I guess the best thing about day 22 was that there was nothing unusual about day 22. It was the first day in awhile were I just rode to work and back. The headwind on the way home was a bit strong, but it wasn’t too bad. Little did I know what the next day had in store for me.
#30DaysofBiking Day 23
I thought it was supposed to be spring. It’s not supposed to be near freezing with drizzle and harsh northerly winds. Thankfully, I haven’t put my cold weather gear away, but I sure wish I could. The ride to work was painfully slow with one point where the wind almost pushed me backwards. However, it was still a nice ride, and as always, after about the first 5 minutes, I got warmed up and it wasn’t too uncomfortable. I just hope I can quit wearing all of this gear regularly soon . . .
After work, I had an OBS board meeting which gave me a chance to take a longer ride down past Lake Overholser, which has been too long in coming. With a wonderful tailwind and the joy of a night ride on empty streets, I had a blast coming home to a nice warm house.
Still haven’t been able to get back completely into the regular posting schedule, but thankfully I’ve been able to keep riding!
#30DaysofBiking Day 19: Just Another Day at Work
I continue to get most of my cycling through my daily commute to work. The big change I’ve made is to start riding more and more in my work clothes instead of always wearing a change. My short ride is only 6.5 miles and, at least during the spring, if I take it easy I can arrive at work, refreshed but not horribly sweaty. I think we cyclists can often make our rides too complicated and think we need more gear and kit
After work, I stopped by the project house to do some painting as we get the house ready to be listed for sale. It feels better and better as we get closer to getting this house listed.
#30DaysofBiking Day 20: House is Listed!
Spent the morning getting some last-minute cosmetic stuff finished up on the interior of the house and giving the house a good clean before our Realtor came by to take pictures and let us know if she saw any issues before we listed the house. Thankfully, she didn’t outside of a little bit of painting in the garage and some landscaping in the back. We are finally getting closer to getting the house sold. If you are looking for a cute 1100 sq. ft. house on the northwest side, please give Jane O’Toole a call at 751-4848 or at janeotoole@remax.net. The house has a new roof, new sewer line and new carpet. It’s a perfect starter home and is move-in ready!
Took a nice relaxed ride home after we were done. It felt great!
#30DaysofBiking Day 21: A Laid Back Day.
Stopped by the project house to finish up most of the little punch list items for the house including the painting and the leveling of a little earth settling in the back yard. Took a wonderfully long nap in the afternoon. After dark, I took a quick ride around the block in the still of the evening to get my ride in for the day. A perfect relaxing day.
After a very long and tiring week, I’m finally getting a chance to catch up on my #30DaysofBiking posting.
#30DaysofBiking Day 13 – Failure
Not There Yet
And then I have to start with a failure on my 30 day goal. As I’ve long been reporting, I have toiled away on the replacing of a sewer line. While it has been a great learning experience, a fantastic workout and the source of innumerable Cool Hand Luke jokes, it was also drug on much longer than I would have hoped or dreamed. Saturday was hopefully going to be my last day of moving dirt and finally this long project could start becoming a distant memory.
I got started about 9:00 in the morning after a nice night’s sleep confident that all would be done by mid-afternoon. However, when mid-afternoon came and went followed by late afternoon and early evening, things were looking bleak. By the time dusk rolled around, I knew that even after over 10 hours of solid labor, there was no way I was going to get the job done that night.
That disappointing news left me absolutely slaughtered. I crawled home and found a couch. After dozing off and on, I noticed it was getting close to the end of the day, but so depressed at not getting the job done, I broke my pledge to #30DaysofBiking and took the night off. I feel bad about it now, but at the time it just seemed like the only thing to do.
#30DaysofBiking Day 14 – Baseball
Perfect Day for a Game
Sunday, I knew I really needed a day off. Thankfully, I had a perfect way to start making up for coming up short the day before and to get some stress relief. The OBS had put together a great little ride out to a Redhawks game. While the home didn’t come even close to winning, it was a great time out with a bunch of nice folks and with a nice 14 mile laid back ride to boot.
Riding Buddies
#30DaysofBiking Day 15 – Back to the Day Job
Monday was the day I had try to get caught up after the last weeks time away. Email backlogs and frantic post-vacation catch-ups don’t usually make for a nice return. Thankfully, I got a nice ride to and from work to help keep me calm and relaxed. After work it was back to the digging, which once again, given the short time, didn’t get done. However, finally, a lot of progress was made which left me with encouragement that in one more day, it would be done!
#30DaysofBiking Day 16 – Ding, Dong the Ditch is dead.
Finally Done
I got a pre-dawn start and while I was very late in getting to work, at least I was finally, at long last, able to finish filling in the ditch. You have absolutely no idea how good it felt to go to work with this weight off my shoulders. It felt even better for the ride home with the ability to a nice evening away from the project house.
#30DaysofBiking Day 17 – Rained Out
A stormy day kept me from commuting today, but I made sure to get back out there that evening for a ride around the block.
#30DaysofBiking Day 18 – Winter Returns
A Cold Morning
The morning started off rather cold and extremely windy. I don’t think I made much more than 12 mph all the way to work. All I hoped for is that the wind would hold out till the evening, which it did. Rode back to the project house to help with some painting work. The Realtor will be taking pictures this weekend, so there is a lot to get done in the mean time.
It was great to be back at work, even though there is much upon which to catch up. I was too tired last night to get all of my stuff ready for my commute back to work, and to top it all off, I slept in a bit too late this morning. No time to find all my ride clothes, pack my lunch, check the air pressure, etc. etc. So instead I did something most unusual, I just hopped on my bike in my work clothes and just rode to work. The temp was about 40 degrees which allowed me to pedal at a decent pace and still arrive to work fresh and happy. It’s an important thing for me to remember that I don’t need to over think my ride to work. Of course, in July when it’s 90 degrees at 6 am, it’s a slightly different story.
After work, I rode back to the grand canyon to continue filling it in. Still slow going, but getting closer. The ride home shortly after dark was a great help to loosen the sore muscles and to cool down. A good day of light riding to be sure.
We started our little sewer line project with a good amount of enthusiasm thought with a certain amount of trepidation. While progress has been pretty constant, it has for the last couple of days, seemed like the project might never reach an end. While we didn’t finish it today, the project is truly getting close to completion. The first big hurdle was to get the new line laid, which actually went extremely smoothly.
However, with the rain yesterday, when it came time to fill in the trench, things slowed down considerably. What had been loose dirt has become thick clay-filled mud. We were able to get about half the ditch filled in before we finally retreated for the day.
Hopefully the weather will provide a little time to let it earth dry out so I can get it into the ground. In any case, I hope today is the last time where I get home almost too exhausted to ride. I did have enough energy though to make it around the block which is an improvement from going up and back.
As mentioned before, my father Mark and I, with maybe more enthusiasm than sense, have taken on the daunting task of doing a sewer line replacement on our own and without heavy earth moving equipment. Progress has been good, at least until today, but I must admit that, I was not nearly in good enough shape to have taken this project on. I have been going home absolutely exhausted and sleeping much like the dead. However, I have been keeping up with my #30DaysofBiking, but only just barely. By barely, I mean that with stubborn tenacity, I have been forcing myself to ride up the block and back for the world’s shortest of rides. ;) But, I remain committed to the project, even if I am taking a loophole to stay in the ride.
All Dug Up
The project was getting close to fruition as of the end of day yesterday. The ditch was completely dug up and we even removed almost all of the old line. We purchased the new line and fittings and were excited to get the job finished today, but the weather had something else in mind.
And the Skies Opened Up
Cold rain and ice made any progress basically impossible, and it wasn’t exactly ideal cycling weather either. I did make a cold, wet one block ride, but it wasn’t fun nor fulfilling. The weather looks good for tomorrow, so with a little luck, this massive job will be done by the end of the day. It will be nice to get back to some nice relaxing cycling for my daily physical exertion.
I’m a little behind on posting, but thankfully, I’ve been able to keep riding. Friday was a fantastic day of riding with beautiful weather for both rides. I’m hoping that I can get a longer ride during the week sometime soon, but it won’t be for a while. For most of the next week, I’m going to be doing home repairs on Grace’s house as we get it ready for sale.
Which leads me to my fun Saturday of digging trenches:
Between my father Mark and I, we managed a little over 20 feet today of nasty, brutish and stinky ditch digging. At the end of the day, I wasn’t really up for a ride, but I did make sure to climb on the bike to ride up and down the block. It wasn’t much, but it was nice to unwind a bit. Of course, I know I will be right back at it tomorrow, but I’ll try not to think about that.
Today was a day of changing cycling fortunes. After two days of soaking, cold rains, today was the first chance for me to dry out. This morning started off pretty cold, but without a falling rain, it was still a great improvement. That said, after the earlier cold, wet rides and a lack of sleep, I didn’t have any energy for the ride and I kind of drug myself into work.
However, by the afternoon, the sun had come out, the temps had risen into the mid-50s and it was like a whole new world out there. My ride home was glorious and, compared with the morning ride, considerably more spirited. I know we are supposed to get more rain next week, and yes, I know we desperately need it. But I’m going to enjoy have a few days of blue skies between now and then.
OK, today wasn’t a wonderful cycling day. The temps were lower, the rain was more intense and the novelty of riding in cold rain had worn off. Even my impervious gloves were drenched through by the time I got to work. Thankfully, I have improvised a little glove and balaclava dryer out of my desk fan:
I had hoped that by the time I got of work, the rain would have relented a bit, but in fact in it had increased in intensity:
I know you will think this is pure Okie exaggeration, but on a part of the bike path on Lake Hefner, there were ducks swimming the puddles across the path. I was soaked to the bone by the time I got home. However, even though you would think there would be nothing redeeming about riding in this weather, you would be completely wrong. You have no idea how fantastic it feels to put your feet up in front of a warm fire when you get home.
It wasn’t a spectacular day for riding. Well, lets face it, it was dreadful riding weather. Temps in the mid-30s with a constant drizzle and rain and stiff winds. However, I was really glad I suited up in my rain gear and faced the elements, because in fact, the rides today were great. The most important thing to remember is that so long as you are pedaling, you are generally going to be warm. I was glad I toughed it out, though I’m not thrilled that tomorrow looks to be much the same.
