Equipment failure

I promised to post a photo of this and I really intended to include it yesterday.  But yesterday I tried to take the photo with my pocket camera and once again entered the lost world of attempting to overcome the tyranny of autofocus.  I failed.

Today I took my other camera out in front of the garage before we started.

First, that tape is epically dirty (check the bit just beneath the shifter hood).  But the real story there is that the tape is just plain coming apart.  I have never seen this before.

It was warm enough today (the average high temperature for this date is 70F) but just about the time we started out the wind suddenly perked up.

It was hard.

But we are both happy to have gotten out.  We rode during the time when the local professional football team was playing.  The game is also on the TV (of course) and while the game is in progress the streets are about as deserted as they ever get during the day time no matter what the day of the week.  So a Sunday mid-day ride was made without a lot of outside interference (very few cars).

It was windy but even with the wind we made on the way home a slight deviation from the most direct path.  She doesn't ride nearly as much as I do and I was pretty sure she hadn't seen the exotic flora lately.  The plants are quite spectacular now at near the very end of growing season but the real news over there was that at last it was someone else who is going to have to change a flat.

It looks to me like it is only flat on the bottom.

Temperature a couple of degrees above average, wind several miles per hour too brisk.

But . . . nice day, nice ride.