I’m back from my Sunday morning bicycle ride. I did 24 miles this morning, with an average speed not worth mentioning. But that’s what happens, I guess, when you haven’t been on the bike for 3 weeks.

Also, it was really quite windy, and I find that usually, even though I have a tailwind for part of the ride, I can’t make up the speed during the tailwind portion that I lose during the headwind.

Still, it was a pretty morning; crisp and clear, chilly but not icy. There was no frost on the ground, but I was definitely glad for my gloves and jacket.

I can’t think of anything of particular note from this ride, other than the amusement I always feel when riding past a field of cows or horses and they stop eating and watch me ride past. Yes, that does happen. I usually try to to greet them when they do this, “Morning, Cow! Morning, Horse!” And then I just keep going.

Technorati Tags: bicycling, Cycling, ride, route

This is two weeks in a row when I didn’t get up and ride my bike on a Sunday morning. And it looks like it’s a lovely morning outside. I’ll probably regret the missed opportunity in another week, but for right now I feel kind of like I’m in a recovery or rebuilding time. Like I’m taking a little time off the recharge the enthusiasm.

So I spent this morning lying about on the newly re-aligned sofa. Marcella and I re-arranged our living room yesterday afternoon. We really didn’t plan to do it, but we got back from running errands, and I pulled out the vacuum to do a little cleaning and I was looking at moving some things around to get the vacuum around efficiently and I just started eyeballing spaces and thinking about what would fit where, and then Marcella asked me what I was thinking about, and soon we were moving the furniture. That’s how it goes. I think the sofa was rotated about 45 degrees, and the entertainment (TV) center was moved along to be centered on the big wall instead of in the corner. I feel like we’re making more use of the living room and it feels a little less crowded.

While lying on the newly rotated sofa, I’ve been checking out events on facebook, and listening to some music…just a random mix from iTunes, and working through some spanish flash cards. There are a couple of my current vocabulary words that I’m having a hard time keeping the articles straight…is it an “el” or a “la?” I did let everyone know that I’m taking a night time spanish class once a week, didn’t I?

If anyone is interested in seeing what I’ve been listening to this morning just click the “Lifestream” link at the top of the page and look for the entries with the little red icon next to them. Like I say, it’s just a random shuffle of songs from my iTunes library.

For the rest of the day I’m thinking there is more house-cleaning on the horizon. There’s always a litterbox to be cleaned. And I also want to spend some time reading. I read about half of Fragile Things last weekend, based on Finley’s vote as to what my next reading project would be. I’m hoping I can make some more progress this weekend. I was enjoying it, but somehow didn’t manage to read much during the week. There’s also the possibility of a little chess playing over at chess.com. I’ve got games going with Finley and Scott at the moment, my two most frequent opponents.

Well, I think that probably sums up my Sunday…past and future. What’s up in your world?

Technorati Tags: activities, Cycling, education, Music, relax, spanish

The ride this morning was nice, but difficult. The weather was a little crisp, I think about 58 or 59 degrees when I began, but I was mostly prepared for that. The problem turned out to be, and this always works this way, that about the halfway point I changed directions into a very strong headwind. It kicked my butt pretty much immediately, and I slowed to a crawl.

A side effect of the wind is that it chilled my legs. I wasn’t uncomfortable, but I felt that whenever I hit a hill that I needed to stand to climb my legs were not warmed up. Like I had just gotten out of bed, not like I’d been riding for an hour already.

So, I just settled down and did my ride as comfortably as possible. The final distance was 32 miles with an average speed of 16 mph.

Technorati Tags: bicycle, Cycling, ride, route, weather

I’m updating later than usual. My normal procedure is to get back from a ride and document it pretty much right away, but this morning I started surfing the web, and making pancakes, and then napping through the Panthers game, and I just didn’t get an update written.

So, to answer…yes, I did ride. It was a chilly but pleasant morning. I think the temperature was right around 50 when I left the house, and it was foggy again. Very beautiful, actually, when the sun started piercing through the clouds and lighting up the foggy fields. I rode about 32 miles with an average speed of 16.8. Not bad…not where I was right before the Tour to Tanglewood…I’ve lost a step between then and now, but not too much.

I was just checking the weather reports for tomorrow morning to see what the commute might look like, and I think it should be a nice morning to ride in. I just hope I can get hot water at the office shower. On Friday when I rode I couldn’t, and it was a bracing experience. The water wasn’t icy, but it certainly wasn’t warm either. I was very awake and alert for the morning.

I’ve been watching videos on youtube related to riding a fixie. Things like people doing skid stops, and track stands, and urban alleycat races. Some of it is pretty fascinating. I linked to a video on my pownce page showing a competition of people doing track stands. Crazy when they go no-handed. I can’t even do one at all yet, though I was getting pretty close yesterday until I gashed my ankle open on a pedal. It’s not a big deal, I slipped, it happens. It’s just my first injury on the new bike. Frankly I’m surprised I haven’t fallen off the thing yet, but boy, it is fun to ride.

I also took a couple of the decals off the fixie. I left the model name “Lager” on the top tube, but I removed the big brand name “SE” from the downtube. I also removed the brand badge from the steering tube. So it’s looking a little more streamlined. I may eventually remove more of the decals, there are two more on the seat tube with frame size indicators and such. I should try and post some pictures soon as I make changes to the bike. I’ve bought some fenders, but haven’t installed them yet. I figure I’ll wait and see how the fall shapes up, and what the weather is like. The one key investment I’ll likely have to make soon is in a good headlight. The days are getting shorter.

Okay, that’s enough rambling for now about the bikes. Maybe some day I’ll start posting things about something other than bikes again. Believe it or not I sometimes do.

Technorati Tags: bicycle, commute, Cycling, route, weather

I found a new way to ride to and from work today. I was aware that the Guilford County greenway passed near the office, but what I didn’t know is that there is an access path to the greenway at the end of Tarrant road near the office.

I rode down there after work and managed to get onto the greenway without any difficulty. From there it was a nice ride past natural scenery all the way to East Fork road which I can take to connect through to Guilford road and then home.

The mileage is a little longer, but it’s a really nice option to have when I want a change of scenery. The only drawback is right at the end the light from East Fork onto Guilford is at the top of a hill and there’s a fair amount of traffic there. Getting started again from a full stop on a hillside with cars behind is a little tough.

Still, I’m glad I now know of it for an alternate route. It was 7.6 miles to home instead of the usual 5.3 or thereabouts.

Technorati Tags: commute, Cycling, ride, route