Took the IF out for the first time since late winter. What a lovely ride, once my body remembered how the bike fit. I might have to put some splayed bars on this rig. I tapped my knee several times on the bar ends, and managed to mash my wrist into the flats a few times when climbing in the drops.

I was hoping to roll for 30-40 miles. I cut that short as I just wasn’t feeling it when I got out of town. When climbing in granny gear, and a granny (with a fanny pack) passes you – its time to come to terms with your fitness. (yeah, she was ripped and probably on a recovery ride getting ready for a triathlon or the BTV marathon… I only hope to be half as fit with another 20 years on me…)

Anyway. This lil critter should be my new mascot:

And these freaked me out a bit. Was standing at the waters edge and heard a splash at my feet:

Beautiful day out. Blue sky (should have brought the polarizing filter), mild temp (going to get toasty this afternoon), and no wind.

Spring is firmly planted here. The pear and apple tree are blossoming, along with the strawberries and blueberries. The dandelions are in full attack on the lawn. Garlic that went in last year is 18″ tall. Snap peas are starting to climb their trellis – they are about 8″ tall, and will hopefully go to 5-6′ this year. This weekend we’ll be moving the balance of our starts out of the basement to the garden – about 300 plants. A sample of what we are growing this year: snap peas, beans, tomato (3 varieties), basil, chive, endive, sunflowers (80 of them!), chard, escarole, romaine, radish, turnip, carrot, asparagus, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, corn, zucchini, and … probably more that I’m forgetting.

We have just about the same area of living space in our house as we have growing space in the garden – and we have a bit more expansion to do this year – too many starts, too little room. We are slowly trying to move from a ‘normal’ backyard to one the produces more food than grass clippings. And we our sketching out the front yard to be a wildflower bird and butterfly haven – but that will take some $$ and muscle to get moving. The backyard garden will likely to soak up extra $$ and free time for the rest of the summer.

A lovely morning, and another quick stitch. Water is tough, as the waves mess you up when panning across the scene. I have some work to do with the horizon, and I’m sure there are more artifacts. I put a stick in the sand and used it to reference the lens as I panned around, handheld.

Quick and sloppy pano this morning from the BTV waterfront. Rode a mellow loop in the rain this morning, looking for my mojo.

Our VT200k was this past weekend. 17 riders started, 16 finished, 1 pulling a Burley Nomad full of provisions. Beautiful blue sky day, mild temperatures, a gentle breeze. The Pugsley and I ferried goodies to the finish. We missed the fast guys and gals by about 30-45 minutes, but we welcomed in 12 of the finishers with some food and drink. Looking forward to the Lake 200/300k coming up in June!

Some snaps from a slow roll this morning. Everything is fatigued and tired and sore. Rumor has it the 9 yards of dirt I’ve moved and the 800 square feet of soil that I turned hasn’t helped things…

I really love the light in the morning – especially with a thin fog over the lake.

Got out with the usual and a new suspect to some of our favorite dirt. Felt absolutely knackered the entire ride, and called in an air strike for extraction on my way back to town.

Spring is here. Flowers, dirt, rock from the past week.

Got out to Sunny Hollow this past weekend. Mix of road and trail and railbed walking to get there. Did a few laps and explored a bit. Dropped the saddle, and raised the bars just a bit for single track riding. Trails were dry and fast, with a few sections of tacky dirt.