Spring Days

It seems to be starting to break into Spring. The Temperatures are up. The need to be in Arctic gear is reducing. Still the humidity is 80+%. That makes for a cool ride in 50 degrees, but now it's warmer in the AM. The days are much longer. The Sun is doing it's job. Slowly pushing back the season and cooking the landscape with it's warmth. The road is changing with tree flowers and cut grass scattered all over it. The perfumes of flowers and fresh growth changing the air as I go down the long road.
This Wednesday was my first ride since Saturday. Not my choice. Just the way things had to be. It was a good time for my sometimes tired legs to get a rest. At my age the body just can not be put under the pressure of constant training anymore. I need the days off once and a while. It bothers me. It's just the way it is. The rides after the rest are always better. My legs fresher and stronger. I need to keep my training going. I need to keep it going at the right pace. Often I ride to hard. Push to go fast. Worry about someone catching up to me. My real need in the ride is to ride that 65% range. It builds the body up. Not tear it down. Oh, I need to go fast to. Just less often than I do. Not worry so much about getting caught from behind. There are some real fast riders around here. They would catch me anyway. I just have a hard time with that. I'm so dam competitive.
So this ride went very well. Rested and ready to rock. The weather was on the warm side,50+ degrees. Thought it had been and was raining off and on. An extra jersey and leg and arm warmers. Good choice as it turned out. Just in case I took a thin rain jacket. Never took it out of my back pockets. It was a 40+ mile day. I need to back off the 60 milers. They will have to wait for the warmer weather. So off I went on the #2 bike, fender on the rear tire. Lights too. One on the kit bag on the saddle, one on the rear of my helmet. On foggy or very overcast days there both on. Plus I wear a Hi/Vis green long sleeve jersey. Around here you got to be safe more than stylish. The trucks and some of the many retired folks need a heads up to move over a little. The retired people are the most dangerous. It's the normal, "those bikes don't belong on the roads". It's the same everywhere. Though the retired ones are so stiff in there thinking. I won't even go in to all that! Well, now back to the ride. Most of the ride were well tested roads. Roads I know every bump. Every spot where glass is scattered on thee road side. That is till the new glass shows up. I know all the hills. I know all the flats. Both ways. It's a small Island on the south side. So after I got warmed up the legs started to move well. In about 2 gears bigger. That's from the rest. I did a new way of the same roads. Still I will always do some the same way. Heggenes Hill, Holst Hill, Jewett Hill and Bailey road. If it had been dry I would have done Swede Hill. That's so steep at the start and finish I spin my wheel. Making the already hard climb very hard. I wait for that hill to be dry. So it was 41 miles on the nose. 2 hours 50 mins. Just training at an easy pace in hill country. I felt great at the finish. Not even that tired.
Now at home there are the bird adventures. The gray Harrier Hawk took a Moring Dove right in front of Mary Anne's eyes. What drama! Also there was a baby Humming bird on the deck. We tried to nurse it. It was 3/4 grown. Had feathers with some down left. It did drink from a device I made out of a Qtip. I cut the end off the plastic hollow shaft. We could get sugar water in it. Off and on the little Hummer drank. These things almost never work out with the bird living. Well it did not work out this time to. Then this AM the Coopers Hawk came by looking for breakfast. This place always has something going on.
Well till next time.