gray on grey

It feels like winter again.  Temperature in the mid 40's and 15 to 25mph wind will do that I guess.  The neighbor helped removed some unwanted plants easier with the aid of his mini-excavator.  I felt cold standing in the wind as the machine did the work.

The highlight of Daniel's year so far.

I decided to defy the lethargic mood of the day's weather and headed down to Mohican for a short ride.  The skies were no less gray and overcast down there.  I took the road up to the second trail head and rode the singletrack back.  It made for a nice ride and I had not ridden the Karate Monkey on this section of trail yet.  It made the twisty sections fun.

Gray... or grey?

North and Back

With wind coming from the NNW I aimed myself at the Overton Valley.  I made the right decision turning back to the house before reaching the end of the road, arm and knee warmers were needed.  The skies were clear but it was 59 and a bit windy when I left.

I had to stop and take this picture for Daniel.

"A grader!" he said when I showed it to him.

Several times I made the decision to ride further north before choosing a couple lefts and turning south.  I road 539 for a long time with the wind at my back and the smooth pavement carrying me along.  Second largest cog, down in the drops, I felt like I was flying.

A mile around the corner from home.

Just before sunset I was back home and hungry.   A fine after work ride.

Dodged the weather at the Knob

It seems everyone else head back to work after the Easter weekend, but I seized the opportunity to extend the weekend another day.  This morning we went for a family hike at Wooster Memorial beneath sunny skies.  The Trillium were on display.

After lunch I decided to head to the Knob.  Driving north the clouds on the horizon had me wondering if I should call KT and ask for a lookup on the weather forecast and radar status.  I declined to do so and pulled into the parking lot, the only car there on a Monday afternoon.

Two days ago I got in a lap and found the rearranged beginning a bit of a surprise.  Ryan had told me about it, but it took me a little bit of head turning to understand what had been done.  I think I liked it better before but I'm sure the old route will be forgotten before long.

The overpass is now in play.

A couple days ago I felt really good and thought I was handling the bike well.  It seems I had a slower start today but I got the feel back.  I'm still liking the new tire on the rear, though I did had one chain drop with the new Jump Stop today.

They don't call it Junk Hill for nothin'.

I came out of the woods into the Furnace and was greeted by some threatening skies.  Back to the car?  No, I'll ride until it rains.  I finished out the lap dry.  Try for another?  Oh yeah.  The second time around I was feeling good and the view up the Furnace was starkly calmer.  Nice day for a ride.

Lap 1... not looking good.

 Lap 2... no worries.

On the way home I called KT.  "How wet are you?" was her first question.  Apparently there was a torrential downpour or two at home.  She had looked at the radar map and was certain I was drenched.  Thankfully not!  At least not this time.

Daniel rolls his own!

Mr. Daniel is now self-propelled!  After great success on his Strider balance bike we have debated on whether or not to put training wheels on his little pedal bike.  I really didn't want to.  He could coast along with his feet up, balancing on the Strider.  Pedaling was all that was missing.

Today after work I took him out into the cul-de-sac with his pedal bike.  It seemed I was constantly holding him up as we attempted to ride in a loop.  After ten minutes I was tired of being hunched over, keeping him upright.  We went in the house for dinner.

After dinner Daniel said he wanted to ride some more.  Reluctantly I agreed to take him out into the street again.  After a couple minutes of supporting him I decided to give him a chance on his own... and he took off!

Katie came out with the camera for a couple short clips.  Of course after the camera was gone he was doing even better, riding circles and figure 8's "all by myself"!

 A still from the vid.  He's doing it!

We were super impressed.  Three and half and riding on his own.  Daniel has already asked about going on a bike ride with us.  It won't be long!

Thumbs up!

Monkey Share

Ryan and I went down to Mohican for a short ride.  We had a deadline to be back home, so we rode out until half our time was used up and then turned around.  I took the Karate Monkey for some singlespeed fun.

I still cannot say for sure... is it the tires, the geometry, or something else... I feel more confident on the Monkey.  I was having fun keeping speed and momentum while trusting the bike in corners.  At the turn around point we swapped bikes.

 He'll be coming around the corner on a Monkey.

Ryan said we could swap back in a couple miles, thinking I would be uncomfortable on his smaller frame bike.  Somehow I managed to become one with the bike two sizes smaller than my own and enjoyed the full ride back.  Ryan seemed to be enjoying the Karate Monkey calling it "agile".  Good times.

Heading back to the parking lot.