November 15 rides?

Not me, not today -- it is too windy to even be in a sail boat today!

But yesterday I had a nice ride, 15 miles or so doing errands. The chain came off my bike, shifting was really bad and I'd forgotten last time I rode my "errand" bike that there were shifting problems which I obviously neglected to fix.

Anyway, while at the grocery store I made an adjustment and everything worked well all the way home. Some little thing like that really boosts my confidence in being able to take care of my bike.

Two close traffic calls on this ride: one huge, old cadillac went by me less than a foot away, seriously. I was on a "safe" road - the guy either had depth perception problem or never saw me. Second close call, I almost ran into a truck who made an unsignaled left turn while I was pulling out of the side road. I saw him in time, stopped and yelled, "sorry," to which he replied "no problem."

After reading about Silver, and her fellow cyclist Sam, and all the stories about the wrecks and crashes in response, I realize that I really must up my self-protection and safety skills while cycling. There's only so much a cyclist can do to ensure their own safety, I need to make sure I'm doing those things every time I ride.

I'm sure looking forward to some quality time on my Volpe this weekend!

I actaully had to break out full finger gloves the morning. Then, I could find the transmitter for my hear rate monitor. Managed to get in 14 miles, and got a beautiful view of the rising sun going home

Two great riding days here in Pa (14 & 15 Nov). Yesterday less so just because it was so overcast. But no rain and temp about 60.Perfect. Today was sunny. My local bike club runs an event called Covered Bridges ride in Oct. I spent that day volunteering so didn't have a chance to experience any of the rides. Yesterday I did the one called 33 mi hilly~1990' elevation(per routeslip??) gain w 4 covered bridges. I felt so good when I was near the the Delaware river on Rte 32 I rode to Milford bridge and back to push my Giant OCR C2 total to 3000 miles(since I bought her in March this year).

Today I rode the one called 50 mi hilly ~3000'(per routeslip) and added one different covered bridge for total of 5 today(about half the ride was same as previous day but with sunshine it was even more scenic ). I was a little miffed that there were no cookies at any rest stops!!!!:D

Plenty of time to think both days and with all the posts about accidents, I had plenty of time to be thankful for all things and to think and pray for those hurting/healing from the carelessness of others.
I've decided to check out our local Bucks Co advocacy group to see if there is any way to help improve things here. Will attend my first meeting tonight.

I rode, I rode... didn't seem windy at all, which is a bad thing, 'cause that means it was behind me :) weather channel tells me wind is 23 mph and gusts to 31, which is better than the 40+ predicted, and I'll be mostly in town. I'ts just possible that in the next fifteen minutes that green blob will move north a titch and it'll only be slimy and windy...

... gonna gear up and go... at least so far, nemesis Howard has not posted any miles today on bike journal!!! I am not getting too hopeful, as it's unlikely he'd go two days in a row, but I'm 315 miles ahead of him... the turtle trying to stay ahead of the hare...

After not being on my bike for 4 days and hating every minute of it...I finally found a non-raining interval this morning!
I went for a 21 mile ride in the cloudy foggy warm (55 degreesF) morning. It was WONDERFUL to get pedaling again. What a relief! I felt a little stronger than last week on the hills.
It was kind of dark with the clouds and mist, so I wore my bright orange turtleneck, yellow gloves, and I put my intense steady red light on the back of my bike to be seen better. I think it's a good idea to wear yellow or orange right now in Nov during deer hunting season. I hear shots frequently and I pass lots of woods and fields on my country road routes. Some hunters are not too careful.

Bee Lady will appreciate what it means that I road today. I don't usually bother to enter my commutes in the daily ride thread, but today I earned kudos for riding at all. We had 25 mph winds from the NNW, the exact direction of my commute in to work. It was so strong I could barely keep my bike upright, espcecially in the cross winds. At one point I was so scared I was gonna fall over into traffic I phoned my husband for a ride, but he said, just lean into the wind and it worked. At one point I glanced at my speedometer, and noticed I was going 9.4 mph...... downhill directly into the wind gusts. Well, at least I tweaked my bike handling skills today!