During the early morning hours CDT waved goodbye until spring. With the departure the evening grows shorter each day. Before I retired I depended on CDT to ride after I got home from work. Now that I joined the ranks of the retired CDT is not as important for biking. But I still like the sun to stay up later in the evening. The 4:05 PM finish time felt much later based on the position of the sun above the tree.

Today’s bike ride started at 2:08 PM after a longer than normal church service and lunch. I hoped the weather might warm up to what the forecast called for: 69 degrees. But the best it could do at the start of the ride was 67. I chose the “Atascocita – Walden” route due to the time limit and the mileage. I wanted to ride about 24 miles to stay on track to reach my goal. It turned out to be 23.92 miles. The week’s total comes in at 149.78 miles which combines road miles and virtual miles. November stands at 69.88 miles, again a combination of road and virtual miles. Goals for November: 360 road miles and 100 virtual miles. On today’s ride the Canyon rolled over to 14,009 miles since I bought it in Febraury 2018.

At the beginning of the ride I noticed the cadence sensor did not connect to the Wahoo Elemnt computer but I spun the cranks and it connected but disconnected before I started out the driveway. I pedaled hoping that would wake the sensor and connect but it didn’t. As I started on the trail at the end of Golden Leaf Drive I was focused on the cadence sensor and almost rode in front of another biker on the trail. We avoided each other and I decided to stop and check on the sensor. After spinning the cranks again it connected and I resumed riding. I should’ve have taken the hint that the battery was low. The last time I replaced the sensor was 6/19/2019: odometer 10472 miles, 3,537 miles ago. I suspect the cool weather hastened the demise of the battery. During the ride the cadence stopped around 11.5 miles and it dawned on me the battery died. I tested it when I got home and it confirmed the death. A new battery revived the cadence sensor for the next ride, hopefully tomorrow.

Weather during the bike ride: start 67 (45% humidity, 44.6 dew point), partly cloudy, wind SE 8 mph. Finish 64 (51% humidity, 45.9 dew point), partly cloudy, wind SE 8 mph. I dressed accordingly: shorts, leg warmers, thermal long sleeve jersey, and windbreaker jacket. When I rode in the shade I felt the chill but the sun warmed me up. The shade time seemed to outnumber the sun time.

Monday’s weather calls for a mid 70’s temperature with a lot of clouds.

Relive ‘Atascocita – Walden CST 1st ride’