I've observed this view pretty consistently recently. I thought nothing of it until I realized what it was. I'll leave you to ponder for a bit.
Monday evening I tried out a new route through Umstead state park. Riding to the park was pleasant enough touring a few old familiar greenways and a few new ones from recent construction. It's amazing how much building occurs here.
Umstead itself was a nice ride. While spinning along Bryan rode up and struck up conversation. After a long Sunday in the saddle and a couple hours in the saddle on Monday all the while immersed in podcasts and audio books it took me a few minutes to comprehend the words coming from his mouth. With a bit of re-acclimation the conversation was welcome. We chatted through most of the rode and gasped in unison up the steepest climbs of North Turkey Creek Trail. He forked off to head home and I set my sights westward toward home. A park ranger reminded me the park closes at 8PM even for cyclists riding in/out. The nearest park exit dumped me onto highway 70, aka Glenwood. Regardless of Google Maps biking directions claims highway 70 is not cyclist friendly. This was another ride in the median until I could escape down a cross street. That provided more navigation experience with the new GPS. I tried for a bit but just could not reconcile the visual image. I've ridden those roads a few times but never at night. The night was different. The GPS image didn't match my mental picture. After a few contorted minutes I gave up and checked the iPhone for directions home. I had indeed been going the wrong way heading toward no-cyclists-land. Oriented anew I churned out the miles home. Monday finished with 45 miles on the day.
Here's another view of the mysterious phenomena. Curious yet?
Tuesday was a short day with only 25 miles. I had an epiphany somewhere along that ride. Sitting down at a terminal now I've forgotten the location and even the epiphany itself. Clearly it was earthshaking. These are the joys of cycling.
Daylight hours are getting longer and temps are holding higher so available riding hours are significantly increased. With good lights and safe and legal path its pretty much an open buffet now.
I first really noticed this visual anomaly on Monday night. It took until Wednesday to put it together. The pictures don't do it justice. It looks like snow or rain blowing across a headlight beam. Instead of water the reflection comes from pollen. For all allergy suffers this is worse than any chainsaw-axe-murder movie. The pollen is blowing around just this thick. Looking straight out with a headlamp on it looks like a whiteout snow storm.
The bike got a few upgrades today and a bit closer to a final kit. The second iteration of bed roll looks promising and it is now strapped to the handlebars. The lashings are a bit tenuous so I will continue looking for ways to improve. I also need to test the bed roll. I found better routing for straps supporting the saddle bag to help with vertical support. I may visit this further as well.
Here's the current cockpit minus aerobars.
My first preference supplier didn't carry the model I prefer for this endeavor. I'll check a few more local bike shops and then place an order on Amazon. I was skeptical of bare bars from the start. They look suspiciously like skewers. Sunday's crash reaffirmed that. I'm in the market for more rounded crash friendly surfaces like this. I need to replace the tank bag. That open mesh becomes a water pot in a downpour.
Revelate Designs provides the harness for my bed roll. It comes with a convenient additional storage pocket. Every tiny bit of additional storage is precious at this point.
Wednesday was a short 10 mile ride staying near home. This was proving ground for the bed roll. It affects bike handling even more. It is a bit precarious mounting. It stayed put well enough for now. I am concerned about straps wearing through or breaking. There is still room for optimization here.
I also tried inserts in the new biking shoes. I'm dealing with a bit of left leg pain at the current moderate amount of riding. This has to get resolved to hit double and triple century rides.
I straightened the pin for my wristwatch GPS and got it back in commission. My bedroll is revised again so it should be sleepable. The bedroll is on the bike. I picked up a backup GPS unit today with REI's dividend and annual sale.
Next on the agenda:
- Plan a significant ride this weekend. Maybe Raleigh greenways again.
- Review route and decide on direction - Nobo or Sobo? (votes?)
- pickup a spare 29x2.0 slime tube and front armadillo tire to restore knobbies
- Test run the bed roll in the floor
- Improve bedroll tiedowns
- Get aerobars
- Unpack, inventory, and repack everything
No comments:
Post a Comment