I went out for a road bike ride today fully aware that it had been a rather long time since my last outing, not forever or anything, but over a month. My winter bike has been ready to go for a while now, but I’ve been doing other things I guess, and it is winter. In a bit of a departure from my usual tactics for first rides back from a breaks, I consciously decided that I would go sort of easy on this ride. This seemed good in principle, but as it turns out I am somewhat less bike fit than a couple months ago, so going easy by speed (I averaged about 26km/h) did not feel overly easy, especially on the hills.

While poking along on my ride many of the usual thoughts were bouncing around in my head, like: it’s nice to be out; Mt. Doug smells good; it’s only 30 seconds long (referring to some discomfort-causing uphill); that’s interesting (referring to the appearance of something unexpected — deer, excessive Christmas decorations, bottle collector dude’s bike trailer). Additionally, I found myself wondering: what’s the deal with snot and boogers while exerting oneself in colder weather? I’m not worried about the snot or anything, since I have grown rather accustomed to it over the years, but I was thinking about it. On a related note, my first few nose wipes on the soft parts of my gloves were quite a treat today since they smelled Gain laundry soap fresh.

In an attempt to be helpful to those who might have concerns about the snot, here are a couple links to info from elsewhere on the interwebs:

• Dirt Rag Magazine Blog: Cold Weather Riding #6 – Snot
• Urban Dictionary: Farmer’s Blow
• Steve in a Speedo: some triathlete guy’s suggestions for snot rockets

Below you will find some summary information from my ride and some photos from along the way.

GPS Data: 42km / 1h35m / GPS Route

Map of my road bike ride in and around Victoria, BC today. Click to see GPS data on the Garmin website.

Some quiet residential road near Cadboro Bay on an overcast and somewhat cool day near Victoria, BC.

Mmmmm... Mt. Doug always smells kind of good thanks to the big trees and its proximity to the ocean.

Heading back towards town on Interurban Road. This is hero road; easy to go fast on, thus making me feel like a hero. I can't imagine the motorists feel that some skinny dork in tight clothing on a bike is a hero, but we're not talking about them now are we?

The north end of the Selkirk Trestle on the Gorge in Victoria, BC. Bikes, pedestrians, etc.

More Selkirk Trestle as I head into Vic West. I was dissappointed that I didn't capture, for you viewing pleasure, a photo of a plump seagull sitting on one of the railing posts.

A less than impressive photo of the Empress Hotel in downtown Victoria. I might have been dodging some traffic while taking this photo.

The BC Legislature in Victoria, BC. I noticed after the fact that there are some people observing the removal of some protest parephernalia from a flagpole (not shown). Sorry, I failed to note the subject of the protest material.

The Caribou (my winter bike) laughed at my attempts to punish it today.

Almost home and rolling along Dallas Road towards Ross Bay Cemetery.

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