A burst of summer and an early morning ride

Whew... it was a scorcher yesterday! Temps topped the thirties and suddenly we'd gone from a mild spring to midsummer in 24 hours. The cats demanded to go out into the garden and hunt flies and other insects, and laze about in the sun. The garden burst into flower and then gasped and wilted, and we debated turning the aircon on in the house but held back. A bit silly of us as it was so muggy by bedtime we had trouble cooling down to sleep. Our house is brick veneer and cheaply built so you feel the heat and cold very quickly when the seasons change.

Thankfully we got a cool change overnight and now it's cloudy and set for the early twenties again. It's a long weekend this weekend - Labor Day - and of course rain is forecast for all three days. Well, we need it. Just WHY couldn't it hold off until next week? :-)

We both woke early this morning and decided to get the bikes out before breakfast. Inspired by how fit I felt a few days ago I took Petunia for our usual 8km ride - and absolutely flew along sooooo easily. I don't have a huge amount of stamina, I never have, so on the long 1km stretch where we usually pedal flat out by the creek I was coasting a little by the end, but was able to overtake Greg easily going up hills - which was nice :-). The little mixte felt so light :-))!! Can't wait until my Brooks saddle comes into stock though - I really notice the bumps now I've got used to the smooth ride on the Pashley.

What's funny is that when I ride Penelope I move between the first three gears. I've never got into fifth gear yet (must try it downhill sometime). On Petunia, I usually use a good range of the gears on any ride. Today, I found myself essentially using two rear gears and shifting between high and low range, and this seemed to cover most eventualities, even hills. Pleasing.

If it's not raining later this afternoon I'll take Penelope for a ride too, just to get whatever exercise I can in before the storms and showers set in. Since it's unlikely we'll get our usual long weekend ride in this week I want to make the most of my bikes.