Sunday, April 22, 2018


                                                 April 15th and look at this!!  Out my back door!!
Weather finally permitted an extended outdoor ride.  Rode my usual 40 mile route.  Although the weather was marginal (53 degrees) the wind was reasonable.  Nothing unusual to report in terms of drama-near misses, rude drivers- so all in all great day to ride.  Tuesday of this week I planned to ride to Champaign.  My usual temp limit is 50 degrees.  At noon, the temperature was still in the 30's so I aborted the ride.  Probably a good idea, but I was getting antsy!!  This week should be the best of the spring.  But we will see.  Stay tuned!!

Sunday, April 1, 2018


Second bike ride of the Spring.  Rode my old training route on rt. 51 south of Carbondale.  The good news is that my off season indoor biking has paid off.  I had no trouble with the hills and climbing.  While the weather was a little brisk, 50 degrees and between rain storms, I managed a 30 mile jaunt.  Hopefully my good luck continues with the motor traffic.  Here's the situation. Rt. 51 has a small 3 foot shoulder that bicyclists use.  Staying on the shoulder,  on one of the more difficult climbs, I checked my mirror and saw a semi-truck rapidly approaching.  "Here we go" I thought.  Another near miss by a trucker.  Anticipating the normal wind event where the truck goes by and barely misses as it sucks me into its vortex causing me to adhere to it like a plunger on a flat rock  (well, maybe not that close but you get the picture)  I prepared myself for the encounter.  As it got nearer I noticed something strange.  Could I believe my eyes?  The behemoth actually changed lanes and gave me my entire side of the road!!  It set such a good example the two cars following it changed lanes giving me ample room.  That rarely happens.  I gave a hearty thumbs up to the drivers of those vehicles.  On both of my rides this spring motorists have shown an incredible amount of respect.  Hopefully, it is a new trend and continues throughout the outside riding season.