Out Like a Lion

It was another one of those days where it was almost too windy to ride. I bowed to the power of my bike log on the last day of the month, and headed out into the woods to get enough miles to achieve a couple of goals. This is what the weather looked like when I left the house. They must set those Doppler radar things to a very sensitive mode, because I did not get even slightly wet. A little mist in my face was all I felt. I rode through the beech woods, using all of the north-south streets to stretch out the ride as much as possible. (A strong east wind was blowing and gusting.) I crossed Ottawa Beach Road at the west end of the woods and rode through the piney woods to add some extra distance in a fairly sheltered location. I stopped at the 10th hole of the Frisbee golf course to take this photo. 203 feet, the sign says.

It did rain here eventually -- it still is raining, in fact. But my bike and I did not get wet. And I got in enough miles to be able to log over 200 miles for the month, and move this March into 3rd place for the 8 years I have been keeping records. Competing with -- and beating -- 5 younger versions of myself. Okay, so it's March and the weather is the biggest determinant of miles this month. It's been a fairly mild month, and I spent a week of it in Florida. I'm still happy with the result. Time to turn the page -- the bar has been set much, much higher for April, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Monday Evening

It never did reach 40 here, and by 4:00 I had given up on the idea of a ride. I looked out the window into our back yard about 5:00 and our neighbor's boys were playing their never ending football game in their/our back yards, in short sleeves and shorts. That -- combined with Gino's post from yesterday -- pushed me out the door. I rarely bike that late -- it was after 5:30 when I left. The winds had died down enough that it felt a bit warmer than it had earlier. It was one of the nicer rides I've taken since we returned to the Tundra. An out and back, north until the light started to fade. The miles seemed easier without the usual winds to contend with, and I rode further than I'd planned. Eventually the long shadows dictated that I turn around while I still had enough good light to get home. I turned at the spot shown above -- next to a field of blues. I love the red color of the bushes at this time of year -- though maybe it's an acquired taste.

I had enough light left to take a loop through the fairgrounds on the way home. I thought the fire hydrants in the dog park were amusing. DST -- what's not to like?

Willows

It's not for lack of trying. Tuesday I got as far as Anchorage Marina before the rain arrived, and I headed back home. Wednesday was another very windy day. I managed about 15 miles and a few small hills, but it was very hard work. Yesterday I didn't even get on the bike. Wimped out, really. My legs were tired from riding in the wind, so I went shopping instead. Sometimes you just gotta do that. Today looked good for a while, but then a cold front went through before lunch. I scrapped plans for a longer ride and put on all my heavy layers before taking a short ride to the beach. Reminiscent of Florida, except not really. The willow trees along Lake Mac are beginning to show signs of turning green -- they are that funny yellow/green color of early spring. I do know that warmer weather will arrive eventually, and I think I may just take a nap until it does.

The Art of the Slog

I knew it was going to be a tough ride before I left the house. Winds were sustained at 21, gusting to 29 from the ESE. A north-south ride seemed like it would be the most manageable, and it is easy to do from here. I rode north to James before turning east to ride the hill between 152nd and 144th. That stretch goes down into a valley formed by Pine Creek then back up the other side. Even BB refers to that as a 'real' hill, and I had decided that it was time to start getting in a little hill practice. I had to stand up to pedal down the hill into the wind. Max speed of 12. Tough wind. I rode further north, catching Butternut and riding northwest (woohoo) for a few miles to where it intersects 152nd. Heading south I began to swear. The blueberry fields along that stretch are flat, flat, flat. (Hence the name, Great Flatlands Rider.) They provided absolutely no shelter from the wind, which had turned SE by now. Nothing to do but slog it out. I know the mileages from there by heart. 4.5 miles of slow, slow misery before I reached the shelter of the woods. Plenty of time to work on perfecting the art of the slog. I arrived at the corner a half mile from home without having ridden enough miles, but no way was I going back into that wind, so I rode through the fairgrounds and back into the woods. Lovely, dense woods. There's enough shelter back in the beech woods that there are still piles of snow and ice here and there. Hence the picture. So, I want to say two things. One, art is hard. Two, I did not fall off my bicycle and break my right collarbone.

Young and Strong Trumps Old

I didn't drop her this week, either. Admittedly my maximum speed was only 16 -- too slow to drop anything faster than a turtle. I did have the element of surprise on my side, but to no avail. I guess I'll have to get stronger and faster to have any chance at all of sprinting away from her. Slim chance, at best. We rode out to Quincy Park, the current easterly most point I've ridden here this year, and found it to be closed. Like GZ, we were not intimidated by closed gates when there was an open space between them, so we rode through the park. No ice or snow was left under the trees or in shady spots that I could see, a good sign that spring is making some progress -- at least away from the lake. There is snow forecast for next weekend, however. It ain't over 'til it's over.

Saturday Competition

The Saturday morning Karate competition was kind of fun, oddly enough. Mix tons of kids and their parents, various disciplines within the Martial Arts, a bunch of trophies and medals, and you have a pretty serious circus like atmosphere. Then hold it in the Civic Center, which until recently was the home court for Hope College men's basketball, and it is a unique kind of small town fun. Both of the Centers of the Universe competed, and they both did well, as you can judge for yourself from the following videos.





It was the first time either of them had participated in a competition, so neither of them really knew what to expect until it had begun. Really, aren't they extraordinary? Nikki even got a 4th place medal in her age group.

No Cutlery Involved

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it." There was a recent reference to this rule in a previous blog entry, which you can find here. As the director of that short film, I find it very, very funny. This intersection is 152nd and Ransom and Butternut.
So today when I came to this fork in the road (above), I took it. Rules are rules. The fork led to the place pictured below, my first visit of the year. It is the northern most point I have been on my bike this year. With a light north west wind, it was the direction of choice. Naturally, on the way home I felt strong, even fast.

Yesterday's warm and sunny weather was gone, but so was the big wind. I noticed on my way out that my legs still felt the effort from yesterday's ride in the gale force winds. I expect that there will be lots of rest days this month, though, if the weather people on TV are right. I played with the layers some, and mostly got it right -- temperatures were in the low 50's. I was wearing my thinnest long fingered gloves, which was a mistake, but otherwise I was warm enough. Mary, the overly friendly clerk at the PSPS, greeted me with great enthusiasm, including a big hug. That sort of thing doesn't happen much in Holland. She must not be Dutch.

3 Rides

I've taken three bike rides since returning from Florida last week. The temperatures on departure for each were 41, 52 and 65, in that order. Figuring out how to dress for bike rides at home has been a challenge. On Saturday's ride I learned that the battery on the cycle computer on the Elite was still dead. Duh. Still a nice ride, and it was good to see the barns and blueberry fields up close again. Sunday I rode with OSLO, who had no trouble at all hanging on to my wheel. Her first ride in probably 4 1/2 months or so, and I couldn't shake her. Embarrassing. (You can see how casual she was in the photo in my previous post.)

Today had wind gusts of 35 mph from the SW -- I almost didn't go, then decided I couldn't stay inside on the warmest day of March. I had planned to stay close to home in the shelter of the woods, but found enough shelter from the blasts to get as far west as the spot in the photo above. I learned two things -- one, that it is still winter on the lake shore, or something similar. Lots of snow under the trees and even some on the roads and bike paths. So it is too early to ride the lake shore. Two, it is cooler near the lake. About 20 degrees or so. And what is warm enough gear for 65 is inadequate for 45. Still, three nice rides, and I am glad to be home. Happy St. Pat's to all the Norwegian/Irish who read my blog. And anyone else kind enough to check my blog today.

Early Bird

Caloosahatchee

It is good to be home.

Snake in Garage

So, I had something interesting to blog about sooner than I expected. The title of the post gives it away, but it is my story, so I'll tell it my way. It all started with a bike ride. (This blog is supposed to be about biking, though it gets off track pretty regularly.) I left the garage with my bike about 9:15 this morning, closing the door firmly behind me. Today was the last day for a ride in shorts until who knows when, and the sun gets pretty hot by noon. The sky was as bright a blue as I have ever seen it. The odd color of the house below sets off the color of the sky pretty well. The house color is even more intense in person. I rode through some of the high priced neighborhoods, back down some streets I haven't ridden for a while. And some I have. I stopped now and again to take some photos of different kinds of palm trees, two of them are shown below. Probably not native, but they are very different from the trees I'll be seeing in a day or two.

I returned through the side door of the garage, leaned the Fuji League against the wall and went inside. I wrote down my ride numbers, then -- in my stocking feet -- returned to the garage to get the numbers off the odometers of both bikes. I spent some time inside with the bike log, then John and I decided to go to breakfast before Olympia quit serving breakfast. I walked out into the garage, pushed the button to open the garage door, walked towards the garage door, and spied a long, (I'm saying 4 feet. Maybe more. Less than 10.) black snake wriggling towards the corner of the garage. I began making all sorts of strange, strangled noises. Something like, EEE, OOOOO, EEEE.) Lots of vowels, very little actual breathing going on. The snake took refuge behind the bike in the corner. As John walked out into the garage I found my voice -- "there's a snake in the garage," I choked out. "Where?" "In the corner behind the bike." "Well, so there is." (I swear, this is the actual exchange.) I grabbed the longest handled thing I could find -- a pool brush, as it turns out -- as John approached the corner where the snake was curled up and pulled the bike away from it. It leapt up the wall -- it was a very fast snake -- and around the corner of the garage door into the lawn. Gone. Normal breathing returned, we went to breakfast, and very soon my heart rate will return to normal. I Google Imaged snakes in Florida, and it was almost certainly a black racer. Pretty common, non venomous. The only venomous black snake native to Florida is a cottonmouth, and it is a heavy bodied snake, which this one wasn't. Feel free to Google Image it -- I'm not putting any pictures of snakes on my blog, I'm going to have enough trouble sleeping as it is. And aren't you impressed that my snake story is also a bike story? 16 miles. I am SOOOOO ready to go home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ghost Trees, etc.

I don't know what the name is for the kind of tree that gets this Spanish moss stuff growing on it, but it is an interesting effect, and distinctly southern, at least in my mind. It seemed like an interesting place for a tree house. You know I've run out of stuff to take pictures of when I start photographing trees. We've seen some interesting wildlife in the waterway behind the house over time, including two dolphins just a few days ago. But they are gone so fast that I have learned to just watch and enjoy the sight rather than run for the camera to try to get a photo. These ducks had taken up residence here for the last few days -- maybe gathering for a flight up north. I caught them just as they took off from the water. Mallards, I think, though I'm not good with birds.

The video below shows what it was that caused the ducks to take off. Fairly calm waters today, not as much wind as earlier this week.

I am going to take a break from blogging soon -- probably in a day or so, for a while. In the tradition of Fatcyclist and BSNYC, I'll be back when I have something interesting to blog about.

Beach

For all of my complaining about the wind yesterday, it was nowhere near as bad here as it was at OSLO'S. The ride I took yesterday, while OK, was a bit tough on my old legs, so today I took what I call a 'recovery ride.' Short and slow, stopping to look at the scenery, and just generally enjoying being outside. My destination, as usual for this kind of a ride, was the beach. There were enough clouds to filter the sun a little, but not enough to discourage anyone -- the beach was crowded. My camera battery was running low, so one video was all I could manage.

Not much else to report -- Emily 7 invited me to join Twitter, so I accepted and added it as a gadget on the right side of my blog. I don't know -- I hate to fall too far behind the 'kids' when it comes to being technologically literate, but a blog, Facebook and Twitter? I'm just not that popular! Or chatty. (Blogger's spell check thinks Facebook should be two words. Funny.) BTW, if anyone is looking for me on either Facebook or Twitter, my name is Louise Miller. ;-)

Too Dang Windy, Again

It was another one of those 'too windy to ride' days today, as it was yesterday. It is getting harder to motivate myself to ride on these days -- it feels like my tires are stuck in mud. TT would have called it gale force winds, I'm pretty sure. I did ride today, about 15 miles. This photo was taken along East Spring Lake, where it doesn't it look quite as windy as it was. If I had ridden yesterday, I probably would have skipped today, but we're running out of time for warm weather rides. The forecast for next week in Holland is 40 and rain. So 73 and sunny, even with wind gusts well over 20......

Spring Looks Different Here

Winds were still pretty brisk this morning, and with overnight lows inland below the freezing mark overnight last night, I considered not riding today. By about 1pm the winds had started to calm down so I headed out. Shorts, long sleeve Nike dri-fit shirt, hooded sweatshirt and a vest. It worked out about right and I got a few pictures of some of the new spring vegetation that is springing up around here. These are bottle brush bushes, and the only other place I remember having seen them is in New Zealand.

I couldn't resist the close up. The flowers were surrounded by bees, so taking the photos was a challenge. They seem to be a fairly common landscaping plant around here. A nice enough ride, and the wind lightened up as I rode. Just a little bit of therapeutic biking.

Countdown

We had not been to Ponce de Leon Park yet this year, so Saturday afternoon we drove over to Punta Gorda to check it out. It was quite busy. This fishing pier is only accessible by walking through the mangrove swamp. No one caught anything while we were there.

Lots of boat traffic in and out of the channel and in and out of the boat launch area.

Today was one of those days when it was 'almost' too windy to ride. With only a few more days left to ride in Florida before we head north, I sucked it up and rode about 12.5 miles. Not quite gale force winds, but steady in the upper teens, gusting over 20.

There seems to be a lot of cactus blooming in peoples yards right now, so I stopped and took a picture of this one. A sign of spring, I think, when desert plants bloom.