A "shrike" sounds like a bird you'd read about in The Hunger Games.

We have a fair number of bald eagles around here. I don't know what other parts of they country they can be found in. We were talking about them on the last ride I did, how the population has rebounded from near extinction.

And in fact that ride will be my last one for the year. I thought about doing a club ride yesterday but it was only 32F when it started, and feel free to call me a wuss but that's colder than I like for cycling. And besides, I developed a couple of saddle sores when I was trying out a new saddle a few weeks ago and one of them is healing very slowly, so it really makes sense to stay off the bike for a while until it's gone. And soon I will hit the road for my holiday vacation, where exercise will consist of walking up and down the various roads on the one hill in my hometown. The incline on some of those roads is quite steep, so it's a decent workout.

Now I just need to upload all my rides since early May from the Garmin to ridewithgps.com so I can see my totals for the year.