Early Ride

It's pretty much back to riding in the dark again. About the only time I have to ride is early in the morning, soon after getting up, and it's still dark. It actually started getting light on the way back but the sun still wasn't quite up. I don't mind so much since I have a good light. The picture looks darker than it seems while riding.

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!

Riding Again

I've been riding the trike more, at least in theory. In actual fact the last time I rode before today was three weeks ago! I finished up that week with my highest mileage of the year. Still not anywhere like the distance I need to work up to doing. I try to picture the Tour Divide, doing ~125-150 miles per day, daily, for weeks on end over tough terrain. How am I ever going to get in that kind of shape?

I don't know. Keep riding, I guess.

It was a nice day for a ride to work today.

Easy riding

The air felt slightly cool on the ride, but of course not too cold. But suggesting that maybe we're not really going to see a summer around here. I've already seen a few trees changing their colors.

The other day I asked Kent Peterson on Twitter for his suggestion for a newbie MTBker. 

Trek Marlin

His suggestion, the Trek Marlin, was one of the bikes that I had been considering to get started. It looks nice, and fits my budget. Further down the road, if I'm still pursuing my hope to ride the Divide, I might look at something else. But for now this looks pretty good to me. Now I just need to figure out how to pay for it! I'd like to switch soon and start building my mileage. It'll be strange to get back on a bike after riding the trike the past several years. I need to get down to Bike Tech and check it out.

It felt warmer for the ride home. Lots of people out on the trail. Tons of roller bladers, not sure what was going on with that but they kept coming in groups of two for the most part. Must have been at least a dozen of them, plus assorted other cyclists, dog-walkers and runners. The nice weather really had people out on the trail. When I ride it during other times of the year I tend to have it to myself.

On the ride back I stopped to take a picture of the clouds, which doesn't do it justice.

Clouds

Good day. Need to get out more!