The difference between weather and climate is that, even though it's been a pretty dry winter and spring, today it was sprinkling. It was just getting started as I went to get out my bike, and I decided not to. My wife had said a few nights ago it was "raining all week" but she frequently inflates things for dramatic effect. A few times this year we have been on the SE edge of a NE-bound storm and it's even chance whether we get drenched or skipped. So I didn't pay much mind. In fact it's supposed to do an inch today, and a lot of it is forecast for what would have been the ride home. There's a little more forecast tomorrow - we'll have to see how today turns out.



Edit later: the rain is shrinking dramatically in the forecast but now the cloud icons have little lightning bolts!

Yesterday's commutes were so wonderful. Today...not so much.

I wanted to recapture the joy of yesterday's ride. My weather sources all said it was 48F again, but with high overcast. So I again dressed in just shorts and a windbreaker and fingerless gloves. It felt a little cooler, no doubt because the sun was not as intense. But after I put a few blocks behind me there was a constant cold wind in my face and my bare fingers were cold. But because I was taking the rackless 12-speed again I packed a light commute bag without layer options. My "big" bag had light fingered gloves plus the next heavier pair as well.

I took a short route which was mostly traffic free and by the time I got to the office it had warmed slightly.

I was able to leave on time, and I knew from taking the outdoor shortcut from my office to the other wing throughout the day the sun had come out and it had warmed to the upper 60s, but still windy. The weather apps agreed and told me the wind was from the south, which would help my north-east ride home.

But in the time it took to change into my bike duds and adress some last-minute issues, the clouds blew in and the wind had shifted to the north-east. So it wasn't as cold as the morning ride, but the wind was stiffer and stronger. And then there were more office emails pinging my phone, which I used to be able to have the phone read to me and let me reply by voice, but that hasn't been possible for over a year. There was a timely issue at hand and no stoplights for miles so I had to stop to check the emails.

And then there were encampments, people and trash blocking the trails leading from the office to the streets. I expect occasional loiterers, but this was nuts. The unhoused tend to gather and stand across the trails whereever the mood strikes. I'll toot my horn politely (no bell on this bike) but today people weren't interested in moving aside.

Traffic was also worse than usual as far as people not recognizing my right of way at intersections, or just riding in the bike lanes. At the top of a long uphill a car I had seen for at least 2 minutes began making tire movement noises just as I came up on its rear wheel. As soon as I cleared it the car pulled left out of the parking space. As I'm typing this I realize the initial noise was the wheels turning, and the driver probably saw my flashing lights in the rear view mirror. But it did pull out before I was even a bike length ahead of it....and it was a campus security vehicle! It stayed behind me for the rest of the street, so maybe the driver didn't see me and stayed behind me out of guilt. Who knows.

At the last big 4-lane cross street before the house (no traffic signal) there was a car opposing me. Traffic was heavy and at some point it put on its left turn signal. There was a big break in traffic on his side of the street coming up, but only a short one on mine, too short for me, but not a car. So I waved them through and they took it and the passenger and driver waved back at me as they went by. While waiting for the next gap a big pickup pulled up, also with a left turn signal. When the next gap came I startred across and the pickup gunned it turning right in front of me. I hit the horn and they let up, but were now in my way so I stopped and they floored it. I held the horn for quite a few seconds and then held up a finger to let them know I was number one in that situation. Not my finest moment.

40F, drizzle, blah...

35F, almost drizzle, and this is welcome - before the ensuing heat wave this summer when all will burn down around us...

I capsized on my MTB - into grass, all in good fun, no harm. But when I got to work my glasses were missing. They are non-prescription readers. No great loss. But I do need them, more and more. Today is squinting.

I've been wearing glasses for 60 years. Got bifocals 20 years ago. Trifocals 10 years ago.

I have tried bifocals but so far I'm happiest with them driving. While at a desk the monitor and keyboard are both now inside blur range so I'd have to do the head tilt all the time.

My regular vision pre-presbyopia had astigmatism, but not enough to bother fixing

I have trouble deciding between bifocals and progressives, so each time I get new glasses, I alternate. This year, it was time to give progressives another try. This time, I finally tried Varilux™ progressives. I may never go back. Still not perfect, but they fit nearly every situation comfortably so I don't have to take them off frequently. And I had trifocals only once and really should have either trifocals or progressives for driving a car so I can see the dashboard.

Sorry to hear about the not-yet-improved weather. Yesterday it went into the low 70s, my favorite range. Absolutely blissful on a bike. I wore long pants because wearing shorts to work just doesn't feel right, and long pants in the 70s isn't terribly hot.

Yesterday was 20-30 mph winds, so I took the eBike. I left the rack bag at home, because I was planning to pick up a blower for the furnace, but they didn't return my call. When I stopped for groceries on the way home, I had to bungee the plastic bag to the rack and I smashed some of the grape tomatoes.

Today will be rain and T-storms all day, plus I'm leaving to take a supplier to lunch (my old employer, actually) 40 miles away.

On the bright side, now that it is warmer, I get 50 mpg driving through the suburbs in this car. (CR-V Sport [hybrid])

On the ride home I got completely soaked! The rain had been holding back all day with only a few pathetic sprinkles not even making the ground wet. But right as I set off at 2:15 it began - at 1 mile it was definitely going to keep raining, and at 2 miles it was really starting to come down. Figuring I was already wet, I went past the log where I'd gone down in the morning, but did not find the glasses. At mile 3 and nearly home it was bucketing! I was soaked all the way through my jeans and jacket. I had one kid who had taken his bike to school. The other two had been dropped off - I'd promised them I'd pick them up if it was raining. So I threw the bike down on the driveway and got right in the truck for the 1/3 mile drive back down to the school. Fortunately the squall was tapering off and settling in to a steady shower by this point. I intercepted the biker as he came over the crosswalk, and told him to get in the truck. Then I walked to the drop-off zone for the others. When we got back to the truck, the first kid was trying to lift his bike in - he's nine and it's a pretty heavy MTB. I was proud of him but wished he'd just parked it to keep warm and dry (-er). Back at home I changed and then made everyone cocoa.

Nothing like arriving at work after 35 minutes of quiet fog and perfect temperature of 37°F.

Good birdwatching today on the river trail. Haven't seen an Osprey for a while, that was cool. Also noted that Red-winged Blackbirds have appeared. I'm sure they have been around, but I just never noticed them before along with all the other waterfowl, etc. A detour day - stopped to look for a light that I lost yesterday on a pothole (light was trashed, but at least I found it). A little later, fire trucks and an ambulance were blocking the river trail, so I bailed out onto the street a few blocks early. (As far as I could tell they were helping one of the many homeless people who live along the trail.)

I took the RockHopper today. It was 43°F but sunny, so it felt a lot warmer. Wicking t-shirt under a poly long sleeve shirt and a windbreaker and my lightest long finger gloves. Just perfect.

On one of the streets leading to the trail there is construction in the middle of the road. I saw a big Chevy pickup turn onto the street and stop at the construction site there. There was another work truck parked in the middle of the street right next to the intersection I was at. It was at blocking my view of part of the street. I got ready to roll across the street to the bike lane and here came that Chevy truck. Had I been a few seconds slower I would have been hit. There really was no way to see the Chevy pickup truck coming because of the parked truck. I will just have to be extra careful until they finish construction.

Although it's my heaviest bike, it was a nice fast ride into work aided by gentle tailwind. I forgot how heavy the bike was until I stopped at work to carry it up four steps to the back door.

Work was busy and hectic but productive. And before I knew it it was time to ride home. Still sunny, It was 68° Fahrenheit and the wind was much stronger but from the southeast so that my first leg on the trails was a cakewalk, and then turning East. The wind was against me, but perhaps it was the weight and momentum of the bike or the time I spent down in the drops but the wind didn't seem to slow me down and my average speed bore that out.

I did have a funny moment taking off from the one traffic light on the 8 Mile trail to trail route. I was having trouble getting my foot into the toe clip. I kept rotating the pedal with my right foot but couldn't seem to catch the toe clip. I looked down and realized I never put toe clips on the Rockhopper. I think I might for the warmer months and then take them off in the winter. My feet aren't slipping off the pedals per se, at least not front to back. But the older I get the more splayed and wide my feet sit on the pedals, sometimes half off the outside of the pedals. Perhaps that's why the plastic pedal broke on the Felt last week even though it has toe clips. Also, I do feel I can pedal with a little more abandoned when I don't have to worry about my feet sliding off the pedals. I did have toe clips on the old mountain bike. The rock hopper replaced and they were really only a problem in deeper snow in icy conditions when I would want to ride on the unclipped side and the hanging toe cage would drag in the snow.

40F, gray, dry at least

Trail users almost immediately pulled down all the detour signs at the construction site that popped up 2 weeks ago; today, they had all been stood back up, and tighter chainlink fencing installed to make it much harder to continue to use the x-walk. I don't know if some people get a rush from sticking it to the man and using the xwalk, that seems kind of backward to me...

Also, at the college cemetery cut-through, today, the road gates were closed. I don't know if that's from too much road traffic (for a non-road, as I have been posting about here), or just Good Friday closure (it's a Catholic school). There are paths around the gates inviting non-motorized traffic to go around the gates, so around I went and got to descend the hill top-speed w/o so much worry about what might be coming around the blind corner at the bottom.

Thursday I rode again. Nice day, no notes. Today was my day off

Big bike again. Surprise early release from work for Good Friday, Easter and Passover. Not as special as being let out early in the short days of winter when early release means a daylight ride home for a change.

Consecutive bicycle work commute number 2324:

I came down with some ugly respiratory bug last week, and wound up staying home on Thursday and Friday. Still not 100% today, but well enough that I couldn't justify skipping another day of work.

The temp this morning was 33°F with a very light headwind. I took the road bike. The front tire is losing air slowly, but not to the point where I feel motivated to take the tube out and find the leak. As long as I pump it up good in the morning it stays inflated enough to get me to work and back.

A block from my house I start climbing a small hill. The hill is only a couple blocks long and really isn't that steep. Usually it's a good way to get the blood flowing at the start of the ride. This morning I found myself gasping for air once I reached the top, and coasting down the other side (which I never do) while I tried to catch my breath. I'm really hoping this is just a temporary side effect of my illness, and not the harbinger of some larger issue.

A kid in a car decided to right turn and pull out in front of me from a side street. He cut the corner too sharp and curbed his wheels something fierce. The crunching sound was cringe inducing, and I wouldn't be surprised if he caught some plastic fender bits as well. I don't believe in karma, but if I did...

It was cool this morning, about 35. Wind was one of those sneaky, steady, quiet ones that didn't feel like much until I turned into it. It's only supposed to get to 41 °F today, with the wind building all day until it gets to nearly 20 mph for the commute home into it.

I'm going home for lunch with my wife today too, so it'll be 8 miles worth of 2 mile commute legs.

I used to make pancakes from scratch every Sunday morning but I became discouraged by one kid up too early and eating cereal in advance, one kid (and SWMBO) up too late and the pancakes were cold, and finding uneaten pancakes in the trash with the toppings scraped off. About two months ago I told them I quit. I'd start up again on Easter, and only go once a month, at lunch time.

My little sister (46yo, PhD at CDFW) came over on her e-bike. She lives one burb over. Since it was Easter brunch I did it up a little more with some macerated strawberries, table service, and eggs to order. She stayed for a few hours and when it was time for her to go, I joined her for the ride back. This was about 15 miles round trip. More than 2x my round trip commute, but less than 1/3 of my ride-my-age goal. I didn't feel any particular fatigue but did get some saddle pain. Seat time and symptoms are right now the limit rather than conditioning.

Another exciting bike day!

First I put toe clips on the big bike. I knew I had the clips from the old bike but I didn't relish mounting them on the pedals so I had been putting it off. But then Sunday I went looking in the shed for some velcro and there were the toe clips...still mounted on the old pedals after two years! I have a pedal wrench and grease sitting on a shed shelf so I swapped pedals in under 10 minutes. I didn't even unlock the bike! (See photos)

So this morning I hopped on and headed for the trails...didn't even have to adjust the straps. I did encounter a VW that suddenly accelerated down its driveway as I approached. The AIrzound Airhorn helped. (See video)

I have a co-worker who last week had asked where she could find an inexpensive but good bike for her husband. I pointed them to there-furbished bikes at the local co-op and she popped in to tell me how thrilled she was. They bought one and were able to go riding immediately, since the bike was already up to snuff. She then mentioned she had ridden her bike to this work for the first time. It was a $75 Marketplace find but the rear brake wasn't working. I asked to take a look at it. It's a late '90s Cannondale 3x7 700Cx38 hybrid with a low bar...almost a mixte. The paint was rough, and it was a little dirty, but it was in decent shape with wide gear ratios from stump-puller to fairly high gearing thanks to what looks like an 11-32 in the back. There was a rack, rear fender, mirror and bell.

The rear brake had a cable but one of the cable housings was out of the frame guides. I grabbed an allen key, re-inserted it, and adjusted the brake. The seat was slammed and I helped her get a more tailored seat height. She was thrilled.

I had a stiff breeze against me on the way in to work, but despite that the toe clips seemed to add 1-1.5 mph to the bike over the flats. And for the ride home I had a tailwind, but also a faster average speed for the conditions.

The toe clips encouraged a little more hustle and abandon, but for the first few miles I was worried about my knees, as the pedals kept my feet in one position. The knees seem fine. I just wish the pedals were chrome like the platforms. I may end up getting metal clips and putting them on the chrome pedals.

Cold mornings again. The more the merrier. Maybe the herons will take flight tomorrow. Need to leave when it’s still dark.

BobbyG I have one bike with toe clips, my street fixie. I like SPD better but I like to be able to ride the fixie with street shoes if I choose. I've even ridden it with my SPD-cleated shoes, just because. It's not bad. I'm so used to SPD by now that when I am stopping on the bike with toe clips, I habitually twist my feet out. It's fine, and I don't end up with my feet stuck in there. I've never fallen as a result of being in toe clips or cleats. Lately, I commute with street shoes. My main commuter bike has those two-choice pedals: SPD on one side and flat on the other.

That was nice how you helped your coworker and her husband and especially nice how she rode to work!

Yesterday afternoon's commute was tough, as expected, riding home uphill and against the 20 mph wind. I went home for lunch too, so 8 miles was enough for a short recovery day.

It was cold this morning: upper 20s, felt like lower 20s. I took the folder, as there's no point in going faster and increasing the windchill. I stopped to vote on the way in.

Turntable Tuesday is tonight; I can't wait! I didn't bring a record today; I'm going to choose from their in-house selection, which doesn't get enough attention.

I joined the "Ride 5000 Miles in 2026" club in Strava. I JUST missed the mark last year. I only need to replace a few eBike rides (which don't count) with muggle bike rides and I'll make it. I've got a few long gravel rides planned this year too, which will help. For commutes, I can take an eBike and just not engage the motor for the direction that has the tailwind or downhill, and that will count for those legs.

Rode yesterday and today. Have not yet fixed up the 3po bike's rear tubeless, much less found a replacement handlebar for the French bike. So I'm riding the pink full squish MTB.