585.0.

"Late" start today. Slept to the unheard-of hour of 6:30, and didn't get on my bike till about 7:45.

It's quite a bit warmer at this hour .

Bad news that pyra's on the rocks...

573.3.

Tuesday, I took 24 pictures on the ride home; will post them somewhere after developing. Nothing spectacular, but I tried to get a sequence of pix showing the entire ride from Rainsville, Liberty, Center, and King, and some of the critters I see every day. Not my normal ~3.9-mile ride - actually about 6 miles, and a lot more work when I stop every quarter mile (e.g. at the bottom of a hill when I had some momentum...) to take a picture. For whatever reason, couldn't post to blogger that day, but it got me to

577.4.

Finally broke the string yesterday and drove to work and back. Quite cold this morning and beautiful with frost on the grass, but too dark to get a picture on the ride in. I've been working 9+ hour days this week, working on other people's files and trying to get it done quickly so I don't get blamed if anything's late. Anyway, that's why I'm riding to work in the dark. I will get that frost-and-sunrise picture one of these mornings... I'd been figuring 20-30 minutes for the standard 3.9-mile ride; timed it today, not stopping anywhere but also not pushing it, at 23 minutes.

I unofficially consider some of this time to be part of my working hours. If I was an employer, I'd give people SOME credit for exercise time, maybe 30-40 minutes a day (ha! maybe 46 minutes precisely) , because it does make for good workers. I will stay and work 10, 11, 12 hours if I need to, but on a normal day, if I don't have crucial work to do, I consider seven-hours-plus-biking a pretty good day.

567.2.

Early ride, crisp and clear (and dark!). A dog started to follow me on Fair road, right before the little down-and-up.

Barking dogs don't scare me. Silent dogs scare me, esp. when I can't quite make out the dog's shape, and can't really look back to get a closer look...

But whatever it was, I lost it on the downhill.

Need better lights - perhaps a helmet light would be enough, since I could aim it independently of steering... It would also provide more 'binocular' vision (hence, depth perception). Need to get the reflector back on, too, in case the taillight batteries die.

Started bringing the (non-digital) camera. Got a picture or two last night, will ride in a bit late one morning and try to catch some of that light. Maybe tomorrow.

559.3.

Had planned to take the car in this morning, after checking the oil and water yesterday (they told me to check for milky oil, indicating water in the crankcase, and the oil didn't look milky to me), the car seemed to run okay. When I started it this morning (after loading the bike and rack onto the back), the car starts fine, but the gas pedal is at the floor with no effect on fuel delivery to the engine.

This just gets better and better.

Finally found out Friday that we didn't get the house we'd hoped for - major disappointment. Now we're forced to continue looking at places, which can be pretty depressing: $1500 for a house not much bigger than our current $900 rental.

Since we're about to put down another month's rent here, maybe I should just let the car sit for another month (or two, or three). I'm enjoying the daily bike rides, the weather hasn't been horrible, and I could make a little interest on the money I'll eventually spend on getting the car fixed.

Otherwise, a fine morning; low-lying Tule (too'lee) fog, no frost and no rain, and I got in just before sunrise, with peach-colored highlights low in the eastern sky...

555.5.

Heavy rain at times today, but I managed to sneak past it again. Very small lambs on Bailey Rd; big red-shouldered hawk on western Skillman.

551.7.

That was actually the eighth day in a row, today is the ninth. Taking car in on Monday. It was raining pretty hard this morning, but again caught a window of relative dryness, and got in to work well before 7.

Note to self: need rear fender to prevent unsightly butt debris. Really don't want to turn the bike into an RV, but in daily commuting, there are certain necessities, and only so much fits in my day pack. Have so far resisted saddlebags and the like...

Note 2 self: get replacement batteries for the taillight. It's been running for only maybe 12 hours total, but it would be better to have the batteries than not. (The headlight battery, I can charge every other day in the garage.)

Seventh day in a row today riding the bike to work and back. Finally hit some
rain (earlier, we had some major downpouring and even hail, but I managed to hit
a window where it was little more than vertical mist). Mild rain is no big
deal, unless it's also dark and the cars have their lights on, which tends to
leave me blinded for moments in a fantasy world of floating jewelry unless I
remove my glasses (which I prefer not to do).

Closing in on 550 miles since I bought the bike in June - pretty major recent
escalation in weekly mileage, though, since the car hasn't been an option.

I am seeing some very slight physical benefits, finally, from this (in, uh,
combination with a month of not drinking 9 Pyramid Hefeweizens every other day
and eating significantly less meat).

I love the time on the way to work and back, even when it's dark, when I have
20-30 minutes to just pedal and zone out. I love seeing the same dogs running
along their fencelines and barking at me every day. I love seeing the
occasional hawk up close on a wire or soaring high above, the pheasants from the
pheasant farm, the horses and goats and cattle. I love the sunrise/sunset,
towering clouds or creeping fog, frost on the grass or just plain grass getting
greener thru the winter.

I love turning down a ride home on a day like today, and making it home soaked
and tired. I love not wimping out and getting in my car for the four-mile
commute. I love knowing in advance where the puddles and potholes will be on my
various routes.

I pack into my ear/neckwarmer, sweatshirt and gloves, sweatpants, helmet, and
backpack, and I'm snug and self-contained. Got my clever blinky LED taillight
and 10-watt headlight always on. The cars are the enemy, but I know how to best
avoid them.

More than when I was riding maybe twice a week, even when those were 20-mile
rides, this daily eight or so is a groove.

One of these days, I'll take the digital camera along and stop and take a
picture every quarter-mile or so, and post it on my site - hopefully I can catch
one of those frosty sunrise days.

Mental clarity really hasn't improved a lot, but I think there's a sort of
temporary discombobulation at breaking up the old routines and starting new
ones. I still tend to run out of mental energy when I don't get an
early-afternoon nap (which of course I usually don't). I notice much more that
I need that morning coffee. Mostly, I like when I realize at work that I've
already thought something through on the bike, or catch myself smiling for no
reason...

Arranged today to get the car fixed, but not all that enthused about its being
available to me again.

544.2.

It's become pretty much a matter of course to get on the bike and go to work.

Issues arose at work yesterday, so I came in early today - before sunrise, at least. Riding home last night and riding in today, I thought about this.

I've run into this frequently in my "career" in the corporate world: In the heat of the moment, some people;s first reaction is to seek to fix blame, focusing on the problem rather than the solution. Thousands of pages of documentation, and three or four things missing or wrong suddenly make us incompetent.

Pretty early on, I started to basically ignore blame like this, choosing to focus on the solution. I may appear to not care about the problem, because indeed I don't. I don't care who's wrong or right, who blew it back in 1897. I want to arrive at the quickest and best solution, and allow us all to get on with our lives.

Nice bike rides today and yesterday; nothing much to say about 'em other than that. Looks like rain again today, but I beat it this morning...

532.9.

The expected rain has arrived. Heavy at times today, but mild enough during the ride home. Better not to wear glasses, which get so covered wit hdroplets that when a car comes the other way with lights on I only see a million tiny stars. Will save my goodwill points for getting a ride home when it REALLY rains, meanwhile, I need the exercise.

529.0.

Rode in the dark today - rain forecast, figured I'd try to beat it, and get an early start at work. Very warm, so I think it probably will rain.

I think I'm almost MORE visible in the dark; the lights standing out more than in light or semi-darkness.

Not much of a view, though, except the 40-ft oval directly ahead.

525.5

Wimped out and took the easiy way home. After cold damp foggy morning ride, I rode home in shirtsleeves.

521.4.

Rain predicted for tomorrow and Friday. Today, fog! Visibility about 200 ft. Again, the lights prove a worthwhile investment.

Oriental couple walking along Skillman -- usually it's just the woman. Kids out waiting for the school bus. Pheasants (or something!) screaming off in the bushes to the side somewhere. Glasses get a little foggy, and outside of clothes wet. But mainly a pretty comfortable ride. Again, hills not as bad as they've been after a hiatus. Frost again on the grass.

Should find out in the next few days if this commute if gonna be replaced by the 10-mile one. Certainly not a bad thing, but there WILL be somewhat fewer route options (without considerably longer rides). If I can keep this more-frequent riding up, though, 20 miles/day won't be a big deal -- on the shortest route, there's only two hills, both long and gradual.

517.7

No rain. A little earlier and warmer coming home; the hills nevertheless don't seem as difficult today.

A single hawk in a tree on Rainsville, looking exactly like the Maltese Falcon. Too far away and too much shade to tell what kind, but from the size, a redtail or red-shouldered. Bunches of small birds congregate on certain wires, their afternoon social.

Dogs all along the way, protecting their turf, very brave behind their fences, can't quite keep up with me.

King Road, a fine ride down, and only one car passing on the way up.

Baby llama at the end of King is getting bigger. Grey with black spots - pretty unusual llama coloring.

511.2.

Mindless, uneventful rides home and back to work. You get in a rhythm... Warmer this morning - first without frost in a while - probably means rain is coming. Warm is good, though, for the power usage and for my bike rides.

When I'm driving, I go as far as possible out of the lane to stay clear of bikes and peds - you never know if one is going to take a fall into your path. Wish others would also drive this way - it's a little unnerving to have someone pass two feet away from you at 50mph. Granted, there may be oncoming traffic, etc., but if there's room, jeeze, why not use it?

Then there are those who creep along behind when there's room to get by. Drive Briskly, folks! Not aggressively, just... you want to get where you're going in the most efficient way possible. There's no need to crawl behind me - I'm already moving over as far as I can on the shoulder, but it's not always practical to stay there forever!

503.0.

The Fair Ave. route is .1 mile shorter than the Rainsville route, map indications to the contrary. Go figger!

Frost everywhere this morning, scattered low-lying fog, and a big fat orange sun just peeking out at 7 or so.

Frightened a pair of pheasants, who in turn frightened me, this morning - don't know if they're native (I don't see pheasants elsewhere), but there's a pheasant farm on Skillman so they're pretty common around there. They're beautiful birds. Perhaps we should try pheasant sometime. Bet it tastes like chicken.

Construction-type guy in a pickup yelled something at me as I crossed in front of them - I think something derogatory related to my manhood and my taillight - like because I have a blinking LED taillight on my bike I am somehow less manly than if I didn't. Duh, the fact that you NOTICE it means you SAW me, which means it's doing EXACTLY what I got it for, which means I'm SMART. Or something. People who feel the need to put others down - such an obvious ploy to mask insecurities on the home front.

Oh well. No skin off my back, just a bit of morning wierdness.

499.1.

King Road again. Nice fish-scaley sunset. Tempted to go a half-mile up the road just to have the round trip get me to 500, but I'll get it tomorrow.

Another great day, though, and two in a row with the all-bike commute.

I can sorta justify eating at Burger Thing or Gag in the Bag from time to time, if I'm doing all this sweating to and from work...

492.4.

Again chilly, but sunny. Looking at a map, the Liberty Rd route is shorter than the Fair Ave., but it definitely feels longer - that slow climb on liberty is worse than the quick one(s) on Fair.

Well, okay - it's four miles (from odometer readings here); I thought the other was 3.5, but we'll see tomorrow.

Nothing much to report today, just another nice ride. Legs feeling the renewed activity.

I actually like the fact that my car is not currently driveable, and I'm forced to ride the bike. "Lard" knows I need the exercise, but also I have that half-hour of "meditation" on the way to work. I'm rarely thinking of anything specific while riding, other than the focus on the road ahead for debris, watching the wires and posts for raptors, listening for cars coming up behind. I'm in this peculiar receptive "intake" mode. I don't really think about the cold (now that I've got my cold-weather bikewear sort of assembled, and so not emulating Curly of the Three Stooges on downhills over 15mph "WOOP woop woop woop woop...")

And I'm more or less ready for work when I get there (after showering, getting my latte, and perhaps shooting a few racks of pool with Toby)...

488.4 A bt longer ride home. It's so crisp and clear out! Winter (when it's not raining) is actually a really nice time to ride. Sun went down on my way home, those few moments of Golden light hitting the newly-green fields. King Road hill not too bad a climb, and a nice ride down, cooling the sweat. Cattle are complaining everywhere - who knows why? They're not destined for the slaughterhouse, they live on some of the most costly real estate in the world, and that grass looks pretty darn juicy.

481.9 Well, I'm a blithering idjit with cars, so may be riding the bike more for a while here.

Chilly this morning, but I bundled up pretty good, so... pretty much a standard ride in to work. Had the misfortune to be riding right during the school bus run up Skillman, so kept catching up to the stopped bus, and eating a bit of exhaust each time. Yech.

18.5 miles, only 4 or 5 raptors - weird!

I guess I was a little earlier this morning, but I covered much the same ground, and only saw 4 or 5 hawks. One, however, I startled from a fence on the downhill side of Walker Rd., and he flew along low and just ahead of me for about 100 ft before turning off. You don't get to see the top of a flying hawk often! It was big and dark brown, so could even be a golden eagle, but was probably a red-tail. Quite chilly this morning for here - sorry to everyone else in the country, for whom "chilly" is well below freezing, but it's all relative, yes?

A couple of nice stops - top of middle two rock one the way out, very crisp and clear. Walker Road, always a delight. My lane on Spring Hill Road coming back was closed, and in general there wasn't much traffic anyway - so pretty silent out there and the sun was just starting to warm things up.

The (mostly) Mexican workers at the duck farm are still on strike. I know they're paid minimum wage at best, and I'd like to see them win, but man they leave a lot of garbage, and they've got a little shantytown going (though of course it's good they have shelter for when it rains), and it's really pretty unpleasant, to ride by. Plus I have to slow down on that nice long downhill. I know, poor baby...

Almost did the entire final two rock hill without using brakes, till a car came up behind and honked as it was passing. So still haven't broken that 41mph barrier, but suspect I will this week. And then what? I don't think I want to even try for 45, let alone 50, not on THIS bike!

Well, felt I'd be lucky to do 10 miles today, but I managed almost double that, so am pretty pleased with my riding this week so far. I have a vague idea of getting past 500 on the odometer before starting work again - that doesn't look too difficult now, especially if I ride on through the weekend... But I may try to get an off-road day in here soon. The ultimate goal, someday, is to climb Big Rock Ridge without getting off and pushing.

Undecided, whether the headlight and taillight are helpful, but I leave them on, and it does give me a little more confidence that drivers do see me as they approach.