It hasn’t been a good week for riding. It’s been raining a lot and on the one really nice day we had, I was sick. The weekend looks great, hopefully in the 60s and sunny.

This morning’s commute was strange. Rain was in the forecast, but when I looked outside it didn’t appear to be raining. I looked closer and could see a fine mist falling. I was going to ride in my work pants but decided against it. The parking lot was wet and there was more moisture falling. Once I got moving, it felt like I was riding through water droplets suspended in mid-air.

At first I thought I wasn’t going to get very wet. It still wasn’t actually raining. But as I rode more and more water accumulated on my helmet, glasses, and clothes. My wet ankles reminded me that I need to add a mud flap to my commuting bicycle. I felt water droplets on my face, and eventually enough water pooled on my face to reach my lips. The mist tasted slightly sweet. The air was thick with mist and fog, and I imagined anyone behind me must have seen the fog parted by my figure, and swirling eddies in my wake.

The mist got more aggressive during the second half of my ride, and I arrived at work quite wet but in good spirits.

It’s been one of those mornings. You know the ones. Seemingly everything goes wrong, including small and fundamentally unimportant things, but eventually they build to one giant heap of frustration.

I woke up late and stumbled into the second bedroom that functions as our home office. My computer was turned off and I couldn’t seem to turn it back on. I unplugged the power cord, and suddenly the computer sputtered, lights flashing and fans spinning, for about half a second, then fell silent again. It did this a few more times — with no power source connected! I was more than a little creeped out by this, and frustrated that it wouldn’t work. I messed with it for a few minutes, but ultimately gave up. I hope I’ll be able to fix it later. I used my file server to send an e-mail to work saying I’d be a bit late.

I got ready to ride to work and looked outside. Rain, as predicted. Great. When I went to extract my coffee mug from the dishwasher, I hit it on the underside of the counter where the dishwasher is screwed in, covering the mug with sawdust. I dropped the lid on the floor and it got covered in gunk. This was not going well. I almost forgot about three different items and kept having to go back for them as I continued my struggle toward the door.

Once I exited my apartment, I realized it was wet and foggy, but not actually raining much. Actually it was quite pleasant outside, a nice quiet morning. I paused to admire some buds on the trees in front of my apartment.

Budding trees

As I started riding, I felt better almost immediately. I actually like riding on cool, overcast, foggy days, if I don’t get too wet. There were very few people in sight until I reached campus, which had quite a bit of foot traffic. Some fields and paths off 7th Street approaching Jordan were flooded.

Path

Flowers have been planted on campus

When I got past campus I once again had the roads to myself. I didn’t push myself and savored the ride, knowing soon I’d be mired in work. I wished I could have ridden off into the distance.

Green light, and fog

I did take a slight detour to capture this:

Johnson’s Creamery

Even though it’s no longer a creamery, this is a real Bloomington landmark. All in all, a great ride to work. The ride home promises to be much, much wetter.

This morning’s commute was very misty. It wasn’t really raining, but there were some rather large drops of water seemingly suspended in the air. Riding through it, the air felt thick and heavy. My glasses became coated with mist and fortunately the terry wiping strips on my gloves worked well to restore my vision. Visibility was poor, with thicker fog than on my ride on Sunday. Fortunately it was warm, in the upper 40s. Campus is getting pretty vacant now as students finish their finals and go home for winter break.

The fire alarms went off at work today and we all went outside for a while. Several fire trucks showed up and firemen entered the building. Either they didn’t find anything at all, or they only found something small. Nobody has said, and I haven’t asked.

That was some kind of excitement.

It seemed like it was going to be a terrible weekend for riding. I was busy on Saturday and the forecast said it was going to rain all day on Sunday. So I decided to sleep late on Sunday. I got up to find a dreary, rainy day, although it wasn’t actually raining. By the time I ate lunch and ran some errands and went home, I realized it still wasn’t raining. I looked at the radar and it looked clear. It was time for a ride! It feels weird now to say that a dreary 40-degree day is perfect weather for a ride, but it’s a lot better than the weather we’ve been having.

I headed out to do the Shilo Road route that I do from time to time. As soon as I got out of town I saw that the landscape was shrouded in fog. The roads were wet and sandy from last week’s snow (they tend to use more sand than salt in this area) — but my traction was good. Still, I took my time. I didn’t want to risk slipping, and I was really enjoying the scenery.

Tunnel Road

Shilo is a very twisty road with a very rough surface and switchbacks through part of it. I was a little nervous about this aspect of the ride, since the roads were wet and sandy from last week’s snow. But once again I took my time — more than I needed to, I’m sure — and my tires didn’t let me down. This was actually the first time I’d ridden on Shilo since I got my new tires and I felt a lot more stable with the wider (28mm) tires.

Switchback on Shilo Road

I had a lot of fun on Shilo — it’s mostly downhill in this direction and the twist and turns are fun, as are the numerous ups and downs. It’s a real roller coaster ride and while you could go faster if the road surface was smoother, I like the added challenge of all the bumps, potholes, poorly-patched holes and other irregularities. My camera, on the other hand, didn’t like this at all as my camera case, which goes around my stem and closes with a piece of velcro, fell off on one bump and my camera went tumbling to the ground. I didn’t even realize it until a few minutes later, so I had to turn around and go back for my camera. It still works fine.

Trees along Shilo Road

I stopped on a bridge to take some more photos. I don’t know what it is about bridges, but I frequently feel compelled to stop on them to get some shots. I guess they do tend to afford a view of … well, whatever is below.

Grimy bike

Creek

My bike by a field

Soon I was finished with Shilo Road and had a great ride back on Anderson, Old 37, Bethel, and 45. The fog thickened throughout the rest of my ride, making it a highly atmospheric, especially pretty ride. Total distance: about 27 miles.

View from Anderson Lane (damn power lines!)

Old Bethel Church

Someone’s driveway

Another driveway

The fog thickens

Little Debbie truck

Red barn

Trees and house

45

Another barn

Action shot