Yesterday I decreed it would be Ride Your Own Damn Bike Day, and so I dug out the Nobilette, which has been neglected lately, aired it up, and took it out for two and a half hours of delightful sunny goodness.
No biggie — easy pace, just 32.5 miles on rolling terrain — but still, it’s refreshing to ride one of my own damn bikes* for a change, and for more than 90 minutes at a stretch, too.
There was only a little bit of old snow and ice hiding in the shady bits, mostly toward the end of the ride on the Paseo de las Montañas trail.
I’m guessing that’s where I picked up whatever flattened the front tire, probably a goathead thorn, though the culprit could have been some errant glass from earlier in the ride. Swear to God, it looked like someone chucked an entire case of Heineken out the car window on Tramway between Manitoba and Spain. There was so much green glass scattered around I wondered whether Ted Cruz had been practicing his carpet-bombing techniques in the Duke City.
Today the weatherpersons are predicting a high of 62 (!) so I decided to power up the sprinkler system for the first time in quite a spell. Nothing exploded. This is what we sprinkler-system owner-operators call “a good thing.” Because nothing makes so much sense as a nice green lawn in the Southwestern desert.
Indeed, the forecast proved so enticing that Herself declared herself ready for her first bike ride of 2016. And just in time, too. There’s rain and gloom predicted for Monday and Tuesday.
* Incidentally, in case you’re wondering, it’s still possible to ride a steel bike with cantilever brakes and come to a stop without Flintstoning or caroming off cars, trees and light stanchions. I know, it’s against the conventional wisdom, but you can rely upon me. I’m in the media.
Mad Blog Media 
That sunrise shot is a beauty!
We are hoping to sneak a ride in tomorrow morning before the wind and cold hits for next week.
By the way, I received a duplicate issue of February’s Adventure Cyclist Magazine. Sent them an email about it; they responded they had a problem with the printer and to let them know if it happens with the next issue. So, if you got a duplicate issue, that’s why. I will give mine to a prospective member.
Good man y’self, Pat. More members! More!
Wind and cold due here next week as well. Alas. Still, we’ve had a couple good days, and that always helps flush out the headgear a bit.
I can handle the rain. It’s that damn gloom that always gets to me.
I hear you, Steve. El Rancho Pendejo can be a little dark, even with skylights, and after a few gray days I start getting twitchy.
But then I’d bitch about it being sunny and 72 all the damn time. Sooner or later. Probably later. But still.
Enjoy it while it lasts! Bibleburg area due for a foot of the white stuff over the next three days. Viva El Nino!
A foot, JD? Seriously? You cookin’ up a storm to get set for Snowpocalypseageddonzillapalooza?
Unrelated to above, but I just re-re-re-reread your “Who the Hell is PO’G” and since I couldn’t comment there, thought I’d try here.
So-o-o…..would you be willing to share with us more about how you met Herself? Where you’ve been since Weirdcliff? Anything about your road and CX racing experiences? How you got into Adventure Cycling? Why your love of rescuing dogs and cats? Et al?
Plus where your passion for cooking comes from?
Cheers……JD
I could do that, sure, JD. Probably not in comments, and not in a single post, but I could take a little trip down Memory Lane for yis in a post or two or three. It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. …
Or plug it into the “Who the Hell is PO’G”?
Did 50 Kms this morning In wonderful weather here down under. On my old Giant OCR3, my plastic carbon wonder is in the shop.
Well done. Herself and I rolled around for about 45 minutes, it being her first ride of the new year, then burned some cow and boiled some spuds while trying (and failing) to download Louie CK’s latest. I’m giving that a go again this morning while we breakfast.
Nice too that all you needed to do was inflate the tires – no replacing dried up sealant or charging of Di2 or EPS batteries – just RIDE!! Sunday AM here in Sicily, after a breakfast of Zio Lorenzo’s “Sicilian Toast” (old bread fried up in milk/eggs/orange zest, topped with whatever fruit we have, lots of butter and powdered sugar) we’ll head out into the sunshine on our steel bikes with cable operated brakes and shifting + tubes in the tires for our first “big” (more than 2 hours) ride of the season. The roads here are pretty much dry now, but I’m afraid to wash the bikes just yet for the same reason it rains after you wash your car!!!
Yep, that Nobilette is a simple device: Paul’s Neo-Retro and Touring cantis, 32-hole Mavic Open Pros, nine-speed Ultegra (with bar-cons, natcho), Sugino triple, Shimano A520 touring pedals, Soma New Xpress rubber, tubes inside. Onliest electronical bit on the sumbitch is the Cateye Velo 8 computer, which isn’t even wireless, f’chrissakes. Totally Stone Age.
Those Velo 8 ‘puters are a good value and work well. The Velo 9 works well too. We have two of each, plus a Velo Enduro 2 that has been running for over 8 years on 2 different bikes. Have you tried the A530 pedals yet? I have them on the ES and Saga and like the flat side for getting across busy intersections with worrying about clipping in until after I am clear and safely on my way.
Cateye’s are the only cyclometers worth a s__t. NONE of the other brands I’ve tried has ever worked for long. Velo 5’s are on our rental fleet, pretty much bulletproof and idiotproof..some of ’em installed in 2005 still have the original batteries in ’em! We had a great ride today, look for a blog post on it soon.
CycleItalia blog post is here
http://cycleitalia.blogspot.it/2016/01/sunday-in-sicily.html
does the Nobilette have a motor in it I see that’s the thing in cyclecross>
It took an entire 6 pack of Old Speckled Hen to settle the debate of whether one should use “puncture” or as you did “flatted” In regards to having no air in your tires upon which to roll down the road. Finally the British beer put it all into sharp focus. If one spells the outer casing as tyre- then they should use puncture as their description. But if one calls the outer casing tire-well then-it’s ok to use flatted. There were viscous and petty quarrels over whether the cause of the missing air was the determinate for correct verbiage as in “the valve was bad causing the air to escape but nothing pierced the rubber therefore there was no puncture. Clearly the fellow flatted”
Can you tell it rained all,day here in Michigan and we couldn’t get out to either ski or ride?