Warm or Wind?

It was 48 degrees this morning about 9:30-- or 54, depending on which source you believed. The winds are predicted to strengthen throughout the day, so I had to choose whether to wait for it to hit 60, or ride this morning in the cooler temps and lighter winds. So I dressed for about 55, and rode early. I never was cold, and was unzipping zippers and peeling layers by the time I got home. SSW about 13 returning, but much lighter earlier. The big loop from here -- East, then North a few miles, West until it got too cold (168th) and home. 19 miles, a good pace. I was graced with my first petal showers of the year. I was headed W on Quincy's bike path, racing a tractor, (I won) and rode through petals being blown off a dogwood next to the path. Tres cool.
I like this photo from yesterday's ride, so here you are. It reminds me that tourists are beginning to arrive in town in noticeable numbers, with Tulip Time nearly here. It will change my choice of routes for a while. Ah, well.

Preview of Theme Day

The rumors on the blog sites are that May 1 will be another 'theme day' for those on the daily blog list. The theme this month is whispered to be to trade postings, as in the Naples blog will be posted on the Paris site, etc. So this is my version of that. I have a St. Paul photo from Jimi, of the same genre as most of the recent posts here -- a bicycle in front of something interesting. He calls it 'Where have all the soldiers gone?' Near the state capitol. It represents living soldiers who have fought for their country. Nice shot, Jimi. Thanks. Here is my addition to the same genre, from today's ride. You must have known this one was coming! My bicycle in front of a windmill, tulips and flags of various Precincts in the Netherlands. Windmill Island. One week until Tulip time.

The wind seemed a bit daunting today, WSW at 17, gusting to 21. Low 60's. It was a nice ride out to the Island, but getting home was tiring. It's a bit of a challenge planning a ride when there is a SW wind -- there's not much W to work with, and S requires crossing the bridge. I'd planned 22, settled for 18. But it did not rain.

Cold Fog

The dogwood is in bloom, and I love the way it has a lacy effect in the woods along the side of the road. Even -- or maybe specifically -- on a gloomy day, it dresses up the under side of the umbrella made by the trees.

The day started out with fog and drizzle, and only improved marginally this afternoon. I will admit to feeling slightly superior (to what?) when I ride in these kinds of conditions. It was a standard loop, west out into the wind, north with a cross wind. I've gotten so I know which streets have the most shelter from the wind, and take those out, choosing the more exposed route to pick up the tail wind on the way back. This photo shows the fog resisting lifting off of the lake. Yeah, another 'road ends' sign. I think that makes 3 so far. Gloomy, but still pretty in its own way. I'm glad I own a lot of cold weather gear. It didn't get out of the mid 40's today. Wind west at 14.

Tunnel Park, Revisited

I didn't expect to ride at all today. There were 'strong wind advisories' issued for our area, with gusts over 45 mph. Though it didn't rain, it was a very blustery morning. The wind gradually diminished throughout the day, as did the temperature. It's amazing how cool mid 50's feel after it has been nearly 80 for just a day. The shadows were getting a little long for photography by the time I rode this evening, especially in the shade of the dune at Tunnel Park. But I thought it interesting that the tunnel there is still blocked by the accumulated sand of a winter's worth of wind. Apparently the crews from the State Park haven't made it to Tunnel Park as yet. Two twenty-something girls on mountain bikes rode up behind me just after I took this picture. This is an approximation of the conversation that ensued. 'The tunnel's closed,' I said. 'Why? Is it blocked by something?' 'Just the sand.' 'Oh. Well, you can climb over that.' And, judging from the footprints, that is just what the citizenry has been doing. We spent part of this morning waiting for Steve, of S&T's tree service to show up to give us an estimate on removing some dead trees. We have an elm and an ash tree that are obviously dead. These two are fairly small trees. (Michigan's ash trees have been devastated by an Emerald Ash borer, or something similar.) And there is the possibility that a very large ash tree next to our garage is also dead. Steve needs his lift bucket to be able to tell for sure. For tree huggers, this is all bad news. So Steve will come with his crew and their chain saws, and take away some of our little forest in front of our house.

Sadly, this is not what we will be left with. This is "a shot taken at the top of Benhill street where the old, dead elm has been transformed into Winnie the Pooh and buddies." In St. Paul. We have neither the talent nor the money to commission art from our old, dead elm. But I thank JMM for his contribution of this photo to the whole 'bicycle in front of something interesting' genre. I like it.

I Beg To Differ

Now, really. Do creepy Grandmothers ride classy, midnight blue road bikes? To where the road ends? I think not. (What happened is I took a ride, but forgot my camera, and am trying to find a way to fit this picture from earlier this week into the blog.) This is Lake Macatawa, again. A.K.A. Black Lake, but not when speaking to the tourists.I woke up with a significant sore throat this morning, and there was a soccer game at 11 starring my granddaughter. Being well known to my grandchildren as the 'suck it up' gramma, I sucked it up and went to the game. (Her team lost 6-1.) Since I was on a roll, I later took an easy ride around the Woods Hoods to make my weekly mileage goal. Being a biker, like being a grandmother, requires a certain amount of sacrifice. Warm and sunny here today, much cooler near the lake.

A Little Longer Ride

Tuesday's ride was supposed to be my long ride this week. I'd planned 20, but it started to rain as I got close to home, so I ended up with 19.6 miles. Now, I know that there is no real difference between 19.6 and 20, but it's been nagging at me all week. Not to mention that I took a lay day on Wednesday. So this morning I decided to try again. I headed north into a light NE wind, with Hemlock Crossing in mind as a turn around spot. It is on the Pigeon River, and though it isn't as spectacular in the spring as it is there in the fall, it is quite peaceful and secluded. This is the bridge to the hiking/cross country ski trails. And that is my Ruby leaning against the rails. Midnight blue, classy ride. Having gotten that far, I pretty much had to ride the extra half mile to the PPS. This is about the earliest in the season that I've been there, I think. Mrs. P was on duty today. They seem to have converted much of their shelf space to the selling of hard liquor, so I had to settle for a diet coke, no snack. The place looks a little sketchy in the photo -- as it does it real life. Again, the Ruby classes up the shot.

The only other biker I saw today was a guy on a road bike who passed me about 8 miles into the ride. He went by me pretty fast, but then, it's a guy, right? On a road bike. Only, after he passed me and put a few hundred feet between us, I noticed that he wasn't pulling away from me very fast. And I'm riding pretty slow -- so my take on this was that he passed me just for show.

I mentioned the NE wind on the way out? Headwind, as it should be on the way out. Returning should have been a tail wind? Here's the thing. Lake Michigan's surface temperature is pretty uniformly 39 degrees right now. A late April sun warms the land (mid 60's), which heats the air directly over it, which then rises, and the cold air over the water rushes in to fill the void. Lake breeze. From the west. Coolish. It goes inland for however far Mother Nature decides. So a pretty good cross breeze on the way home. No tail wind. But, here's the important thing. I got in my 'long' ride. Just a bit over 22 miles, but I feel much, much better.

Cloudy and Dreary Day

I didn't get out of my own front yard today, which is where I took this. It seemed right, given that Tulip Time is just weeks away.
Rain showers moved in last night from the back edge of the big storm out east, leaving the roads damp until about 2 pm. Though a ride is still possible, even now, it just isn't going to happen. I'm a little knackered from my early week rides, so I'm taking today off.

Pigeon Lake

Low to mid 50's, NNW about 6. So about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, and a whole lot less windy. I took the inland route north, past the fields smelling of fresh manure. The walkers were out and about with their dogs, but in the middle of the day there were not a lot of other bikers. It was still sunny when I left, but the radar indicated rain showers working their way in from Milwaukee. Even a light breeze off Lake Michigan cooled things off noticeably as I got closer to it. If you look carefully, you can see Lake Michigan in the background. The sky was getting quite dark by the time I took this photo. That is a fishing boat, so someone besides me didn't have to work this afternoon. I took the shortest route home, just getting hit with a few fat sprinkles when I turned in to our street. It never did really rain hard. Besides keeping us cold all spring, the big lake seems to suck energy out of storms in the spring -- at least sometimes. It turned out to be quite a nice ride, and the tailwind coming home didn't hurt a bit. I'm starting to feel like a biker again.

Death March, and more.

The SLO's and their Mom are here today, so a bike ride seems unlikely. I have these shots from a ride earlier this week. More 'Spring at the State Park.' Here's a boat heading out for it's first(?) cruise of the season, past Big Red. Looking north along the shore towards Spyglass, the death march.

And, this is for Emily, indeed they did not remove any sand from the park. I stood around and watched the trucks for a while, and they moved it, certainly. Away from the beach, back towards the dunes. But the sign you remember is still there, and they did not REMOVE ANY SAND.

State Park

A bright and sunny day, for a change. I saw two bikers, one a woman on a road bike, the other a man in the process of falling off his mountain bike. (No damage.) People were walking their dogs -- a small 'purse dog' in a skirt and a big black lab are the two that stick in my memory. And a man was walking a blue wheelbarrow. I think I've seen him before -- with his wheelbarrow -- and I am suspicious that he fits the old story. With winds from the west, a visit to the state park seemed in order. It was a busy place. As you can see, it is Spring clean up season there. The snow fences are being removed, and there is much moving of sand. Men with front end loaders, big trucks and the like. I even saw a largish power boat leaving the harbor. A bit chilly for cruising the big lake, in my opinion, but apparently not in theirs. A very nice ride.

Tunnel Park

So it was still snowing this morning -- the weather channel said it was 34 degrees, our personal weather station said 40. I took heart from the 'Hard Core' entry of Gino yesterday, and headed out. A nice enough ride -- the sun came out for a while. The bike paths still have some snow on them, predictably. But I found about a dozen clear miles, including along Lake Mac. I only saw one other biker. Lakeshore was clear, and Tunnel Park was open. I watched some men working on constructing a new building -- bathrooms and such, I think. And I liked the photo of the sand dune with the footprints of other people desperate for Spring to arrive.

Wintry Easter

There is less water content in 'lake effect' snow than there is in regular snow. One inch of rain is roughly equivalent to 8 to 10 inches of snow. Lake effect is two to three times that much snow per inch of water. The only good news is that this 'dryer' snow melts faster than the denser, wetter stuff. However, it is still winter here, giving me time to learn how to put up a bike photo blog.

I hate snow.

Two faces of April.