Top o\’the mornin\’ to ya! Happy St. Patrick\’s Day, everyone!

Today everybody is Irish, regardless of actual ancestry. If I go out later, I must remember to wear green. In fact, I remember a cruel custom in grade school: on St. Patrick\’s Day you\’d better wear something green, or you\’d get pinched!

Just now, however, I\’m pretty tired; and maybe I\’ll stay home. Today\’s ride was a tough one. The wind was 15 mph for a good portion of the ride; and, as usual, seemed to be a headwind most of the time.

My Garmin wasn\’t fully charged, but I thought it had enough juice in it for a 40-mile ride. Not so. It gave me the Low Battery warning when I was still about 3.5 miles from home. I switched it off rather than risk losing my ride data. I knew I\’d be able to calculate my mileage by doubling the distance between home and my turnaround point.

If only it had been that easy. I still had a mile to go when along came a freight train, heading westwards to my eastward track. I came to my usual crossing, and stopped to wait for the train to clear the crossing. Wouldn\’t you know, the dratted thing stopped. And it sat there. I had to take a detour of two miles or so to get home, because the next-closest crossing was also blocked by the train. I guess that thing was a mile and a half long!

Last Sunday I rode only 29 miles, and maybe jumping up to 40 was too much too soon? But I did at least one 50-mile ride in January. One thing is becoming clear: I won\’t be ready to do a century next month.

At any rate, Top o\’the mornin\’ to ya!