Whether the weather be fine

Today marked the fourth day in a row of amazing riding weather here in Michigan. It has been unseasonably sunny, warm, and dry, which meant I didn't have to break out the gore-tex, nor full-fingered gloves, nor tights. It is a welcome change from riding in the 40-45ºF rain and mud. Along with the change in weather, I also got to take in a change of scenery. In Lansing there are barely any dents in the flat topography, but in the Hadley/Oxford area there are lots of rolling hills and long, winding dirt roads. On Saturday and Sunday I hit the aptly-named Hadley Hills, which was a great change of pace. Along the way I discovered two things: a new 19-mile dirt road loop near my parents' place, and that nothing beats a 29er on dirt roads. Also, my legs turned to mush. I'm not accustomed to hills...at all.

On Monday, I rode the river trail in Lansing with a friend. We were a little overdressed for the weather—I was in a merino wool jersey and he had on leg warmers. Looking at us, you wouldn't have guessed it was almost 70ºF out. In my defense, I was preparing for a chilly night ride home. Can't speak for the other guy. June was the last time I rode the river trail, and I forgot how annoying (loud) all the bridges are. But it was a really fun ride, I played tourist and saw some cool sights in downtown Lansing I hadn't seen before.

Today I was able to squeeze in a couple laps around Burchfield before heading off to class. I finally managed to pry myself off the pedals long enough to take a picture of Sybil. Normally I'll stop about twenty times on a ride to take pictures of random things—the fact that it has taken me almost two weeks to take one photo says volumes about how much I hate getting off this bike.

Beautiful view, huh?

Those pink bottle cages aren't permanent, they're getting replaced by white ones soon. I robbed them off the road bike (Alice, who has been more or less out of commission since Sybil's arrival), where they belong with the pink bar tape. And pedals.