Blinded by the Light

#4 / 3.7 miles

12.99 cumulative

Leaves in my undercarriage: big curly oversized maple leaves stuck in the cables for the derailleur and the brakes and who knows where else. Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish Swish CRUNCH when they come loose and the back wheel finally gets them.

For some reason that escapes me now, I decided to wash the wicking ball cap I wear under my helmet. Did I put it back with the helmet? No, no I did not. So I rode without anything to prevent the sun from beaming into my eyes over my sunglasses.

There are my poor pupils, obediently squinched down to tiny dots in response to the sunlight, completely unable to see through the sunglasses. BAM (hit a rock) SWERVE (was that an animal or a shadow?)

There WERE some suicide squirrels out. You know the ones: facing to the right in the middle of the trail, so you swerve left, and the darn thing makes an about face and runs right at you.

Between the leaves, the sun, the squirrels, and the brisk breeze, I bailed on my ride and soothed my upset with Starbucks.

Ciao!

Friendly Neighborhood Triker-Girl

#3 / 3.44 miles

9.29 cumulative

Lovely day, about 66 degrees at 11am. Tootled around the neighborhood, sidewalks still bedecked with chunks of asphalt.

I spent the morning removing the front fenders and installing Mr. Tuffy tire liners. I also took the time to replace the one patched tube that slowly loses air over time.

I prop the front of the trike on a plastic foot stool when I'm fussing with the front wheels. Rear-ward rolling is prevented by stuffing a bike shoe under the rear tire.

High tech!

I managed to remove the rear wheel with a minimum of cursing, and replaced it with even less cursing.

I've been trying to work out a trail-side method for propping the trike up for rear-wheel removal, and have decided to stick to helmet on top of bike bag since it is reasonably stable and I always have those with me.

My new Lazer helmet (recommended by the helpful folks over at Utah Trikes) is great! It does not crash into my headrest and is light and comfortable. You can see it there, stuffed under the trike.

My eventual plan is to ride to my dentist's office (much nearer than my old dentist's office) for my November cleaning appointment. It is less than 5 miles round trip. I would be traveling between the upper right and lower left of the handy map there. 

The only sketchy part is right next to the lake: two lanes, no middle lane, no shoulders, guardrails (crosses a marsh). But I've ridden that before and am comfortable riding there again. I do need to get replacement rear blinky lights. My faithful Cherry Bomb is dead dead dead.

That's enough for today.

Ciao!