Thursday, April 8, 2010

Out of Work, Sunny in the 80's, Time to Ride :-)

Contract Ended

My contract ended rather abruptly last Friday. Since then I have stained my deck, contact recruiters, and taken care of a number of other "to-do's". One item was: Clean Bike Chain!

So I cleaned the bike chain on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the forecast was going to be sunny and in the 80's. It was. I went for a ride :-)

I decided to head east and north toward Dover. I wanted to see if Rt. 109 between Millis and Medfield had opened up yet. It had been closed due to flooding. That part of 109 crosses the Charles River is what is known as the Charles River Wildlife Storage Area. This is a big marsh that, due to all the rain, became a temporary lake.

Flood 109

Rt 109 was finally opened. I stopped and took some pictures.

Dover

I headed up Center St. from Medfield to Dover. It was a nice ride. Then when I got to Dover Center I turned right and headed south. I didn't realize heading south from Dover Center also meant heading "up".

Rear Derailleur

My rear derailleur was acting up. If I was in the small ring up front and any of the smaller 4 rings in the back, it would skip. And If I stood for extra power, it would skip even worse. Time to take it to the shop.

Need to be back!

Ok, so I am heading back from Dover and I realize it might be tight getting back home before noon. Noon is important because that is when the school van drops off my youngest from Pre-school. So I decide to just take 109 straight back home, foregoing the scenic route. Rt 109 may be busy, but it also has really wide shoulders. So I push it getting home. I make sure not to be in the "big ring" too much as it is too early in the season to stress out my knee. I didn't what to risk incurring the Patellar Tendinitis that has happened to my when I pushed too hard in past "Early Seasons".

I make it home by 11:40 AM, down some yogurt (for protien), shower, and wait for the van :-)



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