Wednesday, March 12, 2014

All of This and More!

On this day's ride the temp soared to the middle 40's fahrenheit.  Last week we had a temperature of -31°F and on Monday we reached +57°F.  That is a welcome change for the overwhelming majority of locals.  In the picture above, I had overdressed for the ride and needed to shed some clothes. That is goooood sign.
The roads are starting to clear off nicely.

The above spot was where lunch was served today.

I have been toying with an idea of getting a GoPro camera to use while on the bicycle and also the motorcycle.  Because of that I have been loading some videos up on Youtube. These have been shot with the Iphone.  I am trying out this video stuff but as of yet do not know if it is something I want to get into.

I faced a not so friendly wind when I headed it back towards home.

There are some whitetail still around,

Every indication is that the Whitetail Deer population is going to suffer a large mortality rate as of a result of this years severe winter. The record breaking snows and cold are taking its toll on not only the deer but other critters too.  Humans included!  

For these deer the walking was easy for them on the river.

In the area where this picture was snapped, the roads are also getting hit hard.  I believe this is a result of the type of soil along with the very cold weather.  Because of very cold winter, the frost levels went deep in the areas that were cleared of snow, such as the roads. We live in the sand country and the frost is usually not a problem. But in this particular area, the soil is heavier containing more moisture than the normal for our area. This road above is running along a river bottom and through some very wet soil. Similar to freezing a can of pop or a bottle of water, when water/moisture freezes, something has to give. 

This entire stretch of road is like this and these cracks are huge.  You DO NOT want to drop a bicycle tire in one of them. We are fortunate as I only noticed these cracks only along the river bottom and not on the numerous other roads I have been riding.

The days are getting longer.  The sun is heating us more.  The rivers will start to open. The buds on our hardwood trees will also be opening.  The sap will be running. The birds will be moving to and from. The raccoons and skunks will start to make appearances. All of this and more in the VERY near future!!

Lets get outdoors and have some fun!!

6 comments:

  1. Yup. Starting to smell the skunks...
    Heck, you even found some money out there...Nice.

    CAD

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    1. I was throwing money at the problem thinking it would go away. Didn't work!

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  2. Thought you might be interested in this, just for fun: http://30daysofbiking.com/pledge

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    1. Thanks for the link Barb. I looked at doing this last year. I didn't do it because I knew we would out of town one weekend in April. I did use last year as a trial run. I rode every day except the two days we were gone. I found out that when the weather was bad, I would tell myself OK just go ride a mile. I never had a one mile ride. In fact I think 5 was the smallest. I would get out there and that 1 mile would turn into 5, 10 or 20 miles. The hardest part is just getting out the door. I haven't decided whether I will sign up this year or not.

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    2. Yeah, I think an event like this can be a good motivator, altho' it seems you get out and ride no matter what. Like you said, just getting out the door is the hardest part, and once you're past that, you're likely to ride more than just a mile. BTW, just bought a used Salsa Mukluk fat bike on eBay. Should be here in about a week. Also, for your viewing pleasure, here's a great video trailer on the Fat Bike Birkie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD4QA57pFdk&feature=share

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    3. Right on Barb! Thanks for the link.

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