April Rides

[Crankin]

OK, did another short, slow ride. Wind, oy!!!
Our friends left after a breakfast that didn't start until 9:30 am. It was actually nicer out than I thought it would be, no predicted rain, around 50-55, partly cloudy, but gusts up to 30. DH is suffering greatly from back pain, he has a PT appointment Wednesday. We were riding into the wind for 3/4 of the way, a small part of it on the route that is part of the first ride we will be leading in 4 weeks. We both noted we are in big trouble if we are leading the "faster" group, as our speed was more of the slower group!
We did speed up a little once we turned to be with the wind at our backs. We decided to take a more difficult street home, that parallels the one we usually ride, but, this was so our last mile would not be into the wind.
We didn't go anywhere special, but enjoyed some of the very quiet roads of our old town. A funny thing happened in the last few miles; we had been leap frogging with a young woman, kitted up in PMC gear, as she was stopping a lot, it looked like, to look at directions on her Garmin. We only stopped once, right before we made the decision to do the final climb. We pulled out of a gas station and she passed us, but then a guy clearly commuting zoomed by her. She got pissed until I think she saw what we saw at first; it was an e-bike.
So, 2 18.2 mile rides this weekend.

[north woods gal]

Another week, another snowstorm. Yup, looks like another one headed our way, come Tuesday. Once in awhile, we get one of our "winters that never end" that take us into May and then we go right to summer. Looks like this will be one. I feel sorry formal our migrating birds coming, through. Normally, they'd be able to find some open ground or open water, by now.

After our earlier 10" snowfall from the recent Saturday storm, headed out on the neighborhood roads with one of the fat bikes for a short ride. Local roads are about 85% clear and dry with only an occasional patch of slush and ice. Better than what I had hoped to get, so that really helped with my depression. Yes, I am suffering from depression due to all this continuing snow and cold. Oh, nothing serious. Just enough to make me a bit grouchy. Not who I am at all.

Did some XC skiing, too, but that is hard, hard work in a fresh 10" of snow, trying to break trail. Probably would have made more sense to use the snowshoes. Really, though, I'd rather just put the skis and snowshoes away and get on with spring. Oh, well.

[emily_in_nc]

Sorry, NWG. All the snowbirds are leaving our RV park at the moment and heading up to Canada, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, etc, and I see what they are going back into. They say it is much worse than usual for this time of year, and no one seems very excited about heading north, since the weather here in Florida hasn't gotten seriously hot/humid (YET!) I feel so lucky to be staying here.

Haven't ridden in April yet other than a quick cruise around the RV park on the cruiser bike. We chose to do a long walk on Easter instead of ride since we usually avoid the bike paths on weekends. Seemed like everyone but us was at church, so the roads were quiet and peaceful, and the lake so beautiful.

Today I would have ridden normally but had a 10:30 am orthodontist appointment. So I just cruised around the park this afternoon for a bit and will do my usual long ride tomorrow morning. It's finally warm enough that shorts and SS jerseys are all that are needed for morning rides, so I am indeed a happy camper!

[north woods gal]

Emily, it sounds like you two had a very nice Easter. Good for you. It really is nice to know you're having some mild weather. Makes me feel, better, knowing there is such a thing as nice weather, right, now.

I'm trying my best to keep my spirits up, but it's touch and go. For me, the best therapy is always to get out and get physically active, so I started the day with some skiing, but the snow was lousy for skiing, so I switched to snowshoeing. That just felt more like trudging and slogging, today, though. Just not in the mood.

Next, I just grabbed a fat bike and rode around the area paved roads for 10 miles, riding as hard as I could, full out, as much out of frustration as anything. Even deliberately aimed for ice and snow patches, just daring them to stop me. They didn't.

Feeling pretty bold, I next dared myself to try some trail riding in the snow, which was now melting, but still deep. Got only twenty yards, though, fishtailing all the way. Talk about an unforeseen predicament, compliments of all our snow. The fishtailing is something I can handle. I'm good at it. Have even been known to practice it. Crazy me, I now think it's kind of fun.

The problem, now, is that the snow is so high on either side of my narrow trails that it's piled high, up to my thighs, now, when pedaling the bike. I can't even shovel it, because I'm not strong enough to throw the snow over those high walls. It really is like riding down a narrow hallway. Those walls are the problem. As soon as I sideswipe one of the walls of snow on either side of the narrow two-foot wide trail with the rear wheel as I fishtail, it stops my forward progress and I stall out. I could make it and keep going if I had more room via wider trails, but who knew we'd be having such a winter? Just nuts.

Okay, how many bicycle riders have ever had the problem of sideswiping snow walls? That's one for the books.

Any, yup, snowing, again as I write this.

[emily_in_nc]

nwg, Wisconsin was mentioned over and over this morning on The Weather Channel. I am sorry. What ridiculous weather you are having for April, even for there! I am very lucky that I love to read and like to cook, so even in the worst of Wisconsin winters (and we did spend one there once, but only once!) I have plenty to do. You are more outdoorsy than me -- I am very much a fair-weather outdoor child!

I almost hate to say it, but today was absolutely perfect weather here in central Florida. We've had heavy rain around dinner time for two nights running, and today was all cleared out, very pleasant, and the wind, for once, died down to a pleasant light breeze. I, for once, was able to ride with DH for pretty much our entire ride. He'd done over 45 miles yesterday at a fast clip so was doing a recovery ride today, and I had fresh legs after three days with nothing but walking and a few short cruiser bike rides, so that made us perfect partners. I actually achieved my highest average for this route (14.5 mph -- fast for ME) ever. What fun this was!

Also, with most of the snowbirds gone now, only the regulars were on the trail. I recognized about 90% of the cyclists we saw today, and trail traffic was super light. Bliss!

After our ride, we hopped on our cruiser bikes and headed to the RV park pool (the smaller of the two pools here, and the lesser used) and had it all to ourselves. More bliss as we cooled our legs off and back-floated in perfect 80-degree temps.

Life is good.

[north woods gal]

We made the news? Cool. Today was one of our local elections and my husband and I are poll workers. Just a nice thing to do for our little township and we get to meet a lot of our neighbors. Anyway, some of our voters had been down in Texas and Florida for the winter and just got back in town, all nice and tan, to boot. You can imagine some of their comments when they came back to winter.

I did try some biking, today, out on the roads, but they hadn't been plowed, so didn't get far trying to peddle though the deep snow. Real work out, but, hey, I get to add another day to my snow riding list, even if it is April.