Riding in the New Year: January!

[rebeccaC]

My before sunrise morning commute today, alone on the bike path…..The low hiss sound of water cutting away from my tires, while rain and perspiration mix on my face with each pedal stroke. Hearing, feeling the rain upon my jacket, my helmet, the sound of rain hitting the road, harmonizing with the sound of my rolling tires, realizing the weather doesn’t slow me down, doesn’t stop me. The bliss of feeling my ride going with the elements, not against them…..

Nwg….thinking your words/rides helped in inspiring me to see/feel that this morning.....thanks ...

(eta..all cyclists are family)

"in the languid rain
a slender tree
delirious with life"
…… Bashō

Au revoir pour un temps

[north woods gal]

You're very welcome, Rebecca. Have reached that state of bliss, too, when riding in a fresh snowfall and I was the first on the road. It's that same rhythmic noise of tires in the snow as I pedaled. Have also experienced it on the skis or the canoe when conditions were just right. At times, it can be so uplifting that I have stopped, raised my arms to the sky and said a prayer of gratitude and thanks. It's why the biking and so on are more than just hobbies for so many of us. Thanks for sharing your moment.

[azfiddle]

I've been commuting even though it's dark in the morning and the temperatures are a little colder than I'm used to riding in. I rode to work Tuesday to get some planning done, and all three work days this week.

One of the perks is I get to see beautiful sunrises. Here's one from Thursday:



Untitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

Untitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

Untitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

[azfiddle]

And on the way home....

Cows!

Untitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

[wnyrider]

Seeing the one with the horns would have me nervous and second guessing whether to continue forward! Heck, makes the hair on my arms rise just looking now.

[north woods gal]

I've encountered them on the road, too, but have never been attacked. The biggest danger is that they are so unpredictable. If they panic, you have no idea which way they will jump and they can change course, suddenly. I usually try to gently shoo them off the road and ride by, slowly.

Love the sunrise pics, AZ. What lovely country, too.

Tried more ice riding, today, but the wind was gusting up over 25 mph and the temp was only 5 above. Just brutally cold. I'm crazy, but not that crazy, so cut the ride, short, and headed back home. Will try, again, tomorrow.

[emily_in_nc]

Yeah, I'm not sure what I'd do if I encountered all those cows on the road, particularly the horned ones! We turned around on the Maah-Daah-Hey trail this fall when a herd of cattle were blocking the trail. We just weren't sure what they might do.

Yesterday I had a great 35-mile solo ride west into the hillier Lake County. I love passing this wildlife refuge now that I know about it, and I was rewarded on the way out with some amazing sightings. All behind the fence and very calm....

[ny biker]

And on the way home....

Cows!

Untitled by Sharon Goldwasser, on Flickr

This photo makes me laugh. It would be good for a caption contest.

So today we had snow, just about an inch here but more to the southeast. I found out that one of my friends has ridden for 373 consecutive days. His area got about 8 inches of snow today so he went out today on his old mountain bike which has oversized tires. He says he'll take a break when he hits 400.

[azfiddle]

Not to worry - the cows are just loitering there and not aggressive. They tend to move out of the way and they're used to cyclists since the path runs right through their domain. However, a friend of mine was commuting home after sunset and almost ran in to one a week or two ago, so there's that. I've ridden this path on average three times a week since August and only seen the cows once, but their presence is always detectable....

I'll take this commute route, with the risk of the cows and the occasional rattlesnake in hot weather any day over an urban commute with its risks from traffic or a "dooring" incident. Since they completed this section of the path, my route decreased in distance. It's now between .5 and 2 miles less, depending on whether I took the shorter crappier choice or the longer, mostly safer and smoother route. Previously, the short route was all on roads. The longer routes allowed for about 3 miles on a path, but now I have about 7.5 miles on path and only 2 miles on the open road. And the path passes through 3 miles of beautiful desert (sometimes with cows), along and across the Pantano River wash (usually dry but can carry flash floods that force a detour).

[north woods gal]

I'm with you, AZ. I'll take a crappy trail or side road to a main road with a lot of traffic, any day. My daily commute when I lived in Chicago gave me the option of taking the longer and slower route on a dirt trail though the Forest Preserve or the shorter and faster route on one of the worst stretch of traffic in the area. I almost always took the forest trail even though I probably shouldn't have, because it was isolated and out of sight and there was a lot of crime in the area. Definitely spooky at times, but the main road with its traffic was horrible. There were days when I just gave up and walked my bike though that section of the commute.

[north woods gal]

Been riding the fat bike out on the lake, but those days are numbered, now that snow is piling up. For the last week, only about 3" of snow on top of the ice, but that snow is half ice with the crunchy consistency of Rice Krispie bars. The bikes have absolutely no roll at all and super heavy effort to pedal. Very much the same as the heaviest setting on my trainer when riding indoors. Whew! What a workout. reminds me of one those ice breaker ships plowing though ice on the ocean. More snow on the way, so unless one of the neighbors does a little snowmobiling on the lake, pedaling there is about done. On the other hand, the fatties and I are doing great on local plowed roads. Actually safer than walking on that slick stuff.

[emily_in_nc]

After three days off due to rain and chilly north wind (though nothing like what most of the US has been dealing with), I hit the trail again today for 31 miles. Much milder today: 59F to 69F during my ride. Very few folks on the trail as I guess even those temps are pretty chilly for native Floridians, but it felt fine to me in long-sleeve jersey and light wind vest + shorts. Removed the vest for 2nd half of the ride. A gorgeous day.

Gradually, gradually too, I am feeling stronger. Been riding this same trail since Thanksgiving, and now I notice that it is "easy" for me most of the time, so long as the wind isn't too strong in my face, so I feel good about that. Average speed very slowly increasing as well. Lots of good weather coming in the days ahead, so I anticipate many more rides in the near future.

Poor DH is on the injured-reserve list with hip bursitis, so I'm flying solo lately.

[north woods gal]

I'm mostly solo, too, Emily, because of my hubby's disabilities, though he is good for short rides and we do those a lot for the sake of having fun, together.

As for my fat biking, well, it's strictly out on plowed roads, now. Have gotten almost a foot of new snow these last few days and its still snowing. Fat bikes are wonderful bikes, but they are not snow plows. I will keep riding the plowed roads, though or maybe try some of the area groomed fat bike trails. In the meantime, it's skis and snowshoes on my backyard trails.

[ny biker]

I still have 0 miles for this month (and year). I posted a ride on our club's schedule for this coming Saturday a few days ago because the long-range forecast looked decent. But now they are saying it will be in the 30s with a chance of "wintry mix" on Saturday. So I will be canceling that ride. Unfortunately with "wintry mix" I won't be able to get out to run errands either, and will likely be trapped in the house with the noisy upstairs neighbors all day. Oh well, January.

I haven't even wanted to look at my bike lately. But today the very cold air is gone and we had rain last night which washed away a lot of the road salt. And it's sunny and in the 50s at the moment, and I'm jealous of the people I know who are out riding right now. More rain is possible tonight but tomorrow night might be good for a ride after work. Fingers crossed. If they start pre-treating the roads tomorrow in advance of Saturday's weather, I might not be able to ride since salt is an asthma trigger for me, and the brine solution they use just makes you feel like you're riding through glue.

[Crankin]

Yeah, I just got back from a group hike and it's 53 out! I'd love to ride, but the roads are wet with all kinds of stuff from melting snow and I don't want to clean my bike. I saw one cyclist on my way home from the hike and I was surprised I only saw one.