Transamerica, T minus four days!

Steve and I rode 50+ miles today fully loaded with the gear we plan to take across the country!  It was enough to ease much anxiety about our preparation.  It didn’t hurt to have possibly the best day weather-wise of the year.  

Bike to Work Week-Day #3

The morning commute is a misty foggy blur. It's a comfortable 58 degrees. I've developed a sort of kinship with the landmarks on my route-especially the animals. There's a guy with his dog on the bike path I see many mornings-big guy, little dog. There are the three horses at the small farm just south of town. There's the Dalmatian who runs up to the edge of the road to bark at me but always stops before actually getting to me. There are two big white guard dogs that used to run along the fence barking at me, especially on my evening ride home. I think I've become so familiar to them that they no longer waste their energy on me. I've seen them looking blankly at me as I'm riding by. There are four turkey vultures who seem to have taken up residence in the abandoned barn that marks my halfway point to work from home. I usually see them at the peak of the barn warming up in the morning. Two more dogs that I used to see up on the roof of a house aren't there any more. I figure the owners finally figured out how they were doing it and put a stop to it. Of course riding to work and home allows me to see and hear all kinds of birds, raccoons, rabbits,squirrels,possums, and occasional coyotes, deer, and foxes. I've had near misses in the dark with a few of them.

Bike to Work Week-Day #2

Well, I made it to the end of the driveway before I noticed that my front tire was flat (again)! Lucky for me I have some old tubes hanging up in the garage. The strong south winds are bringing warm temperatures with them. Today is supposed to be the warmest day of the week. Just my blue nylon vest and a light Patagonia long sleeve today. The wind gusts rocked me from side to side. I'll be looking for them to help me rocket home tonight.

As it got closer to time to ride home, I watched nervously as a red blob crawled across the weather radar. Would I get home before the blob arrived? Nope. As soon as I clicked into my pedals for the ride home, the rain began. I'd packed my Red Ledge rain coat in case of rain so I stayed dry for the most part. The temperatures were fairly mild. There was one huge flash of lightning but then only rain. All in all a tolerable ride home. I stared down at my tire periodically to make sure it was still inflated. When I got home I checked the tube I'd removed in the morning. One of the three patches on the tube was leaking. Time to retire (a pun) this tube!

Bike to Work Week-Day #1

I made a goal to ride to work every day this week. Day one started out unseasonably cool. My hands were on the edge of going numb. I had the wind at my back (off the chilly lake) on the way to work.

The ride home was excellent. The temperature wasn't much warmer but without the wind, I was comfortable. The clear night sky still showed a warm glowin the west, suggesting the sun had just set. The moon was already high in the sky. There's something magical about a bike ride in the dark!

Still looking for Spring

I got snowed on riding home from work last week!

I trained more this year for the Michigan Trail Marathon and ran evan slower than last year. It's frustrating to know I ran over an hour faster for the same race less than ten years ago. It's not only aging that's taken a bite out of my speed. These knees of mine are constantly aching. The food was good at Zou's Zou's and there are a couple of more Starbuck's opened along the route to the race. Next year the REI in Ann Arbor will definately be on the tour! Of course I didn't do myself any favors in the run by doing my longest bike ride in a couple of years (76 miles) a week before the race. I got to practice my flat fixing routine during the ride too-I got two flats! Did you know that the glue in those little tubes that come with the flat kits will evaporate if given enough time?

It was my best bike commuting month so far this year.










March bike miles=333.4
April bike miles=469
2008 miles=1128.8
Price of one gallon of gasoline=$3.59 (and rising)

Signs of Spring

We moved our clocks an hour forward last night but everyone made it out at the regular time for the run. Steve can't help but slip into his Henning Falkenstein imatation as Joe finds the first skunk cabbage peeking through the ice on the Cowles Bog Trail this morning. The shelf ice still hugs the shoreline as we crest the big hill before the beach. Yesterday there was significant lake-effect snow just west of us. The birds seem to be unusually noisey as we run through the woods. The tug of war between winter and spring is being played out. Spring will win this war eventually of course but how long from now? The college basketball tournament selection takes place a week from now and the season ending games are on television this afternoon as I change my commuter bike tires over from studded snow tires to "summer" tires. All together now "Here comes the sun...do, do, do do......."


February bike miles=163.2

;^)

Signs of Spring-Michigan Trail Marathon

Checking in at Zou Zou's in Chelsea, Michigan.