brass monkeys again

Another cold morning, but a bit warmer than yesterday. Ho-hum. Is this the most boring post on this blog so far?

on the road again

back in the saddle after Thanksgiving, on the coldest morning of the Fall so far - 42 degrees! In my full cold weather gear (screaming yellow jacket, black tights) I was an absolute vision as I flew down the road, turning heads all the way. If it gets any colder I'll have to break out my balaclava. Susan says it makes me look like a terrorist but how many Jihadis ride bikes as they go about their nefarious business?

In other news, I hopped on the scales with some foreboding this morning, only to discover that my net weight gain after all that turkey, roast potatoes, pecan pie etc was minus one pound. My weight is now the lowest it has been since I started tracking it in October. I suppose that's good but how will I lose weight when I really want to?

Boiler up!

A Texas-sized "Howdy, y'all" to James and his gang of wingnuts and others up there in West Lafayette. Keep warm, guys, and good luck with finals.

Happy Turkey Day to all our readers!

.. if there are any today. A front came through last night and the temperature dropped 20 degrees, so today it's cool (50's), clear and just beautiful. We have a houseful for our Thanksgiving meal, with friends coming later for dessert.

Yesterday I managed a quick ride down to the local bird sanctuary. Not much happening but I saw a and a blue jay. Call it 2 miles.

lazy Saturday afternoon

no ride to work yesterday or Thursday, too busy today and it's going to be stormy tomorrow, so I'm slacking a bit. On holiday next week so if weather permits I'll probably ride the Terry Hershey trail a few times.

Rollin' with the Homies

Yesterday there was a BHP team ride at Terry Hershey. The group consisted of Dave the Driller, Pat the Navigator, Bernardo from Accounting and me, the whole being lead fearlessly by our fearless leaderene Jennifer, who brought her daughter too. We got rolling to the strains of Dire Straits, the soundtrack being supplied by Pat who has his iPod rigged up on his bike with speakers. The group broke up as we proceeded, but regrouped after about six miles when Pat had a puncture in his rear tyre. A new tube was installed, charged with CO2 (wow - those things are the business) and off we went. Once we cleared Terry Hershey and the foot traffic died down, Dave began to lead the charge at a pretty hot pace. I jumped on his wheel and kept with him, at a much higher pace than I usually like, but I hung in there. We got to the north end of George Bush park and decided to wait for Pat (Jennifer and daughter had done their miles and were headed for home). When he didn't appear we rode back and found him repairing another puncture in his rear wheel. We got going again but only made one mile before Pat had another rear wheel flat. He was out of tubes so I gave him mine. This time we went over his wheel with a fine-tooth comb but didn't find any sharp objects. Onwards into the park and Dave set a blistering pace again. We turned around at Fry road and tried to keep in a group as much as possible, in case of further flats, but the third tube made it all the way back. On this leg the soundtrack featured Jimmy Buffet. I bailed out at Wilcrest and headed home feeling pretty tired. This morning I'm a bit stiff, but it was a good ride.

And whatever happened to Bernardo?

Fore!

No ride today - a golf day at Blackhorse Country Club. Beautiful weather (if a bit warm) and a beautiful course too. Sadly my golf fouled things up a bit.

Twofer Saturday

Two rides today - first with Dale at the crack of dawn (too dark to ride the trail so we rode down Memorial), on the new route we "discovered" last week, then a spin down the trail to the "It's a Grind" coffee house on Eldridge with MC. Both were fun in their own way.

Halloween candy Express

I wore my new, birthday cycling gloves today - thanks James! I also schlepped in a pound or two of left-over Halloween candy in my rack trunk - and didn't get to eat any! Cruel and unusual punishment if you ask me.