Test Ride

Partly Cloudy Skies

Next month starts #30DaysofBiking and today was pretty much the last chance I'd have before my trip to get out and see how the bike worked. Yesterday I spent time cleaning it, oiled the chain and loosened the stiff pulley that had been a problem. As it turns out, one easily solved, but I didn't know it at the time. I'm gradually learning more about maintaining the bike but there's still tons of stuff that I don't have the first clue about. I sort of muddle through most of the time, looking things up when I need to but I think I'm going to be more proactive and actually start reading more about how to take care of these things.

Earlier in the day there weren't any clouds at all but this afternoon they've started moving in. With the sun out it felt almost warm, but when the clouds got in the way it started feeling chilly. But then I was out in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey too, not exactly cool-weather clothing. I passed a couple other cyclists who were all bundled up. You'd think that we'd just had snow on the ground two days ago!

The bike handled fine. It did make a ticking sound I couldn't identify, but I'll need to figure that out. I'll get back from the trip on the 1st, so my current plan is to grab the bike and go for a short ride the first day to kick things off. I'm going to make an effort to participate this year and rise to the challenge. Last year I didn't really make any progress, having stopped by day three, so I plan to do better this year.

Short ride, I could really tell that I haven't been riding or anything. Cleared out the lungs a bit!

30 Days of Biking

I need to get on the bike more, even if it's only a short ride. I want to try doing the 30 Days of Biking challenge, and that'll feed nicely into the Bicycle Commuter Contest the next month, and then in June I might resurrect my Mock Tour Divide Challenge!

First I have to fix my bike, which hopefully won't be too hard!