The weekend was forecast to be beautiful, but Friday night I decided that since the roads would likely be very messy that I wouldn't bike this weekend. At noon on Saturday with the temperature reaching for the 50's that decision just disappeared, and I headed out on my bike. Route 125 was clear, but the other roads were not. After a very short distance my bike was covered in salt and sand kicked up from the puddles I was riding through. It felt great to be riding, but by the end of the ride I felt like my bike was screaming at me! Needless to say, my first activity after returning home was to clean and re-lube the bike. My own shower waited until the bikes was done.
I was a happy cyclist, but I went to bed again thinking that I wouldn't ride on Sunday, too messy... You know what happened this morning though, don't you? Right! It was once more too nice of a day to not get on a bicycle. This time I was a bit smarter though, and I stayed on route 125. I did a couple of sections more that once - nothing like doing out and back loops on one road - so when I returned home it was with a (mostly) clean bike. This time I could just wipe the bike down before putting it away. I managed a decent early-season ride, and I didn't trash the bike once again.
 |
| I had to take a picture of my very dirty bike. This bike is purple, really! And would you want to drink from this water bottle? What a mess - but luckily I make sure that I always have a good supply of Finish Line Bike Wash, so the cleanup doesn't take too long. |
