May rides, may they all be wonderful

[emily_in_nc]

nwg, I have only heard a loon maybe once in my life, other than on TV. I agree -- what a haunting and goosebump-inducing sound. I do envy you that!

When we lived in the woods in NC, we built a small garden pond, which the peepers found pretty quickly. It was under our master bedroom window, and on what we called "party nights", the peepers were deafening, and we'd have to wear earplugs. I loved hearing them, but not when I had to be up for work the next morning!

[Crankin]

Well, I can't sleep with the windows open, or I'll be in allergy hell. So, I don't hear the peepers in my bedroom. If the AC isn't on, I have the ceiling fan on, to keep me cool. It went on last week, and won't go off until the beginning of October.
So, it was spritzing very mildly when I rode into work. I wore my rain jacket, but I am not sure I needed to. I was sweaty a bit. It was actually raining when I rode home, but not enough to make me call my DH to come get me. It was a steady light rain, and because it's about 80 and humid, it wasn't bad, with the jacket. For 3 miles, I can stand it. I didn't take the longer way home, but I did take a loop around the village shopping area, which added about a mile. One good thing was, one of the streets I take on this loop was finally patched in several places. There were deep cracks and pot holes, going in the other direction, on a downhill, and some in the direction I was going. It's a pretty street, so I am glad it's fixed.
Last year I bought the Terry transit dress; I wore it to ride to work a few times, as well as just wearing without riding. I got so many complements, I bought the new Transit tunic/sleeveless top and wore it today, with regular leggings. Again, tons of compliments, and it wicked well in the humidity, while riding.

[north woods gal]

Glad to hear that others enjoy and/or endure frog music.

Crankin', your reports on commuting bring back so many memories of my commuting days, especially my commuting days in Chicago. I enjoy reading them. Uncomfortable humidity is one thing I haven't had to deal with this spring, yet, but it's shaping up to be a hotter than average summer for us, so it's probably coming.

As for me, having a ball riding my trails. After such a long winter, riding my trails without snow on them is almost like riding new trails. Still holding true to my combo riding goal of mixing up trail work with road work for the sake of being a better and more versatile rider, even though my heart is mostly in trail riding, right now. Figure for every mile of trail work, I'll do two miles of road work on a given day. So far, it's giving me a nice, but not exhausting, daily workout. The miles should pile up over the summer, though I may or may not keep a log. Haven't decided. The old mountain biker/utility biker in me just says get on the bike and ride. Forget the techy detail stuff.

[emily_in_nc]

Just to clarify, we heard the peepers even with the windows closed! And they were high-quality dual-paned windows, but the pond was right outside them, and those guys were deafening during mating season!

Did our usual ride yesterday (35 something miles), plus a few short jaunts around the campground on my cruiser bike to take trash and pick up a package in the office. Today is a day off from cycling, but we did do our usual long market walk this morning.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, all! We bought freshly made chicken tamales at the Mexican grocery store, and DH is making pico de gallo and chili beans. Yum. We would do this even if it weren't May 5th; it just happened to coincide with our planned dinner for the night.

[Crankin]

Yeah, I am lucky the wetlands are in back, and our bedroom is in the front!
I make Mexican food all of the time. It was so hard to find Mexican restaurants when we moved here from AZ, it was serious withdrawal. Now, though, we have some great places. Decided to skip the Cinco de Mayo stuff at a restaurant, though, as my granddaughter is sleeping over, so I am making a pasta dish that she will eat. I might not be adverse to making some guacamole, though!
We did a just under 30 mile ride (29.6), which was very hilly. First time up Oak Hill this season. We really went slowly, not that I can do a 4 mile climb fast, but I just wanted to enjoy the gorgeous weather. I started out with arm warmers, but before the climb, at mile 10, I took them off. We stopped at the Harvard General Store, which is a huge meeting place for cyclists. It is quite nice now, with really good gourmet sandwiches and other goodies that I would not have on a ride, like wine and beer! We split a vegetarian sandwich with sweet potato and avocado, along with half a Lara Bar. We sat on an old stone wall outside and did some good people watching; a group of cyclists, obviously from a university were there. There were a few older people (professors?), and some unusually kitted out younger people. One guy rode up on a single speed Schwinn, with post cards in the spokes. I guessed they were from MIT...
After lunch, we took the shortest way home, though we had almost 15 miles left. We rode through our old neighborhood in Boxborough. The bushes my DH planted with my younger son, when we moved there are huge! The house was sold a couple of years ago, and it looks like a family is living there now. The guy who we sold it to was a Jerry Garcia look alike; one day when I came home from work on my bike, he was sitting on my front steps! He was deciding whether to buy or not, but I was like WTF? Turns out he was a very rich guy from Microsoft, whose kids lived in the area with his ex, so he wanted a house they could stay at with him and get to school. We kind of regret our impulsive move to Concord, but... wonderful memories.
Not sure if I will ride tomorrow, on and off rain is predicted.

[emily_in_nc]

Sounds like a good ride, Crankin, and the sandwich sounds delicious! It's always weird to go by places we have lived before. I tend to get very nostalgic and remember only the good when I look back. We have discussed many times that we may have made a huge mistake selling our lovely home on 11 acres in NC. It was such lovely setting, so quiet (except for the peepers! ) We have had so many interesting experiences and travels since then (2010) though, I think it was the right thing to do at the time. We needed a change, as we'd lived there for ten years, the longest we'd lived anywhere. But if we could buy it back now, we would. Unfortunately, prices and taxes have risen so much that we couldn't afford it even if it were on the market. That makes me sad; to think that we had it once and could not have it now. Ah well...we have good memories, and they will have to do.

We had buckets of (needed) rain pretty much all day yesterday, so I am hoping the roads and bike path won't be too wet today. The morning sun is shining brightly, and it looks like a dry, sunny, hot week here in central Florida!

[north woods gal]

Interesting thoughts on the traveling and home, Emily. My husband and I sometimes talk about getting a second place in a warmer climate to escape our winters, as somefolks up here, do, but then we just chuckle and shake our heads. As rough as our winters can be, we actually enjoy them and understand that they shape our north country. Heck, they shape us, too, in their own way. Would like to do more traveling, though.

Speaking of rain, we've now had over three weeks of continually dry weather with no significant rain. That's been a blessing for the sake of all that snow melting and no floods, but our woods are now getting so dry that I'm getting a little concerned. Talk about bouncing from one extreme to the other.

The dry weather has been good for my trails, though. They're ready for a summer of hard use. This summer, I hope to build some jump platforms for some of my downhill runs that will allow me to get both wheels in the air. Have to question my sanity to do such a thing at my age, but, then again, I only have so many years left to do such daring things, so we'll see.