I Want To Ride My Bicycle ...

"I want to ride my bicycle,
I want to ride my bike.
I want to ride my bicycle,
I want to ride it where I like."--Queen

(Photo on county 5 north of Byron)

Yup. I want to ride my bike. So that's just what I did. Early this morning. I left just before 6:00 AM and decided to ride west and north to begin the ride as the winds were already (actually, still) very strong. I rode SW out to Salem Corners. Beautiful cloud formations to the SW. I kept wanting to stop and take photos with my phone, but didn't. Just kept riding into the wind. Just west of Salem Corners I turned north on county 5 and headed into Byron. Continued north out of Byron and caught the "Treadman loop" and headed to Pine Island. Turned south on county 3 and headed back to Douglas then south on 4 to Valley High Drive then south on 104 to Country Club Rd/2nd St SW and then home.

42.65 hilly, windy, chilly miles. 24 miles into the wind. At about 30 miles I was out of fuel. Literally. I'd had an 80-calorie slice of cinnamon swirl bread and a couple spoon-size Shredded Wheat before I left and didn't take any calories with me. Not good. Lesson learned. I didn't bonk, but sure could have used some calories.

A couple items of note:

1) Dave Clements quote from the TriRochester picnic: "You aren't tri-psychotic until your bike is worth more than your car." :-)

2) Just after mile 24 today (I'd finally turned out of the headwind--Hallelujah!) I felt this scratching sound on my helmet. Not once, but twice. What the heck?? I looked up. Yup. You guessed it. A red-winged blackbird had swooped down on my helmet. Freak me out ...

3) Just after that I was riding toward Douglas and this guy in a pick-up comes by and hugs the white stripe on the side of the road right by the shoulder, right where I'm riding. As he goes by he guns the engine just about a foot from my bike. Yeah (jerk), you're a hero all right.

Tired when I got home, but a good tired. I made it to work by 9:00. : )

Just finished the RTC newsletter this evening. It should be posted online sometime tomorrow I'd guess. It'll be printed shortly and then I'll need help assembling it. If you're interested (can't give you details on when yet), please email me. Cookies shall be your reward.

All Comers' was fun, as usual, this evening. The kids are adorable.

I had a couple of first this evening. I was handing out blue ribbons. Two little boys (and one did it twice) immediately after finishing, turned around and raced back down the track to the start line where their parents were waiting (this was during the 100). So I had to chase them down and give them their ribbons. By the third time, the crowd was getting a big chuckle out of this ... Had to be there I guess, but it was pretty funny. :-) Slideshow tomorrow. Too tired tonight, and I still have to do my P.T. exercises (it's 9:54 PM).

Hi to Jen, who introduced herself at All Comers' this evening. She said she's a big fan of my blog. Thank you so much. :-) It's comments like that that keep me blogging. This has become a time-consuming habit (obsession?) and it's nice to get feedback.

From Dan Strain: The place where they pick strawberries in Simpson has a website. It's EasyPickingStrawberries.

Quote for the day: "A ship in the harbor is safe. But that's not what ships are built for." --Anonymous

Go ahead. Sail your ship out to sea ...