Priorities...

Sunny and warm today (an accidental almost summer) (not to worry, the weather is forecast to return to cold and drear by the weekend). An hour of yardwork before lunch, 4 hours on the bike after lunch. Warm enough for bare legs (Yesss!) although my ride to Avonport on the Minas Basin managed to find cold air wafting off the water. Last year it wasn't until the end of May that I tackled a similar distance, and at a slightly slower speed. The only question now is, will I "recover" overnight?

Thanks to some "farmer Joe" near Avonport moving a heap of fresh manure from his barn on one side of the road to his other barn on the other side of the road -- too short a distance to bother with a wagon, so he just pushed it across with the bucket of a front-end loader -- I managed to get a bit shit-faced without the pleasure of a decent bottle of wine. Fortunately it was the top of a hill rather than the bottom of a descent so it was possible to manoevre so as to avoid the lumpy bits... all in all, a bit dodgy. No photos, but Gershwin (the dog) was very interested in the smell of the tires and undersides of the frame when I got home.

Everywhere I rode there was the sound of badly-adjusted derailleurs (chain scraping cogs) but it wasn't me-- it was an army of homeowners raking the winter's gravel off their lawns and back onto the road shoulders where it belonged.