‘MARCH’ING INTO FALSE SPRING!

Needless to say, for cycling opportunities, I was happy to see February come to its end as that dastardly weather allowed only 7 days of bike riding for me! BUT the final 3 days of that month did bring us a bit of sun and I was back on the saddle as much as possible. For at least a week or two we will experience our annual ‘False Spring’.

Still in February (26th), my friend Kathy and I had a most delightful ride across Fidalgo Bay and into Anacortes. This is a ride that many of us often do as the minimal auto traffic and fairly flat terrain is a real draw for any cyclist.

Kathy enjoys the meatloaf sandwiches at Gere a Deli so we have dubbed this ride the “Meatloaf Ride”.

There are lots of two dimensional murals in Anacortes and you see one here behind Kathy on the wall of the Deli.

And another here at the parking lot.

The very next day was not only sunny, but did reach the 60+ degrees that the weather guessers had guessed. It got so warm that I had to take off a few layers — my fleece vest, my helmet liner, my long fingered gloves & liners. I could have worn a lighter jacket as well, but this being the first day the forecast had been right, I didn’t take the chance. I went on one of my rides from home and on the return I stopped at the park to eat my lunch.

The following day a rare thing happened. Susan wanted to ride her bike! Granted it was to the bakery to get their wonderful Olive Bread, but I rarely get Susan to ride with me. I ditched my solo plan for the day and went with Susan’s plan.

It’s not that Susan doesn’t like to ride, even if much less than I like to ride, but she likes to have a ‘reason’ to ride. An errand, a definite destination, a new area with new routes. The rides I do are quite repetitive or I would not be able to ride much. So Susan chooses to not do my rides from home with me. I have gotten used to that and it is ok, especially because she is my back up plan. She will pick me up wherever I am if need be 😉.

Back to the Bakery ride. Another sunny day for this fine ride, Susan gets all the electronics working ;’-).

While checking that her map was on the right course, Susan noticed that Beverly (remember Beverly from some previous posts?) is on the map! Here she is referred to as The Mukilteo Goat.

Picked up the goods from the bakery — olive bread and a pretzel bagel for each of us, to have at home.

On the way home we spotted a two in one little library.

Though it warmed up as we rode, it did not get as warm as the previous day and I was dressed for the good weather, in lighter layers 😉.

In the past I have done, or tried to do, what I called LAF rides. That would be ‘Last and First’ day of the month. I have not done that for a while, but this would be one of those. I had ridden yesterday (2/28) and I would fortunately get to ride today (3/1).

First however, Susan and I would drive and ferry over to see Etienne’s basketball game. We had attended Andre’s game last week, so owed this to Etienne 😊. Susan packed my bike into the rear of the Honda and she would drop me off when we were nearing home for my ride of the day.

It was a very foggy morning, especially as we boarded and rode the ferry to Kingston. Can’t see a thing out there!

It cleared up nicely for the later part of the day and I followed through with my drop off plan to ride my bike part way to home.

I have posted a photo of this ‘paper’ airplane recently and thought how dirty and faded it was looking. Apparently it has been revived and is bright and clean once again.

The False Spring weather goes up and down and shortly after that ride above we had fog, wet and colder days. I did get to ride briefly on a couple of those days, but so brief there was no picture taking, and not much to say about.

Today would be different as the weather cooperated and my unending appointments eased for the week and I had a full day to ride! I chose one of my preferred, and longer rides to the Milk House Coffee Co that I have included here many times. But will do that again ;’-).

Only wispy clouds at the start of my ride.

I pass by this building often, and though it does hold interest for me, I have never taken photo. Decided this would be the day.

Arrived at the Milk House for my tea and crumpet (everything bagel with cream cheese).

That was my half way point, and on the ride home and at the end I felt like I could have ridden more miles on this day. It felt good and my energy level was high. Days off, I always realize, are a good thing. 😉

Another couple of days of at least some sun had to be used for some biking. I didn’t go far, fairly close to home, but the enjoyment of riding is there no matter where I am. My ‘ETAL’ (Every Turn And Loop) ride keeps me really close to home and is the ride that takes me by Mara’s tree stump.

Here is St. Pat’s day stump.

At times, especially on a weekend day, I wander through some of the back parking lots of local businesses. I spotted this lone bike leaning there and stopped to commune with it for a moment, hoping it was not simply abandoned. Anything bike draws my attention 🙄.

I tried for one more ride this week and almost did not go out for that today as there would be some morning rain, and high winds. The rain was light but the wind was strong and meant not stopping much for anything, including photos.

I got one photo for this day… to show the wind.

Our “False Spring” seems to have come to its end with rain and more rain in the near forecasts. Susan and I have full calendars for the Spring, Summer and Fall (oh my) so I will be posting much more about those adventures! The ending of this first week of March seems a good time to end this episode and post it on the blog. I am surely not done with bicycling for the month, but this entry has gotten long enough 😉.