Commuting and Feeling Alive

I overdressed for my first commute, but man it felt good to go for a long ride! The morning started at 35F and must have reached 40F after my hour's ride. What I noticed mostly, were the little things about my bike that I should have tended to last fall before winter storage, but now needed attention: a bar end that slipped, which I stopped to tighten, a dry chain, easily remedied, and lack of mirror, something I screwed back on the handlebar when I arrived home later that day.

I didn't know what to expect when I got to the dirt road at the end of my ride. It was wet, but firm, and a half mile later I negotiated two narrow tracks. The last forty feet was slushy snow covered road. Too difficult to ride, I hopped off the bike, walked and pushed the Trek into my employer's garage.

Like last year, I can't help but take a photo of my bike next to the shovels before opening
 the garage. It might be Spring, but shovels should always remain handy.

I was very surprised that 53F - high for the day - didn't turn the road into a quagmire. It remained firm. However, the culvert was getting a workout; snowmelt formed a gushing river, strained and forming waves at the confluence of driveway and main dirt road. 

I peeked into sap buckets (my employer taps 20 of their maple trees) but was met with disappointment. In spite of warm weather the ground is still frozen, too cold to thaw maple tree roots. I pass two sugar shacks on my ride, neither of which were boiling sap. I look for steam rising from ubiquitous steam vents, and if the wind is just right, I'm treated to the heady smell of maple as I pedal by. It's a few days too early.

Ah, it feels so good to ride to work.