Another nice ride, must be the weather

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz, I think I see, where the heat is. Where it is not, is here, at least right now. It's getting hotter, but it's still in the metric 20s[1], so riding is not at all a problem.

We did sort of the same route as last week, to the Millersville Farmers' Market and back, except that apparently Mayor Ballard found some money for road repairs (most likely from the feds), and they're paving approximately 90%[2] of our normal route, so we changed it up on the way back. (Suddenly that unplanned practice on the unpaved Monon is paying off ...)

This time, the Farmers' Market purchase was Maggie Moo's. Sadly, there were no mix-ins, just plain ice cream. Yes, I ate some, no, I did not take pills, yes, that may be some kind of dieting trick (although not intentional), and no, you shouldn't have asked. Some people don't want to read about that kind of stuff on this blog.[3] Did I mention the music? Last time there was a guy doing passable Billy Joel covers (pretty much standard for a solo artist with a keyboard); this time it was a duet covering the Eagles, Cat Stevens, and other AM radio blasts from the '70s.[4]

Finished our snacks, back on the bikes, went back a slightly different route but still up the nice hill and got back in pretty good shape. ems will tell you that I "cheated" and "never stopped" prior to the hill: I say that the car coming from the right slowed waaaaay down (it did), obviously giving us a chance to build up speed. Not my fault that no one else planned for that.

Overall, it was about the same as last week. In fact, it was identical according to My Tracks: Slightly slower, 12.30 mph. Although the ride was shorter (17.01 mi), we took only slightly less time (1:23). Bonus fact: when uploading your data to Google Docs, My Tracks doesn't overwrite the existing workbook, but adds new rows below what you already have, so it didn't overwrite the combined totals from last week's ride. (There's no way to pause recording, so when we take a break, it splits the ride in two.)


View Thursday 6/16 ride in a larger map

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[1] For metrically-deficient folks, 25°C is 77°F. It's not that hard to go from C to F when you stay on the fives: 9/5 C (divide by 5, multiply by 9, so that's 45) plus 32 (see, 77). Still can't do it? Get some help. (return)

[2] Exaggeration. It was more like 40% ... it just happened to be most of the first 40%. (return)

[3] Which is too bad: someone almost literally shit a brick today at work. When I went into the stall to change, there was a fairly thick, um, log still in the toilet. I did my business and flushed. Still there. I changed, which meant two more flushes, because the sensor for the automatic flushing mechanism isn't centered (and thus you have to stand off to the side or else it flushes regularly). One more attempt and it was still there ... add in the one from the person who deposited it, and it survived at least five flushes. This guy needs either a doctor or a trophy. Maybe both. (return)

[4] I remember when New Kid in Town was released. We heard it at least three times on WTTS that night on our Sesame Street radio. No, it's not around any more, and yes, I'd recognize it immediately if I saw it. Google didn't turn up any hits. (return)

Not 95-degree weather

Yes, folks, today I went on a little ride and I did not sweat like an Ohio State fan awaiting the NCAA's verdict. It was a relatively short ride, from BGI North to the farmers' market at roughly 56th and Emerson IIRC, then back. (We took a shortmedium-length break when we were there for snacks. I had a white-chocolate-covered strawberry from Chocolate for the Spirit, light on the chocolate. I wanted pulled pork and such, but it was still in the 80s and we had about 7 miles to ride back.)

We rode at a pretty good clip on the way there, just under 13 mph by my phone's calculations, and a good bit of that uphill. The one good climb was on the way back, though ... my hill work on Tuesday did remind my legs of what to do, but we really couldn't build up any speed at the bottom (crossing Fall Creek, for one, and waiting for oncoming traffic for another), so I was doing my 100-rpm spin in 1-1. lol. Oh! Summary: 17.68 miles, 1:15, 12.48 mph. Max speed, 24.61, pedaling downhill. (I probably could have gone faster, but it's not good practice to run over fellow cyclists, especially on road bikes. They can catch you.)

The farmers' market was definitely worth it, though. Lots of interesting food there. We'll have to go some time when we can take some food back with us ... the Camelbak that I have is the slim 50-ounce kind, and when it's at capacity, if I have my first aid kit as well, there isn't really room for cargo.

It was good to get out in cooler weather and to ride twice in a week. Might do a longer ride at some point, or maybe just more hill work.


View BGI to Farmers Market in a larger map