Short Days

I managed to get in a bike ride yesterday. When the thermometer hit 45, I suited up and headed out.  "Suited up" basically means I put on my capris, big t-shirt, and pink hoodie.  I packed my gloves just in case.  The sun was coming and going behind some high, thin clouds, which are pretty common here.  There was, thankfully, no wind.

Last time I rode, I had adjusted my seat up another inch and a half.  I have very long legs, and I get better speed and push when my knees aren't up under my chin.  After several weeks of a lower seat, I thought it was time to try it a little higher.  It was worth the change, as it was a heck of a lot easier to pedal up the hills when I could mostly extend my legs while doing so.

I rode all the way to the airport and back, stopping halfway in between to eat a couple of cheese sticks and a big fat pear that came in a gift fruit basket we received.  Delicious.  I spent that break watching the silly geese on the frozen ponds.  They gathered as if there was water, sitting or standing on the ice and fluttering their wings while honking at each other.  What a noise!  I asked someone why the geese do that; remember I'm from a place where there aren't frozen ponds covered with hundreds of Canada gees.  They said that it is safer for the geese to be on the ice than in the grass along the edges.  This makes sense, as we have lots of fox and coyote, and big cat too.  So even if it is cold, and slippery, it is safe from predators.  Makes sense.

The forecast for the coming week doesn't look good for biking.  I might be able to get in a short ride tomorrow.  After that, it's snow, temps in the 20's, then more snow.  Yeah, it doesn't look good.

I'm hoping Santa is good to me this year.  I had an oopsie today.  When I get back to my car after a ride, I put the kickstand down and get the trunk open and ready for my bike.  My bike basket makes the front of the bike heavy, and if I'm not watching, it is enough to turn the wheel and dump the bike over on its side.  And that's exactly what happened.  My pretty Schwinn bike basket took the brunt of the fall.  There was a terrible cracking noise, and yup, you guessed it.  Bike basket is broken.  I mean really broken.  The frame cracked apart in two places, and it will never ride again.  I'm so bummed.  But maybe Santa will take pity on me and get me a new one.  I can hope, right? 

I did ask for other things from Santa.  Compression pants for winter riding, and a ding-ding bell for my handle bars. A decent set of bike gloves, although those are pricey.  A holder for my Camelbak water bottle.  Useful things.  After all, I'm a practical girl at heart.

To close the post today, I'm including a little video I took of geese on one of the ponds.  This pond had some open water still left, and there had to be a thousand geese gathered around this water, most of them standing on the frozen part.  And they were noisy!