Friday, May 21, 2021

In Which Birds and Bees and Air in Tyres

bike on street
Morning ride on Thursday--pausing on C Avenue. I'm on The Fancy Beast mountain bike due to the threat of rain, although despite the wet pavement, I didn't really get rained on that day. I stopped to remove several nails from the bike lane.

On Tuesday, my wife had a request. When I went to work in the morning, it seemed too wet to ride, and my wife aske me to drive the Kia van rather than the Nissan Rogue.

Because there was a bike in the van and she wanted it out. Last week, we retrieved my hybrid bike Clarence from my daughter’s house, where the latest flat had stranded it—luckily I had gotten my 5-year-old grandson home before the tyre suddenly went flat.

So, in the afternoon, I drove down to Goldfinch Cyclery in New Bo.

It was a misty afternoon following a wet morning. I had to wheel the bike about half a block—there’s no parking spaces next to this bike shop—and my biggest challenge was trying to open the shop door while holding a bike with one arm and a big umbrella with the other. A shop employee saw me and helped hold the door.

Then I was greeted by a sweet young lady whose name I forget. She listened to my problem, then said I could either leave the bike—or wait 15 minutes or so and they would probably have it fixed right away.

So, OK. I hung around the shop, grabbed some chain lube and a couple of pants bands (a product labeled “Ankle Biters”). It turns out the rim tape I had purchased at another bike shop was just a little too wide—and its up curled edges were biting into the tubes until each failed.

As advertised, the repair took only about 15 minutes.

Wednesday was damp again but there was a break in the weather about 7 p.m., so I took Clarence out for a quick post-rain ride. The tyre still held air, which was nice, and I headed up the Brentwood Drive hill, thinking I might head out towards Lowe Park.

But when I got the hill, a Eurythmics song was being too well enacted in Iowa—here comes the rain again. I turned around and rode back down the hill. And when I got the bottom, the rain seemed to be ending. So I headed up to the Lindale Trail, rode it, stopped to shoot some images of phlox in the woods, and rode up to the C Avenue pond.

The ride was only 4 miles or so, but it felt good to celebrate the bike being back in a appropriate way.

Cloudy sky.
Cloudy sky, sometimes bringing raindrops, on Wednesday ride.

Wires on C Avenue
Wire spider in power lines on C Avenue. Don't know what this is for.

Bands
New band on pants for Wednesday ride.

Tyre
Tyre on Clarence before Wednesday ride--inflated.

 The night was a little weird, what with sun and sprinkles and wind. As I watched a bumble bee in the phlox, I was also hearing an early owl greeting his day in the woods as day faded. The birds and the bees among the trees--sights and sounds from both day and night mixing in a pleasant quick bike ride.

Bee on phlox
I pause to make some flower images on ride. Here are a few, including final one that I took in my driveway at ride's end.





I had at least one more day of work this week on Thursday, but ended up riding the mountain bike just due to, again, with rain threatening.

I include in this post some images from Monday, when I rode the mountain bike home taking the longer Cedar Lake route.

Cedar Lake
Cedar Lake on damp spring afternoon.

Bike at lake

Biking this week in Iowa has been dodging the drops. Still, I hope I have a bit of dry time this weekend. Maybe I can take a grandchild or two out for a spin with Clarence and the Tag-A-Long seat.

Let the good times roll!


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