Rode the road

At long last, a bicycle of mine has been ridden somewhere other than back and forth to work.

It had become increasingly apparent to me that birdwatching, nature studies, and the fruitless quest to bench press my own body weight were not going to help me reduce my lap times and/or do additional circuits at next year's 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo. To that end, I got up yesterday morning, mowed down the month's growth of hair on my legs and, after replacing yet another rim-side punctured tube (damned Salsa rim strips scoot about, exposing the sharp edges of the spoke holes), I went for a little spin.

I took a short, close-to-home route with some gradual climbs and rolling hills. It was wonderful. When I got back home, the cyclocomputer read 14.14 miles; I made it 14.15 by riding through the garage into the backyard. We can't have numeric alliteration in the mileage log. Maybe next time I'll work on riding some real terrain and/or doing some real distance.

During the ride, I found a little wow in my 12-tooth rear cog. Bent cassette cogs are but one of the many laments of the Clydesdale cyclist. In fact, drivetrain meltdowns are a large part of what drove me to singlespeeding on the mountain side of things. But since I still like to employ a range of gear ratios on the road, I had to work something out. A quick trip to Fairwheel, some dial caliper comparisons by the shop wrench (seeing if a Shimano cog could be added to my SRAM stack; the upper jockey wheel's lateral float should take care of the 0.1 millimeter difference), and all was right again. Or at least it'll be right until the next time I get my fat ass out of the saddle for a hard effort. And, apologies to my stated LBS of record, A.B.E., for having strayed, but like your sign says "Sunday We Ride". Monday, too, yes?

The key will now be sticking with the riding. The inferno of Tucson's summer is just around the corner. I've been keeping up with the bike commuting in order to build up a bit of heat tolerance, but June is when things start to get ugly. And while the distraction of the desert being full of migrating birds has largely passed, I expect I'll start itching to spend time in the locations to which those birds migrated. And come to think of it, I'd kinda' like to go fishing at some point this summer. So many other things to do... Focus, dammit!

Yet more birds, still no bikes

Last Friday, a MacGillivray's warbler (Oporornis tolmiei Townsend) became the eighth warbler to be seen from our yard this spring. It was a new one for my life list as well. The next day, Beans spotted a female black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus Swainson) on one of our feeders. I'd thought about going for a road bike ride on Sunday, but we decided instead to wait and see if the male grosbeak would show up. We sat, he arrived, we looked, so it was worth it.

Or was it?

I seem to be training for the 2007 edition of the 24 Hours of Birdwatching in the Old Pueblo, rather than the race. But I'll still get in a smidgen of training today - its time to leave for work and my commuter bike awaits. All miles are good miles and the afternoon combination of heat, hills, and headwinds promises to build character.

Birds, not bikes

My bicycling still remains limited to commuting to and from work on the singlespeed beast of burden. The recent water main failure at Grant and Silverbell here on the west side temporarily complicated my route home, but it has been otherwise uneventful. A little warm, I suppose. Oh, and I entered a Bike to Work Week raffle at the beginning of April and ended up winning a $25 gift certificate at a LBS. Can't beat that.

I'm aware that I've probably wasted the last of the truly nice spring cycling weather but the in-town birdwatching has been so productive that I just haven't felt the urge to cleat up and bike down. I also lifted the hell out of my weights during April, so all was not lost, physically speaking.

But about that birding...

The list of what I consider "cool birds" that I posted back on tax day expanded by several species. Two more warblers, a yellow and a Wilson's (Dendroica petechia Linn. and Wilsonia pusilla Wilson, respectively) flitted through the front yard, gleaning within the ocotillo and paloverde blossoms. The black-throated gray warbler left the scene and was replaced the next weekend by another impressive-looking member of the virens superspecies complex, the Townsend's warbler (D. townsendi Townsend). A trio of Lazuli buntings (Passerina amoena Say) made the rounds as well. A western tanager made its annual appearance.

Last month's zone-tailed hawk returned this past weekend, this time unmolested by the red-tailed hawk, and I was fortunate enough to see it take a small passerine from a neighbor's yard. I doubt that the songbird prey item considered it a fortunate occasion. The zone-tailed hawk may be a resident, and this species' nesting within or even on the periphery of an urban area would seem to be somewhat novel.

Its about 6:30pm and I see that the sun is about to settle beyond the Tucson Mountains. The long shadows crossing the backyard tell me its time to stop keyboarding and get to lifting.

Oh, and one of the zone-tailed hawk's potential nest sites would be best accessed by mountain bike. Could birding actually be cause for some real-live biking? Perhaps, and singlespeeds are pretty sneaky. And yes, I know not to get too close to the nest - that's what my fancy binocs are for.