Two wheels rolling over 1000...

...biking miles, that is!

Ah, my wheels (oh, and I did too!) rolled over the first 1000 miles of the season today. For some reason that first thousand seems harder to reach than the subsequent ones. I suspect it's because the early months of the year are not the best for wandering (safely) on two wheels. I looked back at my exercise logs for the past several years, and found that this is the earliest I've completed the first 1000 miles since 2002. I honestly believe the timing is related to weather. This year, January allowed me to fit in some weekend rides, February was pretty much a lost cause from a biking standpoint, but starting in March I was able to really get back on my bike. Nice. Now I just have to hope that the weather turns to true spring soon. My next milestone is my first bicycle commute to work of the season. There is already sufficient daylight; I'm just waiting for reasonable morning temperatures and the lack of rain.

Yesterday's beautiful blue skies spilled over onto today, and the temperature inched up into the mid-60s. It was a beautiful day for riding, in spite of the still constant presence of the wind.

Yes, you're right - my bike and I were joined by a camera as we rolled over that 1000 mile mark today.

Hey, look! It's a belted Galloway, and not too far from (my) home. I have to admit that I've never seen animals on this farm before. Today there were several cows happily feeding and occasionally letting out a bellow.

Crystal clear skies

The day dawned with beautiful crystal blue skies. I could still hear the wind, and the early morning temperature was cool. It was in the mid-50s by the time I headed out on my bike (and yes, I absolutely did wait for the temperature to climb to that level).

I had been toying with the idea of doing a two-day tour, riding from home to Portsmouth today and then back tomorrow. Somehow that didn't appeal to me this morning with the early morning cool plus the prediction for temperatures to dip to the low 30s tonight. And it's been quite late in the morning before the temperature reaches the mid 50s. I decided to hold my little two-day trip for sometime in the future (hopefully next month); instead, today was a day for wandering in a big loop from home. I didn't repeat yesterday's clothing mistake though. I added the missing layer from yesterday, using my windbreaker with zip-off sleeves as my top layer. The sleeves stayed on the jacket for the first two thirds of my ride. I took them off once early, thinking they were too much. They stayed off all of five minutes, and then I zipped them back to the jacket where they stayed until much later in the ride. It's funny though - the temperature really didn't change that much, staying in the mid- to upper-50s. I think my earlier feeling of too much cool was due at least partially to the strong wind in my face.

The cool weekend weather lately has been getting the best of me as I try to work up to my in-season mileage. But I won today with a ride of 41 miles. Happy...

Periwinkle, a bed of lavender on green, beautiful...

This week brought a noticeable change to the trees, from bare branches to baby leaves. There are still many trees with totally bare branches, but the green is definitely a welcome sight.

As I was standing, absorbing the beauty of these yellow daffodils, the (apparently) young woman who lived there stopped to tell me she was glad I was taking pictures. These beautiful flowers were planted in memory of her sister. A nice gesture of a friend of hers to create this memory garden; I hope that it brings her some peace.

Brrr... misjudged temperature

Home after work, Friday afternoon, a need to ride...

It was a bright, sunny day, and it appeared to be a good day for riding. It was a good day, but I definitely misjudged the temperature. Correction - I misjudged the clothing I needed for the 51 degree day. I headed out on my bike dressed in shorts + knee warmers, a long-sleeved jerseyplus a sleeveless long underwear shirt plus a wind vest, and summer gloves. And it was a good day for riding, but I should have been wearing a full wind jacket plus liners under my gloves. My 21-mile after-work ride definitely left me a bit chilled.

It's days like today when I really appreciate a hot shower!

10 degrees down

Air temperature, that is!

I knew I needed to take advantage of the sunshine earlier in the week because the weather forecast called for a very rainy day today. In fact, I figured that my weekend would be short one riding day - but luckily I was wrong.

Each day was ten degrees cooler than the previous day when I headed out of the door on my bike. Well almost each day... you'll forgive me a tiny exaggeration, right?

During the week, my rides were all after work with a start time right around 5PM. On Wednesday, I headed out in shorts and a short-sleeved jersey to take advantage of the warmth, temperature in the lower 70s. Thursday I added knee warmers and a wind vest to be sure I was comfortable in the lower 60s. Friday? The temperature was in the lower 50s, so I changed to a warmer shirt - a Patagonia R.5 pullover covered by a wind breaker. And Saturday was a slightly cooler version of Friday, just 5 degrees cooler this time. It was a relatively good riding day. Not a bad week overall, but with each day being a good 10 degrees cooler than the previous day I was beginning to think that the season is working into autumn instead of spring!

There was a forecast of steady rain for today, so I assumed that any outdoor exercise would be by foot. I heard the rain overnight. The roads were still wet this morning, and the sky was very gray - but there appeared to be no immediate threat of the predicted rain. What to do... It was cool and windy, but the roads dried out so I headed out for a short ride. I didn't trust the weather wizard, so I headed out on a ride of several short loops. Ride, ride, loop again... Oh! What was that? Someone is throwing water at me. Someone? Perhaps the weather wizard is trying to tell me something. I cut my last loop a bit short and headed directly for home. I was lucky today. Just ten short minutes after I rolled my bike into the house, the skies opened up. Rain.

The coast is calling!

I can't tell you if my late afternoon activity started as a visit to Yummies to pick up some old-fashioned candy as a distraction for my brother, or if it started as a desire to play with my camera along the New Hampshire coast. Not that it matters since I managed to fit both activities in to my little trek...

Someone was clearly busy (likely earlier in the day) constructing this rock "monument" on top of a bigger rock. Fun!

As I stopped at this pond (or somewhat swampy area) on the side of the road opposite the ocean, I apparently startled this beaver - at least I think that's who this is - and he quickly jumped from the shore into the water and started swimming.

His re-entry to land was still not too far from where I was standing.

Do you think this seagull was laughing at the antics of the beaver?

Macro experiments

I think I'm addicted to my camera...

I had some errands to run this morning, but I also had to grab my camera on the way out of the door to catch some of the beautiful flowers that are coloring the world on these spring days. It was time to play with the macro lens. It's fun to experiment, but I have to admit that it's pretty hard to get photos in focus on windy days like today.

I wonder if the wind is ever going to stop... it feels like it has been a constant presence lately.

I was amazed to see the amount of detail, down to the tiny 'hairs' on these leaves.

Ah, almost! I'd like a little better focus on this one. I wonder if it is really possible to get all pieces of this flower in focus at a very short distance from my lens. I suspect not, but it's fun to try anyway.

Riding, stopping...

My after-work focus this week has been to get some miles under my bicycle wheels - driven at least partially by the assumption that Sunday will not be a good riding day. (When the weather report calls for an 80% chance of rain I tend to believe it!)

Today's ride was a few miles shorter than yesterday's (27 miles today as opposed to 30, still a good after work effort!) in the same amount of time because somehow my camera decided to join me and my bike. A pleasant early evening interlude...

I love these flowering trees - and I find the contrast of the blooms against a clear blue sky amazing

Playing with the macro capabilities of my baby camera (a Canon S400)... I can get good shots, but I have to say they are less consistently good than those shot with the Digital Rebel XT with the macro lens. I certainly can't complain about this one though!

Birds, visions...

It's spring, and the still parially bare trees help my eyes follow the birds.

It started this morning when I saw a small bird flying off with a twig that was much longer than the bird's body - time to build (or enhance!) its nest.

An early afternoon walk as a break from work... ah, the Canada Geese are happily munching on the grass. I'm still amazed that I have only seen geese in pairs so far this spring. Is this a private time for them?

Wandering by bike in the late afternoon... oh, look - there's a hawk just up ahead, soaring, floating, landing in a tree. Beautiful.

Warm weekdays...

...but a forecast of a cooler (and possibly wetter!) weekend

Yes, this is New England in the spring. I can't assume that the weekends will be pleasant for playing outdoors, so I need to take advantage of all of the nice weekdays. And today was one of those days...

I've been getting to the office by 7AM so I have no guilty feelings about heading out at 4, and that gives me enough time to get a nice number of miles under my bicycle wheels. At that time of day it takes me about a half an hour to drive home. Add some minutes to get my cycling act together - pumping tires, changing clothes, eating something to stoke my energy stores - and I can easily be out of the door before 5.

Ah, 30 miles under my wheels. It was sunny and warm with the temperature around 70 degrees - but oh! it was windy again! You'd think I'd be used to the wind by now since it seems like an ever-present force. I have to admit that I do enjoy it when it's at my back. Too bad that my ride needs to start and end in the same place. Unlike a point-to-point day on tour, I don't have a chance of having an all tailwind day. No complaints though, that 30 miles felt really good today.

What traffic?

Ah, it's school vacation week... it's such a treat to drive to work with no traffic!

It's quite possible that traffic was lighter this morning than it will be for the rest of the week. Not only are the schools in the area closed for the week, it is also Patriot's Day - a holiday in Massachusetts and Maine to celebrate the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. And it's Marathon Monday too.

It was a temptation to take the day off and go watch the marathon, but I don't want to burn a vacation day for that. There was one year that I was working in Boston at a location just a block from the marathon route. It was a real treat to be able to wander out of my office to watch the top finishers. I found it amazing that the winners of each category did not look tired at all - in sharp contrast with the finishers I saw as I was heading to the train station at the end of my work day. It's supposed to be cool today; hopefully temperatures in the 50s will make the marathon runners happy.