Bloomington-Normal, IL. Constitution Trail.

Great! Obviously requires more effort than on clear pavement, but very grippy; no issues with control at all.

I used to ride my old 26" mountain bike in this stuff, but I think I would have a real hard time going back to that after the fun of having a fat bike. I wasn't sure it would be worth getting one, but now I wouldn't be without it, just for the fun factor.

When you live in the flatlands of Central Illinois Corn Country, you kind of make a big deal about any hill that comes along!!

oooh haha funny, I see

20.6 miles (33.2k). Lovin' all this sunshine, but it's going to be a dry summer.

2018: 424m (683k) ♂ Total: 21,408m (34,452k)

40 very windy miles with my riding buddy. We ended up doing more talking than serious riding.

Post-Work ride through the woods near Champaign, IL.

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Yes, I did! It was 46 degrees (f), I put my rain suit on because it was raining jumped on the touring bike and rode to work. I did my my 8 hour shift and rode home in the lite rain. I so glad I rode, it was beautiful, peaceful and I thought about my next overnight trip.

Rain, in Washington? How odd (Sarcasm Alert!) I'm loving all the sunshine (very little rain) here. I have a friend who's always wanting it to rain. I told him to move back to Seattle

19.3 miles (31.1k). Pretty cold (36°) but plenty of sunshine. I cut about 1.3 miles out of the ride because of all the debris on the bike path from all the homeless living by the river.

2018: 444m (714k) ♂ Total: 21,427m (34,483k)

First day this year I did not ride my bike to work. Had to run too many errands from work to use the bike. I always try bundle as much stuff when I drive so that I have more days to ride.

55 Miles on a beautiful day 66°, This is 22° above average, they're forecasting snow Monday, it will melt by noon. Enjoying it while I can. I had to stop and take some layers off.

Stopped way out in the countryside to eat an energy bar when a large dog charged up to me and started barking very loudly. I love dogs and am fairly good at reading them. I wasn't nervous. He slowly came up to me and sniffed my leg from about 2 inched away. I continued to finish my bar when a lady came driving down the road and said "I think that's my dog." The dog's attitude relaxed and she put him in the back of her SUV and drove into her driveway. Next time I expect the dog will be much friendlier.

There are 7 mountains/volcanoes you can see from this spot.

14 miles on a cold Wednesday night to test a new saddle. Seems good for a short ride. Feet got too cold even with double socks and thin toe covers, had to cut it short.

I think we have our Florida winter weather back. Temps in the 70s and low 80s with moderate humidity this entire week. Did my second metric of the month, yesterday, at 63 miles and a regular 40 miles today.

20.7 miles (33.3k). I'm tired of the morning cold (36°) but can't complain about the sunshine.

2018: 464m (747k) ♂ Total: 21,448m (34,517k)

I lived in that area back in the mid-1960's while in grade school. My father was stationed at Chanute AFB in Rantoul. I have fond memories of my very first job as a paperboy delivering the Champaign-Urbana Courier, especially traversing 7' snow drifts while carrying all those papers.

After a couple days of inclimate weather the sun came out, which helped dry up the roads. It was supposed to get up to 50F, but that northeasterly wind wasn't allowing that. I braved that cold wind and sunny skies to get in 105 minutes.

Fellow former paperboy, here. I delivered the Kewanee Star Courier for 5 years in the late 70s early 80s, and rode my bike on all but the worst days of the year. 62 stops, 5 miles, heavy as hell Schwinn cruiser of some sort; no WONDER I was skinny!

Chanute closed down quite a while ago, and doesn't look much like it did back in it's glory days. There is some low-income housing in some of the old buildings, along with a retirement home. Kind of sad to see, especially from this old Army vet. I went to college at Illinois State University, 40 miles away, and had my first Military Ball in the Officer's Club at Chanute with my ROTC Battalion. There is a pretty darn cool Aviation Museum that is run by volunteers at the base.

Lake Evergreen, snow covered singletrack. Very cold....

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It was warm today, with some sun.

I have been working on repairing the old Viking a customer gave me, trying to make it more than just rideable.
After everything is working, it will come back apart for paint and new trimmings.

This is my favorite kind of ride day.
I made 7 test short test rides, anywhere from 2 to 5 miles each, with fixing in between.

Also rode the trike to the dentist.

Yeah, some of the other bases that I lived on as a brat, and then later after I enlisted in the Air Force have met the same demise. Some either have been closed down, or downgraded to only a remnant or their former glory. So sad, but I guess that was a part of the "peace dividend" of the end to the cold war.

23 miles on the new saddle. Wasn't sure whether a narrow 130mm saddle was right for me but it seems to be a good fit. And the relatively flat top seems to suit me better than the curved saddle -- I'm not scooting around trying to find the sweet spot, wasting energy. It's a lot firmer than I'd planned but so far it's okay. We'll see how it feels after some longer rides. Might change my mind about my more heavily padded shorts that I rarely wear.

26.2 miles (42.2k). I dressed in the usual 4 layers for the morning cold/sunshine and was overdressed by the end of the ride. I'll take it. Went again late afternoon. Looks like a cloudy weekend.

2018: 491m (789k) ♂ Total: 21,474m (34,559k)

With unseasonably warm 60F February weather, I decided to peddle to the next town over from me. Got in 130 minutes.
The weatherman is calling for rain, rain, and more rain this weekend, so looks like a washout.

Metric century number three for the month. Another beautiful but windy day. With two more ride days left this week, we took it fairly easy to keep the legs from giving out in the wind.

ONLY 6 miles, but they were cold, windy, and snowy/icy miles on the Rock Island Trail in Peoria/Dunlap, IL.

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