I was feeling great again. I too had a great ride in and took the longer 20km route. It still isn't "perfect", there is still left-over sand from the winter but hopefully, that will be cleared up soon.

I was considering riding in shorts this morning but the temperature was 5C/41F, just a bit too cool but maybe if I wore long wool socks instead of my summer short socks, that might be sufficient to ward off the cool until my legs have warmed, I'll consider that tomorrow morning which is forecast to be similar in temperature.