This morning's commute was chilly with the temp at 33 f degrees when I left the house. It was light outside but the full moon could still be seen. It was a pleasant ride in this morning.

Got a lap in. Forgot light gloves and helmet, rode anyhow, survived

Chilly this morning, in the upper 30s, but up to upper 50s this afternoon with only a light wind. And after four days of overcast, the sun made an appearance -- yay! This isn't the midwest in winter, we're not supposed to have overcast and howling winds for weeks on end.

This morning's commute was pleasant and I had a deer cross the street in front of me but not close enough to scare either of us. The temp was warmer this morning at 39 degrees and almost a half moon. I started my summer ride route this morning.

Lovely rides all week.....especially cycling home (after nightshift). This was Wednesday morning around 6:15am in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.​​​​​​​
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5f780b0397.jpg

It's only Wednesday but my working week is over as I'm back on my contracted three-day week (31.5 hours). Lovely Spring weather and I took my CAADX for a spin around a 'common land' field next to my workplace but it needs lower tyre pressures really.

Not my most favorite day today. I went with a light glove as the temp was 42 degrees and, my fingers were so cold. I guess that was a bad choice on my part. Other than that the commute was good.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1406:

Temp this morning was 31°F, which was warmer than the morning temps we had last week so hopefully spring is finally starting to arrive. A little bit of snow fell overnight, just enough to put a dusting on things but not enough to really change the commute. I took the road bike despite the dusting of snow.

High today is supposed to be in the mid-40s. Headwind this morning was in the low 20mph range, which wasn't fun but at least it was a reprieve of the 70mph winds we had over the weekend. Wind here in South Dakota is pretty typical, but I can't remember a year where we've had such a long stretch of high winds. I'm not exaggerating when I say in the last six weeks we've had three days with wind speeds below 20 mph. It's really starting to mentally wear on people, not just the cyclists. A friend of mine lost her shed over the weekend when it finally couldn't take the constant wind pressure any longer. Another friend of mine lost her gazebo yesterday. I've lost a bunch of tree limbs, my bat house and some shingles.

I got out of my routine this morning, which turned out to be a mistake. When I got up I noticed my phone was running low on charge. I plugged it in and set it on the kitchen counter, which I never do in the morning. Usually as soon as my pants are on it goes right in my pocket. Then I went about my routine as usual.

When I arrived at the client I reached for my phone and remembered that it is still sitting at home on the kitchen counter. Rats. They recently implemented two-factor authorization for everything, and it authenticates to my phone. I asked if they had a "plan B" for when someone leaves their phone at home and was told "not yet."

So I was down in the parking garage loading up my bike for a return trip home just to retrieve my phone when one of the network guys came running after me. They figured out how to get around the two-factor on my account for the day, so I didn't have to make an extra trip unless I just couldn't live without my phone. I wasn't going to mind heading back home with the wind pushing me, but coming back and fighting the wind a 2nd time wasn't appealing. I thanked him for catching me before I took off and decided I could last a day without a phone.

Also forgot to pack my belt. That wasn't due to me getting out of my routine, that was just me being a doofus.

A very pleasant commute this morning with the temp at 48 degrees and cloudy skies. I wore warm winter mittens today after yesterday's freezing fingers. I had to take the mittens off as my hands got to warm. Go figure!

There was also two turkeys in the middle of the road who did not get mad when I went around them. Yay!

I haven't been able to commute much lately due to family schedule. Wife and the two 5yos are visiting her parents this week and I thought that would free me up, if not for a commute then just for a ride. Today I geared up to take a bike ride around 7:10 but thought my 7yo might get up and worried for him being alone. In the end I stayed and waited... and then dragged him out of bed at 8:30

Cannondale cross bikes are cool. I got a used old '98 CAAD3 XR800 for a little while. It was a good commuter and I tried to learn everything about it. A funny mix of road and mountain frame tubes, with canti's. Even then if you read the bumf they were pitching it as dual duty for commuting, so it had rack and fender mounts. I was able to use it with a kid seat once I traded the rear brake for mini-V. The model kept changing its name but you could tell it was a continuation. In the 2000's they added a version with disk brakes, even though it was "outlaw" for UCI 2003-2010. Long before all this gravel bike stuff. Around 2010 they finished moving their top end production to China and the carbon SuperX became the top racing model, so here's the CAADX to keep filling that affordable heavy duty race-and-commute niche. Different geometry than a gravel bike, less stack, more reach, steeper. Feels fast.

Yes, I'm so happy with my 2012 CAADX and the gorgeous super smooth welds but I did get the infamous 'Cannondale Creak' after I re-built it from the frame up. A club mate recommended the FSA BB30 conversion kit (about $21) and it's worked a treat when paired up with a Tiagra 4700 chainset and BB I had in the spares box. The shifters and mech are still Tiagra 4600 as the BR-CX50 cantilever brakes are compatible.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/fsa-bb30-co...sku=5360430832

Anyway, to combat my rapidly falling fitness due to my shortened commute I've started going out for an hour before going to work and have a lovely 12.5 mile loop that immediately gets me into the countryside and even has a bit of single-track gravel for me to play with. This has lifted my workday mileage to a more respectable 18.5 miles.

A very pleasant commute this morning. It was light when I left the house at 5:30am. It is nice that has finally happened.

After getting mostly skunked the last few weeks, on this first workday of bike month, I did get a short lap in

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1412:

The last two mornings have had wind speeds more in line with normal for South Dakota (10-20 mph.) Are we finally done with the constant 20+ mph winds that we had for more than six weeks? I sure hope so. In any event, I have been thoroughly enjoying the easier riding this week.

Air temp was a balmy 38° as I rode to work. I came up behind a guy on the MUP riding in street clothes with a backpack, no ear protection and no gloves. My immediate thought when I see commuters dressed like this is, "DUI." He did have a helmet, however, which most people riding due to a court order do not have. I accidentally startled him as I announced I was passing. He smiled and said, "I didn't think anyone else would be out here on such a cold morning!" Dude, you have no idea if you think this was a cold morning. lol

Speaking of cold mornings, (and I was,) in my 13 years of riding bicycle all year long I have crashed at least once every winter. That is, until this year. Now that it's May I think I can safely say I finally made it an entire winter season without hitting the ground. I think one of the reasons to which I can attribute this is because we had so little moisture this year compared to most. While I would prefer not to be in a terrible drought, I will at least celebrate the fact that I stayed upright all winter.

While riding across town at noon to head to a different client location I think I am going to swing by our local motorcycle consignment dealer. My old motorcycle is 23 years old and is really starting to show its age. The dealer has a newer, fancier motorcycle that I've had my eye on, and I'd like to take another look at it. Vehicle prices have gotten insane, so I'm not sure if I want to spend that much money. However, when I'm old and gray I'm not sure if I will matter all that much if I saved a few thousand dollars or not. In any event, I'm going to wager that I will be one of the rare people who shows up at the dealer on a bicycle in order to check out a motorcycle. Even if I do end up buying it they'll have to set it aside for me to come back and pick it up at a different time, because I'll have to finish my commute to the client's office via bicycle. I'm not going to break my bicycle commuting streak, even for a new (to me) motorcycle.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1414:

Lapse in judgement today. It was supposed to rain during the night, and taper off during the morning.

When I got up the roads were damp, but no rain was falling and there weren't huge puddles on the pavement. I had packed for the road bike, so I decided to take it despite the residual moisture. I hoped the little bit of wet on the ground wouldn't be enough to warrant riding a bike with fenders. I also figured I didn't need waterproof panniers and that my backpack would be fine.

A mile into my ride it started to rain. Not a torrential downpour, but very steady. By mile six the rain had stopped, but the roads were very wet and there was lots of spray coming off of tires (both my own and passing cars.) I got to work pretty soggy. My clothes were soaked. My backpack was soaked. Thankfully my work clothes aren't soaked, just have some damp spots.

Sometimes you gamble and win, and sometimes... well, you know.

Today might have been my last chance for a bike commute for a while. Kiddo is moving to full time in his "program" one town over. I needed to WFH so I skipped it... c'est le guerre

A pleasant commute to work today. The temp was a bit on the chilly side at 38f degrees this am. I saw a deer this morning but he was quite a ways ahead of me.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1416:

Spring suddenly showed up this morning. The morning temps jumped from the 20s and 30s last week to 61°F. I wore shorts.

The wind was blowing hard at nearly 30 mph, but it gave me a healthy push all the way to work. Riding home tonight heading into it is going to bite.

I did get one more lap on Friday, because the day care had a mother's day tea party at pick up time and she got them. That's probably my last commute, per se, for quite a while.

Once last week and today I tried a dawn-patrol 3-mile ride at 6am. It was nice and got the blood moving. If I started earlier I could go further. I need to do it early enough it's before the early-bird 5yo boy is likely to be woken by the coming and going, so he doesn't come downstairs alone and either 1) panic 2) wake up mommy or 3) get into mischief.

Another pleasant yet chilly commute. The temp was 42 f degrees. But it is now light enough when I leave the house so that is nice.

I rode my bike to work today but on Saturday's I work at an assisted living. So the ride and hours are different. I rode the bike path and I regret that as too many people on that and they stop in the middle of the path, not realizing they are on a road. Anyway the path is nice in that it keeps you off the main road. I get out of work at 7:30 pms so it will still be light out when I go home this evening. That is a good thing. Though I ride in the am in the dark, that does not bother me. But at night riding in the dark bothers me so much more. There are more people out on the roads at night than in the am also.

A great way to start a yucky morning. It is foggy out with a bit of mist in the air. I rode my bike anyway. Also along the way, I saw a fox running down the middle of the road, when he realized I was close to him he went back to the side of the street he came from. Other than that an uneventful ride, which is good for a foggy morning.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 1419:

Today was my first commute since last Wed. The morning was nice at 51°F and there was hardly any wind. I took the road bike. But today's commute wasn't as interesting as the commute that didn't happen last Thursday.

A week ago I started feeling off. I thought it was allergies and our recent change in weather, but I slowly got worse. By Wednesday night I was feeling pretty bad so I took my temperature and discovered it was 102°F. Well, that's definitely not allergies and/or a weather change. Thursday morning I woke up feeling poor and still had the fever, so I didn't go into work.

Deciding I should be proactive, I took a Covid test. Positive. Nuts. I made it over two years without getting Covid and finally succumbed to the virus. No idea where I picked it up at. So I informed work about my results and told them I wouldn't be back in for the rest of the week. I'm vaccinated so I only had to wait until at least 5 days had passed since my symptoms first started, and I no longer was running a fever. That cleared me to be back to work today.

Late Thursday afternoon I looked out the window to see an interesting sight. There was a giant wall of dust barreling towards the city. Apparently it's called a "haboob." When the wall of dust hit, it darkened the skies and made it look like night. Driving this wall of dust was a derecho which is essentially a straight-line tornado. The storm hit, and trees, roofs and other debris joined the dust in the air.

Right when all this happened I glanced at the clock and saw it was 5:10 PM. The storm lasted about 20 minutes and left a ton of destruction in its wake. A good chunk of the city lost power for several days (thankfully I never did.) Had I not been sick I would have been coming home from work on my bicycle when this storm hit. My wife is convinced I wouldn't have survived. I replied that I think I would likely have lived, but definitely would have had a story to tell.

So I guess if there's an up-side to getting Covid, that was it.

Here's a time-lapse video of some of the storm:

A very pleasant yet uneventful commute this morning. The temp was 55f degrees and I am leaving just about sunrise time and there is plenty of light.

Just adding to the collection of pleasant commutes to work. This morning I saw 3 deer. One was on the opposite side of the road while the second stood to look to cross over and I stopped my bike as not to frighten the deer. So the second and third deer crossed the street then I went on my way.

It's been a relatively dry Spring in the UK and I've not used the car for many weeks now especially on a very short commute like mine (just 3 miles each way). This week however, I had a right old soaking on Monday morning on my way in but changing and drying facilities are better at my new location and it's given me the resolve to give the car a miss for the remaining six weeks of my contract. Whilst we've not had any real warmth to our Spring (yet) I've quite enjoyed riding in short sleeves.

Had to go to the office for some of those "must not be removed from this building" things. Just a quick in and out; except there's a mid-20s mph headwind at the temps, that were only low 60s last week, are pushing 80F already. So the trip in was a slog.

Coming home made up for it. :) More trees on the homeward leg for a bit of shade, and that horrid headwind turned into a terrific tailwind. I wasn't even sure such a thing existed! :)

Short lap today. Not a work day for my wife so I convinced her to do the afternoon kid run. Windy so I did the short route from home, and took the MTB to do the dog-walk trails on the way. Enjoyable!

Back at Monday again, and it was a pleasant yet uneventful commute. The temp was 65 f degrees with a light breeze.