ride 05/31

Rode:  Tradesman with D'Lite

Distance: 7.62 miles

Cool things:  My original plans to go on a long ride was derailed by the road/trail being shut down so the arborists could cut down some trees.  So, a little re-route and a change of plans ended up being a great morning with Josie.  Ended up at Beyers Pond, a series of little marshy areas with a larger pond in the Metroparks system.  It has a little less than one mile trail that weaves you through the woods and around the little ponds/marshes.  We were looking for what we could see, ended up hearing the croaking of some bullfrogs (although they jumped into the water when we got too close), the hammering of woodpeckers, and ended up sneaking close enough to a small pond to see some turtles.

 Song in my head:  None, just a great conversation with my wonderful daughter....

commute 05/30

Rode: Tradesman

Distance: 7.5 both ways

Cool things:  Another beautiful day.  Wish I didn't have to go to work.....

Song in my head: R.I.P. Doc

commute 05/28

Rode: Work to and the Tradesman home

Distance: 7.5 miles both ways

Cool things:  Not much, lots of people down in the park because they had off for Memorial Day.  Here is a picture of the tree that fell down into Rocky River last week, and got washed part way down the river from the rain storm on Friday.

Song in my head:

ride & commute 05/27

Rode: NadAle on morning mountain bike trip - NadAle to work,  Work home

Distance: 6 miles on the single track, 7.5 miles to and from work

Cool things:  Went out to Reagan Park out in Medina, sort of the closest thing to ride (for about 3 weeks then something new!).  The trails were nice and tacky, the rain we had for the last few days moistened it up.  A few deep mud puddles, and you can tell CAMBA did some work here over the winter - bunches of re-routes and some new stuff too. 

The commute was uneventful, had to ride sort of fast, was running late.  Didn't get any pictures, but here is one from yesterday.

Song in my head:

commute 05/26

Rode: Tradesman to and the NadAle home

Distance: 7.5 miles to and 12 mile home

Cool things:  Nice day.  Pictures tomorrow of the downed tree that got pushed down stream.

Song in my head:

commute 05/25

Rode: Tradesman

Distance:  7.5 miles both ways

Cool things:  Beautiful sunny ride in, warm - but with a little wind.  Running late as usual on Fridays, so had to hustle a little.  A tree right next to the Rocky River Nature Center broke off and fell into river.

 
The ride home was a little more eventful - no pictures because it was pouring down rain, with thunder and lightening most of the way home. I love to ride when its 80° and raining.

ride 05/24

Rode: Tradesman with the Burley

Distance: 11 miles

Cool things:  Rode to the playground the next city over, a city park owned by Olmsted Township.  The playground has a hill for sliding in the winter, and hill rolling the rest of the year.  From there, went down to the Metroparks and back home.  Here are some shots:

Getting tired

And our weekly father/daughter portrait

Song in my head:

commute 05/23

Rode: Tradesman

Distance:  7.5 to and from work

Cool things I saw:  On the way to work, a female hooded merganser swimming in the Rocky River.  Was cool to watch her preen herself in the river.  On the way home, clipped a woodchuck with my bike going down a hill.  Stayed upright, and the rodent ran off.  Here are some pictures from in between.

Song in my head:

commute 05/21

Rode:  Work to and the Tradesman home

Distance:  7.5 miles both ways

Cool things:

Song in my head:

commute 05/20

Rode: 925

Distance: 10 miles to and 7.5 from

Cool things:  Damn, the Spring days just keep coming.  Lots of road cyclists out today, smoked a few on my Redline 925 fixie.

Song in my head:

commute 05/19

Rode: Work

Distance: 7.5 miles both ways

Cool things:  Just another beautiful Spring day!

Song in my head:

commute 05/18

BIKE TO WORK DAY!!!  

Rode: Work

Distance: 7.5 miles to and from

Cool things:  Everything, but that fact I was riding to work made it not as much fun.

Song in my head:

car driving 05/17

Rode: Nothing spent the entire day in a car.

Distance: Way to much, but approximately 125 miles.

Cool things.  Nothing about being in a car is cool.  Unless you are going on a road trip, but this wasn't.  The reason for the driving was that my wife got her new car today.  So I had to drive her to work, turn around, do some errands on our side of town, then back over to pick her up, drive to where she bought the brand new Honda Fit, and then drove back to our side of town.  Wow.  More driving than I've done in the last 2 months combined.  Oh well, it sucked.

I did go for a run this morning, found a little trail I've never been on, it climbed out of the river bed, and went on a short roller coaster til it ended at a railroad track, over the tracks and bushwacked until I couldn't find a trail anymore so I turned around.  Must have been a little over a mile each way.  Way fun, will definitely try and find the other end to the path to make a loop with the horsepath on the other side of the river.

Song in my head:

commute 05/16

(Late because of date night with my wonderful wife)

Rode: Tradesman to and the Work home

Distance: 7.5 to work and about 8 home

Cool things: Not much, nice cooler morning, and date night with the wife!

Song in my head:

ride 05/15

Rode: Tradesman with D'lite

Distance: About 12 miles or so

Cool things:  Went to the pediatric dentist for a check-up on Josie's tooth she pushed into her gums when she fell and had to get a bunch of stitches.  Everything is OK, so on to the playground and then some food shopping.

My riding partner,

And my basket buddies,

And the shopping load,

Song in my head:

commute 05/14

Rode: Tradesman

Distance: 7.5 miles both ways.

Cool things I saw:  Still another beautiful spring day, damn I didn't want to go to work. 

And I got shit on by another bird on the way to work.  Three times in 24 hours.  Damn I'm crap magnet.

Song in my head:

commute 05/13

Rode: Work to and the 925 home

Distance: 7.5 miles (and I plan on riding home)


Cool things I saw: Again, a beautiful spring day...

...until a bird crapped on my shorts and shirt.

Song in my head:

commute 05/12

Rode: Work

Distance: 15 miles round trip

Cool things I saw:  Groups of people on their road bikes, and groups of runners.  Birds were singing and the sun was shining.

Song in my head:

commute 05/11

Rode: Tradesman

Distance: Total of 20 miles, 2.5 each way to daycare with the Burley, and then the 15 miles round trip to work.

Cool things I saw:  The coolest thing, a mink running across the road, and into a sewer drain right by the river.

Hiding place of the mink:

Song in my head:

ride 05/10

Rode: Work

Distance: About 10 miles

Cool things I saw:  This is turning into a weekly trip for me and Josie.  The ride and distance is the same, sometimes the loop is ridden clockwise, sometimes counter-clockwise.  Today, it was ridden clockwise.  No need to go shopping today, just a fun spin through the park.  My knee was kind of bothering me, so more stops than normal.  First, to the Mastadon playarea at the Lake to Lake Trail in the Mill Stream Run Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks.

 Onwards down the trail, past Lake Isaac, down the hill to the covered bridge.

And to the tower overlooking Baldwin Lake for our weekly self portrait.

A good, fun morning rid with my favorite girl.

specialized work

Have a new "fast" zip around town/commute/hybrid bike.  The Work from Specialized.

Set up stock with a few substitutions and additions.  Changed out the shifters from all in one shifter brake levers to friction shifters and cheap brake levers - they work.

 Switched out the saddle, I like Specialized saddles, but the stock one was too wide.  You can also see my underseat bag, the pump is bolted under the waterbottle cage.

Switched out pedals to something with more grip.  A basic plastic BMX pedal.

Added fenders.  They are Longboards from SKS.  They are nice and long. No need for an added spray flap to protect the bottom bracket of the bike or my feet.

The back is pretty long also.

Switched the stock 700x38 to Nimbus 700x35 tires, partially because I'm mostly going to be riding this on the pavement, and partially because I ordered the wrong size fenders.

Also added a rear rack, need  place for my rear light and panniers for carrying stuff.

The bike is pretty basic, but well put together.  Things I want to do to it, cut down the width of the handlebars and put on some ergo style grips, get a second waterbottle cage - probably a Kleen Kanteen - on the down tube, and switch out the brake pads to some Kool Stops.

More to come......