Spring Has Sprung

We're off to a week of very spring-like weather.  Sunday's mild temps drove people outdoors in throngs.  Kensington had hundreds and hundreds of people out enjoying the great weather.  Not that we've had much of a winter this year but when temps climb to 66F + early in March you'll see a lot of people outdoors enjoying nature. While the trees won't leaf out for a few weeks yet and grass hasn't greened there are signs everywhere it's about to burst.  With spring rains coming and warm temps it won't be long till it's looking vibrant.

While I don't even want to say it, this is Michigan and we are likely to see snow yet into April, I woudn't like it but I also wouldn't doubt it will happen.  Spring she is fickle.

Riding the trainer indoors this winter has helped me to stay conditioned to riding.  After a couple of hour long rides in the last week outdoors I am not experiencing the normal first rides of the season ouchies.  My legs muscles are feeling good, I'm not sore in the saddle and most importantly I do feel stronger.  Hills and inclines that were quite challenging last year are proving to be less difficult than I remember them.  I had expected to lose some core strength because I was not cross training in the winter, but this does not seem to be the case.  Three major differences on a trainer compared to outdoor riding are that you don't have to use core muscles to hold yourself upright with balance on the trainer like you do outdoors.  The other is the terrain and the elements.  Indoors there are no hills or wind to cope with.  However you never have to stop at street lights or slow down for pedestrians either, so your time on the trainer is different.

I'm looking forward to building up to some much longer rides this year.



March Winds

Yipee for an outdoor ride today!  We had temps over 66F and there was no chance I would miss this opportunity, we had great weather yesterday and I couldn't get out so this afternoon was reserved for the Lakelands Trail with my niece Lisa.  Strong winds gusting to 45 MPH made our choice of trails a good one as this trail is mostly protected by woods and hills.  There were a few open areas to traverse and I could feel the wind push me around a bit but the trail goes east/west and the winds were from the south so we had neither headwinds or tailwinds in either direction.  We stopped for photos in an open area along side of Zukey Lake and it was frothed up with whitecaps.

Llamas

Last night I was scouting out a new route on the back roads and came across this llama farm.  These furry guys were very friendly and when I got out of the car to take some photos they were more than cooperaive and curious and came right up to the fence to pose.

This trio posed for me!  I didn't count but best guess is that there were about 15-18 of them on the farm.  I'm getting so excited for bike riding that I'm out scouting routes in my car.