Feb. 9

I had fun biking both yesterday and today. Yesterday was the calm before the storm. It was supposed to be cloudy but it was sunny and perfectly calm and not too cold (20s F). It was just very nice. I don't know why exactly, just a peaceful morning.

Then today we had snow overnight and much of the day. It was only about 5.3 inches total, so nothing compared to the 3 feet on the east coast! And even just 50 miles east of here got a lot more than we did. It was just a nice snowstorm here. The worst road on my route is the road down the hill from my house:

The bike path was nicely plowed, as always!

'

Here's Starkweather creek on the way home:

And looking down the bike path:

For the final hill to my house I took a different road (Maher) because that was plowed. Then just had to ride a block on Morningside Ave in the unplowed snow. It's hard to ride on this snow when cars have make tracks in it. It's really slippery even with the studded tires. Fortunately it was one short block on level ground. I could have walked if necessary.

Tomorrow is supposed to be very windy and cold so that will be a challenge.

feb 5

It's 4.52 miles to my exercise class. hee hee.

GPS toy

I got a little wrist-GPS for Christmas. I tried it out today. I determined that it's 3.9 miles to my yoga class. If I remember tomorrow, I'll find out how far it is to my exercise class. My speed was too slow to admit to you. Max speed was 18.5 mph because I live at the top of a hill. Here's the route I took:

It's not a very detailed map, but it's still kinda fun to see it.

Feb 1: spring is coming!

It was a balmy 10F when I left at 6:45 am this morning and it wasn't even pitch dark. It would have been colder but clouds rolled in over night. I'm glad! We had a house guest who got up early so he snapped this photo of me ready to go on my ride. This is pretty much my full cold-weather gear. I have lots of layers underneath my new $36 down jacket (not vegan, oops), and snow pants over my stretch pants, and warm boots and giant warm mittens, and face mask and goggles:

Okay, as I said before, I can't post every day anymore, but just thought I'd update about the exciting signs of spring. I heard cardinal songs yesterday, and chickadee and nuthatches this morning. These are their spring mating songs. That's gotta be the first sign of spring. Yea!

It wasn't my imagination!

Housemate couldn't wait to tell me that our Wild Birds Unlimited newsletter says that "Late in the month, as days lengthen, Tufted Titmice and Cardinals begin to sing." So it wasn't my imagination. So maybe those were tufted titmice instead of chickadees singing. I'll have to listen to my birdsongs. Great, something to look forward to on my morning bike rides!

last week in January

Is it my imagination or are there more birds out in the morning? This week, I heard chickadees doing the song I haven't heard since last spring. I saw cardinals. They stay over all winter so that's not a surprise. It just seemed noisier on the bike rides in. Maybe it was because the sun is slowly rising earlier so I'm just catching the birds waking up again.

I was out of town for almost 3 weeks in January. When I returned, I drove my car for a few days in cloudy weather. Then I just felt crazy! I don't know how people can stand to not get outside in winter. It makes me depressed. So I got on my bike again on Tuesday, and it was great. It was a cold week, but sunny and nice. Friday morning was the coldest with temperature -4 F when I left, but winds were calm. Thursday was warmer, at 3 F, but the winds were 10-15 mph from the NW, gusting to 25, so that felt as cold or colder. I was so bundled up it didn't matter. My new mittens are great! I also got a cheap new down coat (not vegan, oops) on sale for $36! It's perfect for biking, because it's shorter than my other warm coats. It's a men's coat, a little too big, but allows lots of layers which I like. I bundle up about twice as much as other bikers. I'm skinny and I bundle up until I'm fat; and I like to be toasty!

It's good to be back!

one year of blogging

So I thought it would be fun to log a year of biking, and it's now been a year. I also want to start up a new hobby, and it's hard to fit everything in. So I'm kinda thinking of posting a lot less frequently here. I hope that's okay with all my many (ha) readers. Of course, I will continue to bike every day if possible because that makes me very happy.