I got dressed in my cycling shorts and jersey, took my water bottle out of the freezer, put on my gloves, and then at the last minute decided that I wanted to set up my computer on Milly, my road bike. I'd ordered a second hardware kit for my computer from MEC and it came a couple of days ago, and I had it all ready to go. Or so I thought.
I studied Beatrice, my bike that has the original computer the boys gave me for Mother's Day, and carefully copied the layout.
Cadence sensor and speed sensor in their respective places on the chain stay. True to form, I attached them backwards the first time, so had to snip the ties and reattach them correctly. Cadence magnet on the crank and speed magnet on the spoke. After checking that everything lined up just right, I turned the crank backwards, as instructed in the manual, and looked expectantly at the computer's readout. Nothing. I rotated the rear wheel, as instructed in the manual. Nothing. I moved things about slightly and tried again. Still nothing. I tilted the sensors at slightly different angles. Again nothing. I couldn't really just leave it as is and go for a ride, as I had the zip tie ends sticking out and didn't want to snip them off until I was sure I had everything positioned correctly.
Hubby was working, so I was on my own. I tried everything I could think of, and finally I got so fed up I rode to the bike shop (with the zip tie ends flapping) and asked for help.
The two Bike Shop Guys looked it over to make sure everything was in the right place. They moved things about slightly. They tilted the sensors at slightly different angles. They slid the magnets up and down. They took the computer out of its holder and held it closer to the sensors. Still absolutely nothing. Finally the younger guy decided to try inserting new batteries -- et voila! It worked! Turns out MEC sent me dead batteries. I was a little ticked about that, but the Bike Shop Guy said it is pretty common, so I guess I should instead consider myself lucky that I got good batteries the first time around.
I would have started my ride straight from the bike shop, but I'd forgotten my sunglasses and sunscreen, so I had to stop off at home first, and finally started riding at, as mentioned above, about 12:45. I had great plans to do a little adventuring to the southwest of town, but wanted to get some hill climbing in first, so I started by riding north to Airport Road. While I was up there, I felt I should show my face at the seniors' home, so I headed east. As I approached the home, I saw a man wearing a reflective vest and panama hat, walking along the highway. I've seen him before; he lives at the seniors' home, and apparently this is how he gets his exercise: walking on the shoulder of a busy highway, where the speed limit is 100 km/hour. I gave him a big smile and a friendly hello, receiving a brief nod in reply.
After turning around at the seniors' home, I rode west and spotted the same man, this time at the airport turnoff. Looks like he walks there and then turns around to go back. I gave him another big smile as I rode past. Whenever I see him, I feel sorry for him that he doesn't have a better place to walk, but I sure have to tip my helmet to him for making the effort to get out.
I rode up the Big Hill and all the way to Secondary 779. The plan was to ride down to Highway 16A and then head west to where it turns into Parkland Drive and let the exploring begin. However, by this time, the southeast wind had picked up to such an extent that riding south, even though it is mostly downhill, was rather unpleasant. The heavy crosswind meant that I was struggling to stay balanced and the headwind caused my pace even on the downward slopes to be depressingly slow. It was getting late; I had ridden almost 50 km, and I was getting hungry. After all, I had eaten breakfast several hours ago, expecting to start riding at about 10:30. So when I reached 16A, I turned to the east and rode back home.
My distance was about 52 km. My average speed ended up at 27.5 km/hour. It had been as high as 28, but the wind took care of that.
It was a gorgeous day, about 20 C and sunny. My photos don't do justice to the beauty of the effects of the sunlight on this freshly mowed (?) field, but when I saw it, I drew a breath and had to stop and admire.
I saw only one other cyclist, wearing pink, but I think it was a guy. This was a Very Serious Person, leaning into the wind with the help of aero bars and not deigning to even glance my way, let alone return my smile and wave. I know cycling can be a serious sport, but if it doesn't make you so happy that you want to smile and wave at everyone, I can't help but think you're missing something.
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