Here Comes the Sun

As I turned the corner on 4800 South, I looked straight into the morning sun and realized just how glorious bicycle commuting is! I stated singing "Here Comes the Sun" in my head as I rode along. It was about 34 degrees (F) and I was warm, sweating in fact. Little darlin', I feel the ice is slowly melting. Little darlin', it feels like years since I've seen dawn.

The right gear can make even freezing mornings tolerable for riding. I was wearing tights and a long-sleeve jersey with a windbreaker over it. My toes were quite chilly, though, since I forgot my foot covers and the cold wind was blowing right through my shoes. My toes have thawed out now, so I'm still excited.

I finally got the whole bicycle commuting thing to work last night. Since I have an extra vehicle around the house while I'm waiting for my 2001 Toyota Tundra to sell, I was able to ride home, then have a vehicle to get to my church meetings last night. The evening commute was plenty warm with temperatures in the upper 40s.

Acoustic Motorbike

Hi, I'm Kevin, the self appointed President-for-life of the Lanterne Rouge Cycling Club of Utah.

Well, with two posts already up on this blog, I guess I should explain its purpose.

I want to track my rides through the season to show the joy of bicycling and show how my family participates and enjoys getting involved with cycling.

Now, I'm not getting ready to ride the LOTOJA or compete seriously as a Cat 1 or pro racer. My wife is just starting to ride. My daughter is just riding in a trailer since she's barely a year old at this point. We just want to have fun and share that as we have it.

You'll probably see a bunch of short rides, rides on bike trails, a few short triathlons Nicole's entering, some cross training stuff, and some mountain bike or longer road rides I may try alone.

Anyway, I probably won't publish on any set schedule, and definitely not daily. This will just be as a ride strikes me or we find something new. I'll try to make the entries at least a little interesting.

We'll see where this goes. Hopefully I'll make at least one cycling season before I burn out…

I'm Walkin' on Sunshine

I decided to commute by bike again this year, so yesterday morning I got a week work of clothes and lunches, and dragged them to the office along with by bike and all the other stuff I need to ride bewteen work and home.

I was really excited for a great ride home, I caught every light green: 4100 S, 700 W, 500 W, 4200 S, then to the front of the line at 4500 S where I was able to trackstand until the green. The, about 5 km into the ride it struck me that I couldn't ride home that night because I needed to have my own car at home since Nicole had her book club and I had church meetings to attend, and I was taking care of Beth and would need a car seat for her. So, just past 4500 South I turned a one-way commute into a loop. I turned down 4800 S, the cuth through to Atherton, bakc to 4500 S, into the neighborhood connect, onto 1300 W, across 4100 S, and backto the office where I changed back into my work clothes and climbed into my truck for the drive home. At least I got nearly 10 km out of the deal.

And I how have my bike stuff ready to roll for commuting, so I can get it going soon.

Back in the Saddle Again

After nearly a year's hiatus from cycling, I got back in the saddle for the Zion Country Early Spring Century adn Family Ride sponsored by Bike 2 Bike. I how have the saddle sores to prove my time off the bike.

But, saddle sores aside, it was a great ride. Nicole actually came along and enjoyed it. Well, her tail hurts worse than mine, at one mile in she was wondering if we were half way there yet, and she had a little spill, but beyond that she seemed to enjoy it. She even started to get the hang of shifting.

I took Beth in a trailer. She slept through most of the ride, so she enjoyed it. At the rest stop and turnaround point, the volunteer really enoyed seeing a baby on the ride. I'm pretty sure Beth was the youngest rider out there at 11 months.

Or 25, almost 26, mile ride took a little over 3 hours to complete.