Well, That Was A Typical One!

Not the kind of radar images I like to see, but pretty typical for this time of year.

The weekend was wet and rainy off and on. Most of it, at any rate. It really was pretty typical for Memorial Day Weekend in Iowa. I have no 'weather data' to back this up, but I have my memories, and I seem to recall that it rains more often than not around the end of  May here.

Years ago, long before bicycles changed my life, I used to go fishing on this weekend. We'd leave on Memorial Day for a week. The destination was Northwest of Hayward, Wisconsin to a place called Middle Eau Claire Lake. There were sunny years, but there were a lot of rainy ones as well. It's just what happens around here at the end of May. I remember those times due to that momentous occasion every year which was that fishing trip. Kind of sticks out in my mind a bit. And YES- There are a LOT of 'fish stories'. Anyway.....

So, the Sun had been pretty absent all last week here. I mean- zero Sun. It was as if it were November or something. Then on Saturday, for about four hours, the Sun appeared. That's when I got all those shots on yesterday's post. Then it clouded over, rained again- of course- and as of this writing on Memorial Day, as I sit here, it is cloudy once again, with the threat of rain all day off and on.

I had a big ride planned on Saturday with a friend but we cancelled it Friday evening after weather reports came out showing thunderstorms would be prevalent for most of the morning. Bummer, but at least my little 'mission' to gather images on Saturday afternoon went off without a hitch. I actually was on the Ti Muk 2 as some of what I wanted to short cut across was grassy territory, torn up by construction, or through alleys. The right call was a fat bike.

Looking back toward HWY 63 and the bike path.

At one point I had to traverse a section where there was a ton of shredded under brush resulting in lots of wood chips, debris, and mud. Low geared it through that, and since I had a Rohloff drive train, I did not have any concerns about any of the shredded sticks getting caught in a derailleur. My only worry was potentially driving a stick through a side wall, but I took it slow and easy. Nothing of the sort happened.

NOTE: I just looked outside and the SUN IS SHINING!

Anyway.... Back to the Ti Muk 2. I sometimes wonder what it is about this bike, but after pushing through all that torn up wood, mud, grassy sections, up and down hills, and around to four different cemeteries, I look at my fitness watch and it shows I barely did any work. That's not the first time I've noticed that. I know I exerted myself, and yeah, the Ti Muk 2 is easy to ride, but I find it kind of amazing that if I ride a single speed- any single speed- I can be relaxed and feel good, but the dang techno-watch says I've worked my rear end off. I actually proved that out by riding the singled out BMC Orange Crush #49 Sunday. It's just weird, or the Ti Muk 2 is a magical beast. One or the other.

It's too bad that I don't have power meters, just to see what is going on there. But yeah- just imagine what that would cost! I mean, with all the bicycles I have, there is just no way that is going to be happening. I might be able to draw some real conclusions as to why I'm seeing this on this Apple watch dealio I have on my wrist. Technology.........Pffffft! It's enough to drive ya nuts some days. I'm probably better off just riding and enjoying it, rather than trying to dig into data and never looking up.

But that's pretty typical of these days too, isn't it?