Well sort of. We got in the first quadracycle ride of the season today, six days earlier than last year, but that is not to say that we went very far.
Today was the first dry day after two solid days of rain. The rain washed away the salt and grime from the streets, but even this afternoon was still pretty cool outside, just above freezing, so we rode with gloves on.
We started by rolling the Rhoades Car outside the garage and giving it a good check over. It looked fine, no rust or damage from being stored all winter. The tires were all about 25 psi and so we pumped those up to a good 35 psi. We then wiped down the chains, rear axle and steering mechanism with oil and it was pretty much ready to go. When we last rode it the quadracycle was set up for Ruth to drive and she wanted me to take the first trip this year so we unbolted the seats and set them up for our own heights.
That done, we went for a spin down to the end of the cul-de-sac and back. Once we got up into high gear the wind whistling past was cold! We had sweaters, jackets and gloves on, which helped, but it was still pretty cool. We made a few adjustments, a few test runs, tried out the full gear ranges and that was about it. By that time we had cooled off sufficiently to call it a day.
The weather forecast says nothing but rain, rain, rain for the most of the next week, with +16C and sun on Thursday and then +11C and sun on Sunday, so we may get out again this week.
At this time of year I really don't mind losing a few cycling days to the rain, we need the salt washed away and we need the rain for the vegetation as well. Ottawa normally gets about 1/3 of its snow in March, but this year we received almost none at all. It was a very dry late winter and consequently the forests were getting very dried out. Rain is good as the city will turn green sooner.
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