We're starting February off with a warm up -- high temps are in the 50s for three days in a row before we get more precip (snow? ice? rain? mix?) and colder weather next week. I went out for a 30-mile road ride with a friend today. The weather was nice, with sun, light winds and temps ranging from the mid-40s when we started around noon to 52 when we finished. We stopped for a sandwich on the way home and it felt much colder as the afternoon sun was getting low in the sky.

Although there are still patches of snow around, especially in shady areas, the roads were completely clear today. Most still showed showed traces of white from being treated with salt, and we saw some large piles of accumulated salt here and there. One road, which gets a fair amount of traffic and has some steep climbs, was still very white and salt-covered. I had put a fender on my back wheel but I regret not taking the time to put one on the front wheel, too. Tonight's assignment will be to clean my bike.

I also noticed that my throat felt irritated and I had more asthma symptoms than usual, and I think the road salt caused that, too. So I'm hoping that we get some good old-fashioned rain this week to clean the roads. My car could use a good steady rain, too. Unfortunately I think they will have to treat the roads again even if we don't get snow, since it will be below freezing at night so anything wet will freeze up.

I think it will be at least a couple of weeks before I'll be able to ride outside again. It's nice to have these breaks in the weather, and I hope they are not too few and far-between.