sept. 28--blustery!

ooh, it was blustery and chilly this morning! and dark. The sun rose at 6:51, about when I left. Ouch, no wonder it was dark. The temperature was 52 F, winds 20 mph from the WNW. I dressed for it and it was fine. It's my little adventure to brave the elements.

On the way home at 9 am, the winds picked up to 25 mph, and I had a nice tailwind all the way home. yeah! I rode in gears I never used before.

sept. 27

Left home at 8:30 am. temperature was 57 F, winds 9 mph from the SSW, and blue skies, so a change from the last several days. The tailwind was nice too.

After church, I did some quick grocery shopping, then ran into some friends out walking and visited with them until I decided my frozen mangos were getting too thawed. I love biking and running into people and visiting with them.

sept. 26

The cloudy weather continues but it doesn't bother me after our fabulous summer and september weather. Plus it's peaceful on the bikepath. It was 60 F, winds calm at 8 am when I left. I forgot to snap a picture at the start of the bike path, but about a hundred yards later I saw a hawk and that reminded me to take a picture. He's on the light post at top right:

This one seemed smaller than the one I saw a couple of days ago, but maybe I'm wrong and it's the same one. I'm guessing this is a Cooper's hawk.

After my 4 hour meeting, I went to my yoga class, then grocery shopping, then headed home about 3 pm. Temperature was 69 F, winds variable at 3 mph. It was a fun day.

sept. 25

Yea, I finally made it to my exercise class even though I still coughed all night. It was a hard class and I didn't have a lot of energy but it was great. I really enjoyed it.

It was dark when I woke up because of the cloud cover, but light when I left at 6:53 am. Temperature was 62 F, winds 6 mph from ESE. It rained lightly on my way home but I had looked at the radar and brought rain pants and jacket so it wasn't a problem. Temperature was 63 F, winds 8 mph from the SE on the way home at 8:30 am. Kenny rode his bike over to work with me and we got a lot done while it rained all afternoon.

sept. 24

I was still not ready for exercise class after coughing all night, but fortunately I had a massage appointment in the afternoon.

The weather is the same every day. Temperature was 72 F, winds south at 4 mph at 2 pm. I went grocery shopping after this and headed home about 5:30 pm. temperature 72, winds 5 mph from the SE.

sept. 23

It was a misty morning. Temperature was 63 F, winds light at 4 mph at 7:30 am. I'm actually enjoying the fall weather after our fabulous Sept. in which I did a lot of kayaking and mountain biking. I got my fun in so I'm ready for the change of seasons.

This hawk was on a faraway pole. He seemed bigger than a Cooper's hawk. maybe a redtail?

This piece of equipment can shovel out a railway post like a match stick. Then they just swap in new ones.

After yoga I went to campus. Temperature was up to 71, winds still light. Rode home with Kenny at 5 pm so got my exercise (he's fast). temperature was 73 F, winds calm.

sept. 22

no biking today! I didn't feel up to exercising (still have a cold), and had a collaborator over to my house to work, so never got out of the house. Fortunately, we had a hugh rainstorm this morning so that was good timing. Looking forward to tomorrow!

sept. 21

This morning it was cloudy for a change. We've had such amazing good weather for the past several months that I've forgotten that there is this thing called rain you might want to prepare for. But it didn't rain, was just a little misty. In fact, it was really nice. The winds were calm and that makes for a great bike ride. Temperature was 58 F at 7:53 am. On the return trip at 10:53 am, loaded with groceries, temperature was 61 F, winds still calm, and the sun was out. A very nice morning.

sept. 20

Yea, I finally biked today! I still have this darn cold but it's slowly getting better.

I left at 8:30 am. Temperature was 55 F, winds 6 mph from the SSE. here's the lovely bike path:

After church I went grocery shopping, then headed home about noon. Temperature was up to 72, winds 7 mph from the SE.

Then this afternoon I played with my new toy. Here are my 3 favorite toys right now:

The bike on the right is new. Consumer barbie went shopping last week and bought a mountain bike. Biking barbie is very excited. This afternoon I adjusted the SPD pedals for my shoes and did slow figure 8s around the garden--practicing sharp turns at slow speeds. I fear doing this with toe clips so it was good fun practice. Oh, and this weekend I went on a kayak trip. But that's for another blog.

sept. 12-

no ride yesterday and today as I have a cold. I had to cancel a business trip so wouldn't have biked anyway. So I'll be glad to be home and biking again soon, maybe Wed.

Today I finished my meeting early and Gail picked me up for our last ride of my trip to Colorado. We went to Lair o' the Bear, in Kittredge near Evergreen. We rode 8.5 miles total. We started out at 6600 ft, climbed to 7300 then back down. There were lots of ups and downs. According to Gail's GPS, our total ascent was 3100 ft! It was a very very nice ride. It's beautiful. It's my favorite so far. It's not as strenuous as Mt. Falcon or Meyer but you get a workout because of the length and total climb. Here's a scenery picture:

Here's our self-portrait shot (Gail and me).

Tomorrow I fly home.

sept. 9

Today we rode Mt. Falcon, in the red rocks near Denver. This starts at 6000 ft and climbs 1500 ft in 2.5 miles. This was very challenging aerobically due to the constant climb at higher altitude than I'm used to, and also the power you have to apply to go over various rocks and water bars. It was also challenging technically for a newbie like me. It was fun going down. We were careful and not too fast. Here are pictures of me (in the orange shirt) and Gail (in the white and red shirt).

sept. 8

I'm in Colorado this week for a meeting but am spending a couple of days with my friend Gail. We went mountain biking today. The ride starts at 8000 ft altitude, and climbs 600 ft in 1.75 miles. It's pretty technical, by my novice standards. The ride down is exciting. Here we are at the beginning:

The start of the ride:

Going up:

going down:

Thanks to Todd for taking the pictures!

sept. 7

Today we biked on the Sugar River trail down by Albany (I think) and Brodhead. We saw more sandhill cranes. They must be migrating. They are so neat looking.

There's a covered bridge a couple miles from Brodhead. Here's the view from the bridge of the creek:

Here's the bridge:

Then after the ride, I went on a 7 mile kayak trip down the Sugar river. It was awesome!!

sept. 5

Today we put the bikes and kayak on the car for some fun on the rails-to-trails paths and the rivers. Now, I ask you, how is this better than flying an airplane for fun? It's not really. I'm still burning the oil and gas. So it's hypocritical to say you are doing environmentally friendly sports if you are using a car to do them.

We went to the Glacial Drumlin Trail, starting at Lake Mills. It is one of our favorite rides because of the variety: a nice lake, aspen trees, farmland, and lots of waterfowl in a wetlands area. The temperature was 74 F, winds 7 mph from the east when we started out at noon. Here are some Sandhill cranes:

a great egret:

I think these were sandhill cranes in flight. I thought I caught the red head when I zoomed on one of the images. Also the bird book said that the cranes flight with their heads straight, whereas the great blue heron crooks his neck more.

Going in for a landing:

That was fun to watch. There were so many of them.

Then I we drove a couple of mile to Aztalan State Park, where I launched the kayak into the Crawfish river. Okay, it's not a bike, but it sure was fun. I saw the biggest bald eagle I've ever seen. I saw him several times as he kept flying away from me and then I'd catch up to him. I also a great blue heron, and I think some killdeer. Next time I'll know to look for the black neck bands. I want to bring my binoculars but need a waterproof case for them. Here's a view from the kayak:

sept. 4

Like yesterday, I went flying instead of biking in the morning. I wish it weren't so fun. I'd like to boycott oil or at least use as little as possible.

Fortunately I went biking in the afternoon and evening. After work, Kenny and I headed off to goof off. Temperature was 75 F, winds 5 mph from the NE. The weather has been so fabulous this week. Here's Kenny waving at the start of the bike path:

I'm off to yoga and he's ready for a beer. We got together later on with friends and headed out to a restaurant, all on our bikes. The restaurant was near my house, so it was a quick trip home at 10 pm. Temperature was a cool 56 F, winds calm.

sept 3

barbiebiker was a bad girl and went flying this morning instead of riding her bike. She is planning to do the same thing tomorrow to help a friend ferry his plane. Hey, I only do it a few times a year now. I used to do it every week! I have to admit it was fun landing that super cub on the grass strip...

Fortunately I had to get a haircut and go grocery shopping tonight so I still got to ride the bike. And it was most enjoyable. We have had perfect weather all week! Here's the start of the bike path at 5:30 pm. Temperature was 74, winds 4 mph from the north.

There's the pretty full moon again, over the Yahara river, at 7:30 pm.

sept. 2

I forgot to put the memory card in my camera this morning. When I left at 7:50 am, temperature was 50 F, winds calm. It was another beautiful day. I returned home at 10:30, stopping at the corn stand. Temperature was up to 66 F, winds 3 mph.

Then I went to campus this afternoon and a meeting later on. I returned home about 8:30. The almanac says the temperature was 60 F, but there are some low-lying areas on the bike path that felt cooler. Winds were calm. There was a beautiful full moon and Jupiter lighting the way. It wasn't quite this dark yet, but the camera does what it wants.

sept 1

Doesn't this picture look like Fall?

It was 43 F, winds calm at 6:53 am when this was taken. The sun is rising later...today was at 6:22 am. But I was dressed for it, and it was a nice ride. It warmed up to 58 F by 8:53 when I was grocery shopping. I decided to enjoy the sunshine and eat my brekky outside the co-op. Then headed home about 9:30. The temperature was already 65 F when I arrived home. It was a gorgeous day. Since it's Sept, I guess it's okay that it feels like Fall.