Roadkill Rumba

#362 / #161

Red Leader and I left our sunny house to ride in (overcast and chilly!) Folsom today.

I was a bit underdressed (but it was SUNNY!!!) however, I soon warmed up enough to be perfectly comfortable. My arm warmers and BOTH pairs of leg warmers were rolled up neatly on the kitchen counter (in the place where the outgoing bike stuff resides) and there they stayed. So I was in an UnderArmour HeatGear long sleeved shirt under a polyester windbreaker, with shorts and wool socks. Fingerless gloves.

We went around Lake Natoma (with an interesting detour on a new bike path) so it was fairly hilly. On a flatter ride in these conditions (53 degress and no sunshine) I may have wanted tights, shoe covers (although the tights might have helped deliver warmer blood to my toes), arm warmers, and shoe covers (repeat my comment about leg warmers, subbing arms and toes). I did (thankfully) have my Buff with me (a wool one) which makes an admirable ear cover. My ears are very sensitive to cold air and I get earaches very easily.

I also had a flat! Sadly, it was the front right, which had already been swapped out for a Schwalbe tube. I like the Schwalbe tubes - they seem to lose less air just sitting, and are nice and skinny, making it very easy to keep the tube from between the rim and the tire. Why sadly? Because I'm too tightfisted to swap out perfectly good (Kenda) tubes for nicer Schwalbe, and was hoping to eventually get around to all three tires through the 'kind' offices of the Flat Fairy. Said Fairy is not keeping track of my plan, however.

Gosh, I almost forgot. Why the title? Because RL decided to ride on a road in traffic. On the shoulder, which was fine with me (Folsom Rd is 55 through the section we rode on.) One flat skunk, one grey squirrel, probably a bird (very flat, very dead, very hard to tell), and either a small red furry critter or part of a red squirrel. Lots of roadkill to dodge. I believe I may have gotten a tiny bit on skunk on a tire. We'll see next time I open the car. Ha ha ha.

CU