My day started at 6:50 am and after some coffee and light stretching to wake myself up, it was time to begin. I left my house just before 9:00 and was a little taken aback by the wind chill. The first leg of the ride was a long gradual hill, the climb wasn't very steep but I was pretty glad to see the top of it. I turned onto Waverly road and ended up doing most of my ride on that road until I got to Fletchers lake. It was a very beautiful morning despite the cold and wind and as I rode I got to enjoy a winding, not too busy road leading out of a Dartmouth suburban area. I took my first break after an hour so I could get something to drink then I was off again. After another 18 Km, I turned around to do the route back but instead of heading home I made for downtown Dartmouth and my plan was to cross the bridge into Halifax. That was a terrible plan, way too many people and cars to dodge so after some downtown cycling,I turned back towards my part of town along Lake Banook. I was going to get some off-road riding in at Shubie Campground, but there was still quite bit of snow on the trails, and most of what wasn't snow covered was too muddy. I took a bit of a nasty tumble when my shoelace came undone and wound it's way around my pedal. I flew a few feet into the air and into some gravel, tearing a my gloves a bit and bashing my right forearm. By this time with the wind chill, some gravel riding and wind variables, I was almost done for the day. But I was also pretty sore so decided to spend the rest of the afternoon doing laps at a nearby racetrack to get in the rest of my kilometers for the day. After that, time for home and some supper.
3/7/2008
151
I began day 2 pretty much the same way as day 1, although I left a little earlier which made for an even chillier departure. I took the same route as day 1 but instead of turning around at Fletchers Lake, I kept going for a few hours until I got to Enfeild, then turned back. The wind was horrible on the way back and the road seemed to have a slant to it that wasn't on the other side so it was sometimes hard to keep my uni upright. The wind would sometimes gust out of nowhere and more than once I felt like it was going to topple me over. I stopped for about 20 minutes at lunchtime for some water and a bite to eat. I eventually made it back to Dartmouth and decided to do some riding on the boardwalk that runs along one of the lakes. I was pretty much finished up by this point and started to make my way to the mall to just wheel around the parking lot to see how long I could keep going for. I noticed something wasn't right with my uni and looked down to see the right crank arm grinding into the bearing cover. I was near enough to a phone that I could carry my poor Nimbus to a pay phone and call for a ride. After supper I brought my wheel into the bike shop to get all fixed up (I don't have a great tool supply at my house), and now everything seems to be well. All in all, it was another good day of riding.