At the risk of jinxing it, I think it was the last sub freezing temp day for the spring. Balaklava, be gone! :) I got on the bike last Wed after some time off. Not only the previous snow storm, but also getting the flu kept me off for a week. Yeay. Am happy to have got in the usual park and ride the last three days for 60 miles total.

B-e-a-uuu-tiful
 

Maybe the perfect commute weather. About 53 at 4:00 am, 70+ on the ride home at 5:30. And the wind at my back on the way home. Also first commute with my new Brooks B17. And to think I almost hit the snooze one more time which would mean driving the car. But knew I'd be PO'd at myself later. Getting up and riding made for a great day.

Are the brooks saddles really more comfortable that I typical road bike saddle? The one that came on my trek has a groove down the middle that kind of makes room for my "junk" and keeps the pressure off my perineum forward. Do the brooks saddles do something similar?

I'vê only had mine for less than a week, so I'm not the best tô ask. Mine (B17) does not have that. Brooks does make one with a cut out área down the middle tô take the pressure off. Imperial I think. I'm sure others here can speak tô that issue.

Cool fog this morning made for an eerie ride in. It was a pleasant dampness, though. Today's ride home promises mid-70s. Whoo Hoo! My wife will join me riding again for the first day this calendar year.

This week I'm working at a be branch which is 2 miles closer than where I normally work, but has way more hills. Going to work with my heavy backpack felt so slow and tiring, even though it wasn't that slow and I was fine minute after the ride. What I really like though it's to take the back way home, which has some decent climbing for me, but some awesome downhill sections. One of these days I might go into work the back way when I don't have to carry anything, but I fear a couple steep come on that route.... The traffic is way better though and only an extra half mile.
I've never had a cleaner back after a quick word down after riding through the fog.

A wet, chilly 47F this morning - don't know why I was cold, maybe because the humidity is high, maybe under dressed... who cares it's Spring!

Was a rainy 39F this morning. I dressed for 40's and wore my rain jacket. My legs were a little cold with the thermal leg covers getting wet. Its tough to plan for up to 20 degree changes w/o bringing too much clothing. Forcast claims its going up to 60F later this aftermoon. So will definately enjoy the ride back to the car.

Another FAST ride home on the e-bike Friday, with a big tail wind. At one point I was cruising along, almost spinning out my top 44x11 gear at 30 MPH, when I got to a bumpy section of the road and it made my GoPro camera mount come loose. The K-Edge mount is so much better. I made a video comparison. :)

Whereas Friday seemed a lot colder than the temperature read, today seemed a lot warmer. 40°F but I was sweating to beat the band when I arrived at work even though I wasn't pushing any harder than I normally do and was wearing the same clothes as usual.

Wind today is only supposed to top out at 5 mph (which is about as calm as it ever gets here in South Dakota) so I decided it was a good day to break out the fixed gear for its first ride of the year. Found that one of my pedals got really stiff over the winter. Feels quite notchy and hard to turn, like the bearing went bad. I think its under warranty so I'll have to call Shimano. Unfortunately they don't do warranty claims via email so I'll have to find some time when I can sit on hold.

Riding fixed gear, once I get my cadence at a comfortable RPM I go a bit faster than I normally do on my other bikes. I was moving along at a pretty good clip for me (about 18 mph) climbing a mild incline when a guy on a fat bike passed me like I was standing still. Seriously, he had to have been moving 25+ mph, and didn't even look like he was working hard. Made me realize how much slower I am compared to other riders.

@Tundra_Man can you open up and clean out the pedals? I had some stiff, crunchy pedals, and when I cleaned everything, re-greased and adjusted the cones on the bearings they feel almost brand new! I spent a few bucks on some marine grease, and about $7 for a 500-count assortment of ball bearings in 5 sizes from Amazon.

On my main commuter pedals with nearly 10,000 miles on them, I just re-greased the bearings and adjusted the cones, no bearing replacement needed, and that got rid of some clicking sounds I was hearing.

[MENTION=175954]Tundra_Man[/MENTION] - I would assume that Fat Bike had motor assist of some sort.

Warm enough this morning that I didn't even need a jacket at 55F. Short sleeve t-shirt and shorts was fine. Quite nice and only going to get warmer.

Mid-drive conversions are pretty popular amongst fat bikes, I think just because they're so heavy and unwieldy otherwise. So yeah if he was zipping along at 25+ it was most certainly motorized.

I think I'm becoming a weather wimp. The rain discouraged me from riding. Maybe if I make a list of clothing to wear in the rain, having it ready can tamp down the discouragement.

Perfect ride this morning. I didn't check the temps, but it was not too cool, not too hot. I wore shorts and a dryfit t-shirt. Perfect. Made a new record time, new high average MPH, and two PR's on segments in Stava (and got my HR into Zone 3). What a great way to start the day!

BTW... This week I've challenged myself to a "no car week". Everything I do this week will be on bike or walking. Commute to work, gym, grocery shopping, entertainment or going to entertainment, etc. The last part is particularly challenging because Jacksonville, FL is one of the WORST cities to bike or walk in. It's the larges geographical city in the country... so even in a car, you are 30-45 minutes to everything. So, something like going to the mall or to the movies or major dining areas are easily an 1.5 - 2 hour ride from my house. But... I'm up for the challenge. I'll check in to let you guys know how it's going. I started yesterday evening with my grocery run. Piece of cake (meaning that the ride was easy... that wasn't what I got at the grocery store. Ha!).

I did suspect he had an assist, as his rear hub was much larger than normal and he still had a derailleur (meaning the hub wasn't large because of an IGH.) However I didn't see a battery mounted anywhere on the bike, so I'm not 100% sure.

44F, wet, blinding sun, threatening clouds, you know, the usual...

I got the rack installed for the kid's seat on my commuter bike. So I can take him the 2 miles to daycare, leave him and the seat for Mom to pick up in the afternoon; then ride the 4 miles to work. We now have the ability to attach the seat to the 3-speed, the tandem, my wife's bike, and my commuter, and we now have two seats. But there are three kids! There will also probably be a trailer upgrade. We'll figure it out.

https://goo.gl/photos/wEW2NFBCyDKbDnHPA

We're on our last bit of March break. We took a trip to Banff, Alberta for a conference for my wife, followed by family fun.

We got to snowshoe, walk, skate, climb (indoors), eat, bathe in hot springs, go to the zoo, ad play games. Due to infections and leg strength and stability I didn't partake in all events. But I played a leading role in vomit cleanup and early morning child care. We found out winding roads make my daughter puke. Thankfully each place we stayed ha washing machines. We always try to rent little condos so we can have a kitchen and laundry, it works our nice; it is nearly the same price for more space and home-cooking. Some of the first scenery pictures are right from our bedroom balcony.

We've also found out our landlords want to move back in so we need to move, again. Not a task I am looking forward to but one we will have to, we're not ready to buy. But we will likely need to move off our island paradise and get a place in town . Which will likely drastically increase my craving for cycling and finally getting a replacement for my LHT.

Anywho, welcome to our newest comarade, good luck with the no drive challenge! I hope the spring weather continues to approach.

Signs of Spring!
 

Last week it was singing tree frogs.


Today is was...street sweepers! Yay! They do improve my quality of commute. :love:

A very nice uneventful commute this am. The temp was 35f degrees with dark skies when I left the house, but it was so nice to be able to ride.

Old red this week due to the chance of rain. Made the mistake of riding the Trek on Friday and kissed the pavement, the front brake is set to tight on the front for wet weather. Fought the wind today a bit but not bad. Ran 1/2 mile on the track when I got to work.. goal is 3 miles by end of summer!

I really think the sun is too hot to also be wet.

On the way home a friend who was out for a ride caught up to me and rode with me for a bit. That was fun and I told him to be at the grocery store near my house at 7am for my ride back to work. He wasn't.

Wet roads here from overnight storms that woke me up at 3:30am. Wind, thunder and some heavy rain made a lot of noise. Good ride though. On my way in I realized I was low on snacks at work so I took all my shortcuts and stopped at the store that is by my office. Food!

Love the pics - looks like a good time. And two redheads - I have that too, but neither my wife nor I have red hair. We always get asked, "Where did the red hair come from?" My grandmother on my mother's side had red hair. And my mother's sister does, but it skipped my generation.

Today, I woke up and struggled to find the motivation to ride to work in 34F and heavy fog. I made myself do it only to find my rear tire was low upon leaving my driveway. "A HA!" I said when I noted the presta valve was open. Surely that was the cause. I pumped it up and went on my merry way (sans eyewear, D'oh!). 3/4 of the way there my rear tire was flat again. Ok, slow leak. I'll use my trusty Silca CO2 inflator to give it a pump just to get to work, I'll change the tube when I get there. That would've be great if I had remembered how to actually use the thing; one CO2 cartridge down, no biggie. Welp, may as well change the tube now. I get to work at least a half hour later than I intended with a dead headlight because I'm an idiot. They can't all be great I guess.

I managed to NOT properly secure my panniers to the bike again this morning. This happens once every few months, and usually they stay in place even if I forget to secure them properly. However, every once in a while I hit a pothole or something that makes them pop off the rack and land in the street. That's what happened this morning. Luckily I was on a fairly quite street with no cars directly behind me. I stopped quickly so I could run back and grab the pannier that fell, but in my haste, didn't get the bike properly on the kickstand. As I'm running back toward the pannier, I hear a loud crash as the bike falls over in the street. :-( I grab the pannier and head back to the bike. The rear reflector is broken and the wheel won't turn, as the rear mud-guard is bent against the wheel. After some work (it took about 15-min to get the fender straightened back out) ...the rest of my commute was awesome! :-) Still beats sitting in traffic!

Surprisingly nice and quick(er) commute on my (manually powered) road bike this morning. Felt a little cool starting out but I quickly warmed up. I managed to do the commute in 70 minutes flat, as opposed to the 80+ it's been normally taking me in the mornings (52-55 minutes on the e-bike). Encountered fog about halfway so I removed my glasses for the 2nd half of the commute, no big deal.

Today was supposed to be pretty nice, so last night I pulled the road bike down from storage and gave it a service. I got up early this morning so I could take the long way to work.

It was supposed to be about 37°F, but I discovered it was actually 30°F, humid and foggy. The cat tempted me to just stay and play with her for 1/2 an hour, then ride directly to work. Somehow I managed to motivate myself to get out the door.

Rode an extra 12 miles, which should put me around 32 miles total by the end of the day. It was right at that in-between temp where I had a hard time dressing to not be too warm or too cold. I wound up being too warm for everything but my feet, which were painfully cold by the time I arrived at the office.

Oh well, I survived.

We had thunderstorms during the night, but it wasn't really raining when I rode to the station this morning. Kinda foggy, kinda wet, not a big deal. Caught the train with about 15 seconds to spare.

45F and raining. Fingerless gloves still fine.