Lunar Eclipse

Just to see this on a perfect Febuary evening. The Moon covered over 100% by the shadow of the Earth. I took photos. They did not turn out so good. Thank goodness for the net. I got a photo off Yahoo. I would like to get all voodoo and the like, but that's not going to work so well to. It is just cool looking at the event. Right out our front door. A perfect view. What are the odds. I asked Mary Anne out on a date tonight just to look at the Eclipse. We had dinner out before we drove home to watch the event. There will be a super low tide on the Bay tonight to. You can walk almost half way across the Bay. It's like a double good date. It's not spooky. More on an insperation. The dog across the street that never barks is just barking non stop. Animals know stuff. This barking dog is a little unhappy about the whole eclipse. Good thing the house we are in is well made and quiet. The dog well be barking for a few hours. Dog barks at the Moon. Film on the 11PM news.
Other news is I have been taking Reiki treatments. Better than any massage I have ever had. The Reiki is performed by Andrea Binder. She barely touches me. Her hands start out cool. Then turn to a hot touch. At the end of the hour, my body feels more relaxed than any massage could do. It's really an all together new experince. My rides after the treatments are much faster. With lots of power. The other benefits are relaxation to the soul. I am going to take as many of these treatments as we can afford. Well 3 a month is about right. Mary Anne took a treatment today to. If you are interested, look into a Reiki treatment.
The rides are going so much easier. The weather is almost warm at 50 degrees. Just arm and leg warmers with summer jersey, riding shorts and a warm under vest. I know there will be some more cold weather. These warm days are the treat before true Spring comes. A reminder of the fun to come. The reward for all the winter riding in the hard weather. Always going out. Never saying no to the weather. The blue ribbin for the long winter race. Going out on the circut, doing the miles. The prayer of the riders long road, that hungers for the flowers of spring.

Clean up

The rides have been great. Fast and full of power. The training has done such a good job. The weather has been decent, but, cold and wet. The bike has taken it on the chin. Good thing I have a winter bike. Fenders and all the gear that is a little older. Not that old! It's really a clon of my #1 bike with a better frame that's one year older than the #1 frame. The #1 frame climbs much better than the #2 frame. Odd you might think these 2 frames are so close to each other. Just little differences and a long time rider can tell. So the winter bike is the one that takes the abuse. The "SAND" that is everywhere here on the Island. I cleaned the winter bike up after 3 rides. The chain gets cleaned every ride. I clean the winter bike up all the time. Riding every other day makes cleaning a full time chore. The sand gets into everything. Some of the moving parts are just being erased from the abrasion. The new chain I just put on not so long ago is already starting to look a little sad. Thanks to Connie and family I have 2 more to replace it with soon. It's good to have friends that speak bike. Really all is going great. I'm on a 2 rides in 2 days and one day off now. This will increase my fittness. Also I have moved back to a higher protien diet. I was eating to many carbs at the wrong times. This eating plan seems to be working to improve the over all power to the peddle.
For some other news there has been a Cooper's Hawk feeding on the birds in the back yard. Wish the hawk would feed on the nasty squirrels that live there to. The 4 Bald Eagles are swooping over the yard now looking for those squirrels. Fishing must be a little thin. So the back yard is full of drama. I'll post a close photo of the Cooper's Hawk I took 2 days ago. Recently I thought this hawk was a Sharp Shinn Hawk. On much closer and better inspection, it's a Copper's for sure. I enjoy the whole back yard bird thing as I have been a serious "Birder" for years. I take a bird book with me almost everywhere Mary Anne and I go. When I forget to bring the bird book I always find something I want to know from that book.
So the post is simple today. Rides are great. Bikes are great. Birds are fun. Mary Anne is the best and the Love of my life. Come home soon from your trip Mary Anne.

38 degrees and wet

It was another cold wet day. The wind from yesterday had let up a little bit. My bike was trashed from my last ride in the foul weather. Sand was in everything. My chain looked like some kind of industerial cutting tool. The gears and derailers did not look much better. I had to do a quick clean. It took an hour! Then it was a 1/2 way job to. It was 11 AM and I had no ambition to go out in the day. The day that was now starting to blow again. I checked the weather and the forcast was for 30 to 40 MPH winds with gust up to 50 MPH for the rest of the day. Crap, I was going to get hammered. It took all I had to get on the bike. The temperature felt like 20 something it was so damp in the air. Now it was blowing a storm to. Crap! It took me till Noon to get up the stuff to go out in the day. I planned to ride a short 35 mile course to. Normal is 40 to 45 . So I pulled it together and got on the bike and headed out. The temperature had got to 40 degrees. It still felt like the sub Artic, only with wetness in the air. I had on all my cold weather gear. 2 jerseys, arm warmers, thermal tights, a heavy wool vest "custom made by me" 2 head covers, 2 pair of gloves, clear riding glasses, helmet, wool socks, and neoprene booties over the shoes, my riding jacket over it all. I was a marshmellow man! Off I went on the short course. Feeling a little guilty I was not riding the extra 5 miles. I got over that fast.
The ride it self was hard. Just grind you down hard. The hills seemed steeper. The roads seemed dirtier. The wind was blowing tough. It never seemed to be at my back. It pushed me and pulled me, did it's best to make a thrill ride out of the desents. It did to. Doing 40 MPH with wind at your side is an all together frightning event. One of the really fast desents was just so out of control I slowed the bike down. There was a fast 110 degree bad turn with sand coming at the bottom of a 40 MPH desent. I slowed it down a bit for that one. Then after the turn I was in the wind on the nose. Just relentless. Man did it make me feel old. 10 MPH and that was all I could do in that wind. The ride as I have said was hard from the first mile. The wind was blowing much harder on the last half of the ride. The gust were just horrable. So those few less mile today were more than given back by the wind conditions. It would have taken 50 miles of nice weather to equal this ride. I took the last turn to home and I was whipped. It was all I could do to wash off the bike, now coated with sand. It was all I could do to stand up. I re-oiled the chain so no rust would form. All I wanted to do was drink hot sweet coffee with lots of 1/2 and 1/2. Then have some chicken soup. Go take a hot shower for about an hour. Come out and eat everything I could find in the kitchen. Then get ready for the next adventure the Island weather has to offer. A little less wind would be nice. Maybe just a little warmer.

Here it is again!

First site before coffee this AM. Wind was ripping through the trees and pushing the seas. From what seemed like out of know where. The easy day that was yesterday was gone in a hurry. Southerly winds churning up the water to a hurried pace. The trees were just bending to the force of this sudden mala. Glad I had a great ride yesterday and I was not facing this monster today. My first cup of coffee was huddled up in the bird watching chair. The little birds were being blown like I had never seen. One slip and the little bird was off in the wind like a leaf. Several time I thought the blurs were leafs! No, just these back yard birds unable to stand the pressure of the gusts from off the water. My first cup of fine warm coffee was ready to be the second. Just as I sat to start this second cup, in the chair, pop. Electricity was gone. So common here on the Island. Another tree to weak to stand in the wind today. Another power line now broken or bent. Another line fuse poped to avoid a desaster. The crews are on the way. Good thing the gas stove in the family room is still on. It's not all that cold at 41 degrees outside. Still it was going to cool off quick, if not for this little gas heater. How long would it be before the line was restored. The wind was still blowing hard. Looking for another tree to give into the game of the day. A game that plays it self out here, over and over. Mary Anne would be needing some coffee to, once she woke from the warm covers. I pulled out the butane cook stove. My now favorate cooking tool. It so easy to use and cooks better than any stove I have used. No point in waking Mary Anne to early. The internet she needs, that runs on electricity, is now down to. So boiling water to add to our cold brewed coffee was easy. Just add the concentrated coffee to hot water and there it is, a great cup of low to no acid coffee. Add 1/2&1/2 and it's perfect for both me and Mary Anne. So coffee was easy. The wind strorm is still blowing full force. The birds are doing their best to hold onto the feeder we have out. It's a lot harder today. The rain seems to be on the other side of the Sound. Miles away, being blown South to North. Just a few drops on the house.
Did I tell you how nice it was yesterday? Mixed clouds 41 degrees, no wind. Maybe it got to 39 degrees here and there on my ride. A ride that was a slow day ride after a monster hard ride on Saturday. Sunday was a recovery day. No ride. Monday, yesterday, was get the cold riding gear on and roll a nice easy set of gears on the bike for 3 hours. I took the same route as Saturday to see how much faster I went then, than Monday. Keep the work range in about 65%. Saturday had been more like 85% with real effort in the climbs in much larger gears than normal. So I was expecting the easy ride to take 15 or 25 mins longer than Saturdays ride. I like these easy day rides. Just easy does it on all the climbs. Never going into the red zone. Even on the climbs. Everytime I started to push I slowed back down. Eased off. So as I got so the last 5 miles I noticed the time. I was thinking I was goning to get home in about the same time as the fast ride of Saturday. Humm. Just kept the pace steady. On the last 2 miles the clock was just shocking. I was 5 mins ahead of Saturdays pace. As I turned into the driveway I was 7 mins fast than the same ride on Saturdays hard push. What is the story here? It's the samething I see everytime I do this. Running the gears correct at a high RPM at a lower effort gets you there fast. It uses a lot less energy to. So I could go for much longer. Several more hours. I learn everytime I go out.
It was time to get Mary Anne up. Boil some water. Have a cup of hot coffee next to her as she wakes. Gently bring her to the day. A day that is anything but gentle out side. It is still blowing full force. There are a few moment where the storm seems to catch it's breath. Then just let go again. Mary Anne and I are going to need a nice mid morning breakfast. Eggs, taco meat, refried beans, green hot sauce. Easy to do in one mid sized saute pan. It was so good! Just as we finised the meal together, pop, the power came back on. It had taken the wonderful crew 3 hours to get the grid working again. In that time I had missed a big back yard drama. A Sharped Shinned Hawk, that is using our back yard as his meal table had his morning meal as we did. One less Dove or it could have been a Quail. The feathers were everywhere. I like to witness these events. Last time it was a smaller bird. The Sharp Shinned was in the bushes running down a Juno. It was life at it's best. For the Sharp Shinned Hawk.