The Grinder And Fog Horns

Three things took place on my ride this morning; one annoying, one somewhat scary (that had nothing to do with cars), and one nice thing.

The annoying thing is my bike has started making grinding noises and because of that I now have 6 gears I can't use. It's the damn chain and the brake pads. Not to worry though, I am taking it in today to get it tuned.

The scary thing was this:

Fog! For once it's not my lacking skills as a photographer that's making the picture blurry, but mother nature. And the fog got worse - of course at the steepest hill. Couldn't see shit so I had to bike snail slow and of course I had a car right behind me that couldn't pass because of the turns and the fog so I had a car on my tail all the way down the hill. Fun times.

Now the nice thing. One of my fellow commuters acknowledged my existence this morning. The numbers of commuters has dwindled down to three now that the temperatures have dropped. There used to be double digit numbers but now it's just us three. Perhaps I'll have t-shirts made that says "The Three Biking Musketeers" or "One For All And All For One" on them. Or not.

For weeks we have pretty much ignored each other - after I initially greeted them and was ignored. Perhaps they are commuter snobs - you know, the kind who bikes through rain and snow - like me, and scoffs at other fair-weathered bikers. I guess I've been accepted into their club now and have been deemed worthy of "hellos" in the morning. Whatever reason, I'll take it. Pathetic as it may seem, that "hello" warmed me on the chilly ride in.

Fog horns. Again nice transition. You're welcome. My 750 lumen light didn't do shit in the fog soup so I don't know what I should do. Not that fog horns would help at all with vision, but it would scare off vampires that are lurking in the dark. Yes, those are real thoughts rattling around in my head when I'm biking in the dark. Vampires or kidnappers that could pounce me from the side of the road - as I'm biking past 20+ miles per hour downhill. Not very realistic, but still, it could happen. Well, at least it keeps my thoughts away from cars.

If you must, then at least look like this...

instead of this

As for this weekend's rides, I am doing the usual lap around Lake Sammamish with hubby for sure. Still haven't decided on the longer ride. Probably going to be south - or I might just bike around Lake Washington twice, just because I'm feeling a bit laze in the imagination department. We shall see.