Daily Challenge 12: The Mist

I was out early again this morning, riding off into the darkness under a clear starry sky. Although the skies were clear there were long stretches of the trail shrouded in ground fog. It's hard to get a good picture of it. The camera (at least in my hands) doesn't capture the scene the way I see it. One of these days I'll have to do some paintings and see if I can capture it better.

Highway Commute

Highway 507

This morning I decided to take the highway instead of the bike trail. There's a few reasons for that:

• More hills! I'm working on my mileage but the Yelm-Tenino trail is a converted railway trail so the grade and hills are mild. There aren't any huge hills on the stretch of the highway either, but it's a bit more hilly than the trail. That's a good thing.
• More traffic! I'd rather not ride with cars around, honestly, but since cars aren't going to vanish and my new commute (switching to a new position and a ~17.3 mi commute) will involve more riding on roads, I need to feel more comfortable with the traffic.
• More visible! I think it's important for drivers to see more cyclists on the roads. The trail is nice, but we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that cyclists must ride the trail. By being out on the highway it reminds drivers that there are other folks on the roads. Maybe that helps.

Right after I took the blurry picture above (sorry, my phone takes terrible pictures), the rain started. A few drops became many drops and then before long I was soaked. I was wearing bike shorts and a jersey, messenger bag over my shoulder. Helmet, of course. My work clothes were in a handlebar bag. I'd actually put on my fenders this morning in anticipation of the chance of rain. The forecast only said 30%, but clearly we hit that! 

The wind blew, the temperature was cool to cold and felt colder with the rain. I'm sure this might sound odd to some, but I had fun! It was a great ride speeding along the highway with cars zipping past and the rain pouring down. The Marlin took the hills pretty easily. The wide shoulder gave me plenty of room but I also kept an eye on approaching cars with my helmet mirror. The dim conditions emphasized what a difference headlights make! Cars with their lights off were much harder to see. I had my rear blinker on but I hadn't taken batteries for my headlights. I need to start doing that because it wasn't nearly as light as I would have liked and even with my screaming yellow jersey I would have felt better with a headlight.

After work I decided to take the trail back home instead of recreating the morning's ride along the highway. I felt tired and wanted to take it easier without the added stress of cars passing. But I do plan to do much more street riding in the days ahead. I'm already making plans for my next library rides!

Timberland Regional Library: Yelm

At Yelm Library

I've checked off another library building on my list of Timberland Regional Libraries to visit by bicycle! Yelm is actually the closest library to me, so this was a nice ride, but not too long. Great for helping me get used to the mountain bike.

I woke up at the crack of dawn and walked the dogs. After they were done I got ready and headed out on the bike. I'm planning a big day of writing so I wanted to get my riding done early. Plus I love early morning hours when it's cool and the sun is just coming up.

Down the Yelm-Tenino Trail

I headed out down the Yelm-Tenino Trail, not exactly a tough ride! Beautiful morning for a ride along the trail!

Cows in the Fog

The trail runs about five miles to Yelm. When I got to the end of the line I headed up E Yelm Ave / HWY 507 until I reached Clark Rd and road over to the library to get the shot. When I finished that I headed over past the cinemas to West Rd / Stevens Ave down to 1st and then on back to the trail which I took to home again.

Nice, easy ride. I didn't push too hard. My seat still isn't used to the saddle, but with only a few rides that doesn't surprise me. Despite that I'm having fun. Should get another library checked off soon!

29er Change

Trek Marlin

I have a new mountain bike! First real mountain bike I've owned and a huge change from riding the TerraTrike Path. I've been thinking about it, and then an email came from BikeTech about their summer sale. It seemed like a perfect time. I called over and Jim was nice enough to bring one down from the other store. He also called yesterday to make sure I knew they had the bike and it was ready to go. I was really looking forward checking the bike out. I got off work at 4:00 p.m. and headed out on a hot day to Olympia to take a look.

I had two thoughts when I saw it. One, it was green! I'd wanted that color, but hadn't asked. Not that it really matters, but I like green and black. My second thought, That's huge! I've been riding a trike that sits a couple inches off the ground. This thing stands tall and once I'm on it I felt like I was on stilts or something, way up in the air. Cool, but quite the change than what I'm used to. That's what I wanted. When I got there I walked around the outside where they had tons of bikes set up, saw one of these but it was the 19" size, too big, went to the next and it was 17.5" with my name literally on the tag. I talked to the guy, got on the saddle, and then grabbed my helmet and took it for a spin out down the neighborhood streets. I've been using a twist shift with an internal hub so it took me a bit to figure out how to shift. By the time I got back to the store I was sold. I also picked up a lock for work (I'll leave it there), a spare tube and a water bottle cage.

I've started making a few changes already. After removing the front tire to get the bike in to the back of my VW New Beetle (yes, I did manage to get it in with the back seat folded down), I noticed some brake rub on the front and back. It was a good opportunity to get the quick releases figured out and then I adjusted the calipers so that there was no rub on the brakes. That was good. I'm taking a few components from my trike, this like my bell and bike computer. I think I'll swap the pedals as well, and go clipless. I've gone back and forth thinking about it, but I'm used to clipping in on the trike. The difference will be doing it on two wheels.

timbuk2 freestyle

Carrying things is the challenge. What to carry? How to do it? I can stash some things at work, like a pair of shoes. I've got a timbuk2 freestyle bag on order, plus a seat bag and a small top bar bag. Enough to carry my iPad, keyboard, a few flat-fixing tools and some food. After I get some time to spend on the bike I'll figure out more details on what works. I'll get a photo up soon.

Since getting bit by the whole Tour Divide bug I've been itching to get on a 29er and start putting on miles. I think this is a good bike to get started with, it looks like fun!