All Wet

I have only ridden on 2 of the last 10 days. We have had .89 inches of rain *so far* today, so this wasn't one of them. March feels like a wasted month, from a biking perspective. Although I rode 16 times, which as it turns out, is better than normal for me for March. I complain too much. Tomorrow's theme day is 'water.' Many of my posts have water as a theme. I'll have to see what I can come up with. I'm glad to see the back side of March, in any case. Watch out for April foolery.

Mixed Seasons

I went outside to take a picture of the pile of snow still left at the edge of the driveway, in a spot unkissed by the sun. As I was taking it, I noticed something even more exciting just in front of the pile. See it? Not one, but two different kinds of flowers have pushed through the frozen tundra. The lighter green are daylilies. They won't bloom until summer, and have been damaged at their tips by the cold and snow. They will recover nicely, eventually producing lots of green foliage before they bloom in July or so.

In front of them is a clump of crocus. (crocuses, croci?) A real sign of spring. (Blogger's spell check does not like "unkissed", "daylilies" or "croci".)

Not Yet

Tunnel Park and back, about an hour. The sun was strong enough to melt the snow we got overnight, but not strong enough to warm the air above 35. So too cold. But the sun was out, so I went.

Different Views

We don't have a caretaker for the beach house, so now and then I go out there and check to be sure the thermostat and the furnace still work, run the water faucets, flush the toilets and check for problems. Today I took my camera along. This first photo was taken from the top of the dune. (An easterly wind gives us calm water.) This was taken standing on the fore dune. It looks like the bench is missing, but I suspect that it is under there somewhere.

This was taken with my digital zoom, standing at the waters edge. Winter isn't over yet out there, but it is beginning to fade a bit.

No ride today -- the radar shows snow and mixed precipitation out over the lake, and rain here. The rain mainly isn't hitting the ground, but the sky is spitting a bit of drizzle now and again. One TV weather guy says we'll get 2-5 inches of snow accumulation before morning, another says that that none of it will stick. Different views.

Colder Near the Lake

The ice has been slow to melt on the big lake this year. On April 15, 1997 there was snowball size ice floating along the shore line. It will be interesting to see what is left on that date this year.

At least the sun was out today, and the winds were light. But from the west, blowing across the very chilly water. Still, the only rides that have roads with light traffic and that are clear and dry are out that way, so that is where I went. Friday's storm set the spring thaw back at least two weeks.

I was not the only one at the state park today -- a fair number of people have decided to ignore the realities of the cold and snow and ice, and pretend that it is spring.

The Grease of Goose....

Goose grease has nothing to do with this post, but there are a gaggle of geese in my back yard. It hasn't warmed up much since Friday, and there is still a lot of snow and ice around. The sun is out, but the strength of the March sun seems to be vastly over-rated.

The Most Snow Since the Last Ice Age

The title is a direct quote from John. He meant for the date, of course. There is a lot of glare, but there is about 9 inches of snow at my front door.

I took this through the dining room window. Interesting how much snow can dance on the head of a.... bush. The plow guy has been here, though. On another note, TJ (the youngest center of the universe) left a comment on my blog yesterday morning. He said to say 'hi' to the family. Hi, family. Have a nice weekend. It doesn't look like there will be any biking here for a while.

Middle Child

I have a rule about biking when the temperature is below freezing. I think it is dangerous, so I don't do it. Except, of course, when I am not in the mood for following arbitrary rules that are standing between me and a bike ride. (This is the middle child in me, I hear.) All the radar loops indicated that it was snowing here at 8:30 this morning, but it wasn't. It seemed probable that it would be soon, so I rode anyway. (Tsk, tsk.) I rode for about an hour and a half, and arrived home a good half hour before the first flake hit the ground. (It is currently coming down at a pretty good clip.) On the way home I took a photo of a blueberry farmer who seemed to have decided to ignore winter storm warnings to get started working on the fields. Good job, farmer. I am giving myself hard core points. And a good talking to about breaking perfectly sensible rules.

A Few Signs of Spring

I went looking for signs of spring -- Vernal Equinox today, and all. This pair of swans was the best I could come up with. No signs of crocus' as yet, or any greening up of the landscape. Probably just as well, as there is a prediction of significant snowfall here tomorrow. I rode for a little over an hour. In spite of the sunshine, the temperatures have fallen back into the mid 30's, and I was never really warm. It even got colder during my bike ride this afternoon. A brisk WNW wind didn't help.

I'm not sure what it is that is floating in the channel next to the lighthouse. The Army Corps was rumored to begin harbor dredging here this week, but this doesn't look like dredging equipment to me. I need to find something else to photograph, I think. (For BB. In the category of fun with words, how about a nice quote from Yogi Berra? "Bicycling is 90% mental. The other half is physical." That also qualifies as fun with numbers.)

Sappy

It was about 6 degrees warmer today than on Monday, and there was a little less wind. Slightly better riding conditions. I took the photo of these sugar maples on Monday's ride. I went back to the same spot along Ransom today, thinking that the bags might be fuller. Apparently the bags have been changed, as there was even less in them today. Still, rising sap is a sign that the trees think spring is on the way. And Mother Nature bats last. I rode a few miles beyond this point, but it was into a rising north wind, so after about 58 minutes and 10 seconds of riding out, I turned around. I hammered a little on the way back with a tailwind, and spent just 1 hour and 46 minutes riding. Rain yesterday, snow coming on Friday. Anybody know how long the sap keeps flowing?

Different Standard

I spent about 2 hours outside today, 'without huge discomfort.' This is where I went. The sand blowing through the tunnel has created a hill that covers the mouth of the tunnel. A path over the sand is visible on the right. Bicycle for scale.

Taken from the top of the sand hill, looking towards the lake. Lots of evidence of fairly recent visitors. Lake lovers are a hard core lot.

Looking out at the mounds of ice still lining the beach. The water beyond is relatively ice free.

Looking south at Big Red, just for additional perspective on how these ice formations line the shore.

Leaving the beach, looking towards the park. I think GZ's phrase is apt. I consider the ride to be a success, as I arrived home without ever having suffered huge discomfort. It was cold, it was windy. It is March. I rode far enough and long enough to get tired. Good enough.

Where Are the Palm Trees?

It looks warmer than it is. But clearly not warm enough for palm trees. Very, very sad.

I rode today, even though it was too cold. Again. And the bike paths are unrideable. Still. But bikers bike, and I call myself a biker. I have no better reason than that. Very, very sad.

Saturation

In the interest of full disclosure, yesterday's photo of the blueberry field had been 'saturated' using Picasa. This is the original photo. Less green, less red. And the sky looks more normal.

I'm waiting for the centers of the universe to arrive and brighten my day. In the meantime, I cleaned some of the gook off of the gears on the Elite -- but there is still a bunch there. I have promised the use of this bike to NEFB for the summer, but am currently riding it -- I don't want to 'saturate' the Ruby with this gunk. And I got a new 2 gig memory card for my camera, so I thought I'd try some photos at a higher resolution. This one's been cropped quite a bit, and it is still pretty sharp.

Fields and Streams

It was about 20 degrees warmer today than when I left on Monday's ride. Sunny and nearly 50 felt good today -- almost. Spring has made the most progress in areas where there is no shade. This blueberry field is on 160th and New Holland, and there isn't much snow here. There's no sign of new life in the bushes yet -- this is the usual winter red that distinguishes blueberry fields from all other kinds of fields. The bike paths are still a mess of rocks, sand, branches and melting snow. This ditch is next to the Bauerman farm. No sign of activity there yet, either.

The adjustment from summer riding to winter/spring temperatures is a hard one. It is mostly mental, as I have plenty of gear and am never really very cold. It is just a lot harder work to ride in the cold, and not quite as much fun. Still, I like being out there and watching winter recede. The crocuses should be making an appearance soon.

Landmark Rides

So far this week I've posted photos from my rides of Big Red, Tunnel Park and the Beech Woods. What's left? Wild turkeys? (These may not be turkeys -- in fact, they are at the same location on Butternut where GZ photographed some peacocks last summer. Power plant smokestack for GPS verification.)

Nope. Even better. The PSPS. It was warmer today, though still not the promised 40's. The winds were light and from the north, meaning I felt really strong on the way home. Cold, but strong. Tomorrow's weather looks a bit sketchy, so I'm happy to have gotten in a longish ride (on the Elite) while the roads are rideable. WooHoo.

Woods and Hills

I have rediscovered the joys of shifting. I don't think I shifted the gears on my Florida bike at all during the last 4 weeks I was there. First of all, the shifters are on the downtube, so sort of a pain to shift. And then there's the fact that there are no hills there -- the occasional bridge -- but no hills. Holland isn't exactly hilly, but I changed gears several times on today's ride. Gears are an amazing invention. Today's ride was hard. No other good word. Very windy, still wintery. Cold muscles, chilly wind coming across the snow. I rode some back in the beech woods for shelter from the wind, and there is a lot more snow there than in places where the sun occasionally shines. Last night's news reported that Holland has had 108.4 inches of snow so far this season, and once again warned us not to put our shovels away. Boo.

The main gates at Tunnel Park are still locked, closed for the winter. A side pedestrian gate was wide open, so I wandered in and took a picture of everyone's favorite sand dune. It was a short ride, and a very slow one. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer with much less wind. I certainly hope so. Still, it was a bike ride.

Ice In Channel

My first Michigan ride of the year just had to be out to the State Park. The temperature was 29 when I left, 33 when I returned. The winds were light and from the NW. As you can see, it was sunny and there isn't much ice in the channel. It was a bit of a test run, on the winter bike. The roads are almost entirely clear, but sandy and presumably salty. My bike log says I rode the Ruby for the first time on March 12 last year -- unless we get a good rain or the sweepers show up, I won't be riding the Ruby that early this year. Today's ride was a good 40 degrees colder than my last bike ride, and that alone made it harder work, I think. I was pleased that I got the layering mostly right, and was warm enough for the whole ride. I may even have been a little overdressed. I rode back along Lakewood for a mile, using the new paved shoulder/bike lane. Other than sand and grit, that worked well. The bike paths have been plowed but large sections of them are still covered with snow and ice and are largely unrideable. It's a start.

Watch This Space

Yeah, well, this is too cold. It is really pretty at the beach, with the snow and ice mounded up for a few hundred feet off shore. The wind off the water and ice is throat cutting cold, though.

Maybe next week I will return here with a ride report. The roads are clear and dry, and it is forecast to be above freezing beginning Monday. Perhaps I will be motivated to ride then. We'll see. For now, I will spend some time with the centers of the universe. Pizza tonight, a choir concert tomorrow, and a late birthday celebration for their Grandfather this weekend. Did I mention that it is too cold to ride?

Bicycle Maintenance

I had a long list of things to do today, including cleaning and lubing two bicycles. And laundry, laundry, laundry. So naturally I took a 20 mile bike ride first. It is always good to be too tired to do what you need to be doing. The wind was about 10 mph when I left, but sustained at 20 by the time I returned, making it a bit of a slog. But an excellent ride, none the less. And both bikes are now washed and lubed, so I did get done what I needed to do. And the laundry is in process. A photo of my Fuji League at the beach, beneath the sea grape tree, this morning. Jill has been posting the report of her 350 mile, 6 day slog from Knik Alaska to McGrath along the Iditarod trail with her bicycle. It is worth the read, I think. Slog is apparently a word that got used a lot to describe this event this year. (I recommend you read her last four posts.)

Guests Depart

It was Lynne and Joe's last morning here, so we (the Queen and I) got up early and took a last bike ride together. The Rock Creek Loop, also known as the Tour de Waterways, took us through the park at the south end of Spring Lake. It has been photographed almost as often as the beach, but it seems to be a natural spot for a picture or two. A nice ride, though the east wind -- gusting to 21 -- was a challenging headwind on the return trip. Quality miles. We took a few sunset photos last night -- I like the one below the best. Sunset is about 6:30 now, so will be about 7:30 next week. I have heard that the sun is heading north. I hope so.

I promised a few numbers from February's rides. 24 rides, an average of 13.25 miles each. A long ride of 18.1 -- 2 more rides than January, slightly longer rides on average, but my long ride in January was almost 20 miles. Something to work on when spring returns to Michigan.

Gasparilla

One of the nicest days in the history of days. The water was calm and warm, the shells were plentiful, and there were dolphins swimming around the fishing boats behind Lynne.

Two Photos

No theme day for me this month. Not an inspiring topic. Really, graffiti?Lynne at Ponce de Leon Park yesterday afternoon. Very pleasant. This afternoon they are off to Cape Coral to visit some old friends of Joe's. I made some of TT's guacamole recipe before they left, and it was quite popular.

This morning we picked up a newspaper, AA batteries and a scraper blade. Running errands on bicycles. Photo taken outside the hardware store -- Ralph Nader (he must be classified as 'retro' by now) would be proud.