2old

CMD, as you've seen, probably in "eco" you'll have great range. One thing you might consider: most of the Lithium chemistry batteries in use seem to thrive at 20% - 80% of charge (reportedly that's how Tesla provides and 8 year or whatever warranty). You might consider charging your battery to 80% (four lights) and not letting it go below 20% (one light). This should maximize battery life. If you don't do this, at least keep it above one light.
I'm surprised by the difference in off road riding conditions in MD vs CA. It's raining now here (new record), but usually we can ride 350+ or so days a year (I remember riding 20 days in a row when my kids were at camp and there were no "family" factors prohibiting it).

01 CAt Man Do

In order for me to ride MTB ( off road ) now ( which is only weekends unless I'm on vacation ) I almost have to pray it doesn't rain on Fridays. Of course it all depends on "how much" and for how long. To make the decision "to ride or not to ride" I have to browse the Weather Underground website and check out the local private weather stations. WU allows you to access the private weather station's stats using their "Wonder Maps" which show all the stations and yes there are hundreds to chose from so that helps. I can get graphs and historic tallies of rain fall in almost any location from these private stations websites. Many of the MTB trails I ride in Md. are in low lying areas so that doesn't help either once the rain moves in.

The big problem is that I like to ride late in the day and that tends to be one of the times when rain seems to move in from the west. If I find a certain area has received more than 0.5" of rain in the last 24hrs I'll usually chose not to ride at that area. Then there are those days when it's not raining but threatening to rain. On those days I have to keep checking the radar to see where the rain is moving to. Last thing I want to happen is to get caught back in the woods as a thunderstorm moves in. ( not to mention I would hate to drive over an hour to a trail head only to find rain moving in right as I get there ) Thank God for weather apps! Those apps have saved me many times from being caught in a bad situation or driving somewhere and end up having to turn back.

01 CAt Man Do

Just a brief little ride after work tonight. Simply amazing how sometimes you think you're dressed appropriately for the weather and suddenly realize that you a slightly under-dressed. I wore the same clothes as last night and temps were almost the same. Felt great last night but tonight I was slightly chilled, go figure. Should of worn the full finger gloves and maybe the lighter tights. Anyway not cold enough to shorten the ride but would of been nice to have been a bit warmer.

I got rewarded on the last leg of the route. Full moon in the sky and CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" playing in my ears. Nice when music gets to provide the background theme for what's going on around you. ( and yes the moon was on my right )

Interestingly my boss asked me if I wanted to work Saturday. I just kind of stared at him not knowing what to say. I was dying for overtime a couple weeks ago and now the big choice. Sacrifice my planned Saturday ride or make some easy money. Took a moment but I told him to find someone else. Boss man is also a good friend and he knows I love cycling so no big deal opting out. 20% chance of rain on Saturday with temps in the 80'sF. The planned ride is about 20-22 miles and includes a number of hills with some nice Spring time country scenery. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best weather.

01 CAt Man Do

Saturday just wasn't my day. Just wasn't feeling good, very sad. I ended up sleeping till almost 3:00 in the afternoon so I really must of been worn out. This of course precluded that I wasn't going to get that daytime ride in. In a way probably worked out for the best because if I had taken my planned ride I more than likely would of seen the rain that eventually reached my community as well. After the rain passed I did take a 12 mile local ride but truthfully I hate riding on wet roads at night.

Sunday turned out to be a barn burner. Not sure but I think it was the hottest day of the year so far with temps in the upper 80's. If it hadn't of been so hot / muggy I'd of gone for the longer ride. Thing is, takes my body a couple weeks to acclimate to the warmer temperatures so I had to pass on the longer ride. I did take a shorter local ride ( 6 miles ) and after I got home I was real glad I didn't try the planned 20 miler. Usually when I do day rides I really don't like riding if it's hotter than 85°F when I start. Once again did another short ride at night. While it was cooler it was still muggy and warm. Geez, two weeks ago it was in the low 50's. I hate sudden temperature jumps. Nope, my aging old bode can't handle heat real well any more. Twenty years ago ( in my forties then ) I used to MTB when the temps were in the 90s. Oh how things change when you get older.

01 CAt Man Do

I had some extra time today before going into work. Pulled the late shift that starts at 7:00pm. Pretty much a nice day with temps in the low 80's. I figured a good time to get a much desired day ride in. After changing into my bike clothes I checked the weather app on my phone. Damn, the radar screen showed a big ominous storm not far away and from the looks of it was definitely heading in my direction. Regardless I decided I could get a quickie ride in. Rain jacket and rain shorts in my rack box just in case I didn't make it back in time.

Got about 3/4 of the way when suddenly my phone lights up with a tornado warning...okay, that's not a great sign. By this time I was on one of the local MUP's and was about a quarter mile from my home. Just minutes after getting the T-warning suddenly a massive wind began to blow through the trees. Also started to feel the first drops of rain. But the wind was the key warning. I quickly stopped my bike and got the rain jacket out. Almost before I could get it on it started to come down. In moments I was in a torrential down-pour. While my rain jacket has a hood it is not a cycling hood designed to overlap a helmet. Covers about 3/4 of the helmet which helps a lot but I had no time to put the shorts on. Not worried about the shorts because it was a warm day so I wasn't so worried about my shorts getting wet.

The biggest problem I had was with the hood. With the sudden high winds and the added wind when riding, this caused the hood to constantly blow back. No way to keep the hood from blowing back. By this time the rain was coming down so hard I could hardly see. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse they did. Suddenly I realized that the water that was flooding into my eyes was beginning to burn my eyes ( WTF! ). Bad enough I had to deal with all the water on my glasses but this was a total F if you catch my drift. I've been caught in rain before but I've never had anything like this happen. The effect was I could hardly keep my eyes open it hurt so much. Somewhat of a mystery as to "why" this happened. My theory is the natural oils ( and sweat ) on my scalp and hair were washing down my face and getting into my eyes. This was not good. I was glad however that I was not on a road at the time. Ten minutes later with one hand trying to hold the hood in place I pull up to my building. The only thing remotely dry on me was my jersey. Otherwise I was as soaked as a swamp rat.

The storm cell passed quickly ten minutes after I got home. Looking back it was all kind of fun, except for the thing that made my eyes feel like they were on fire. I now know what I need to do in order to have a better rain strategy. I'll buy one of those cheap helmet covers and attach some Velcro on it so I can attach my hood to it and hopefully that will keep the hood in place. Not sure what to do about keeping my feet dry. Shoe covers are only going to do so much as the rain will just run down my leg, onto my socks and then pretty much soak the inside of my shoes. Not a big issue if it's warm but in cold weather it would really be a bad thing to happen. .Waterproof full finger gloves are easy to find.

The Conduit ebike had no problems functioning in the rain. My cell phone holder worked fairly well and kept most moisture out of the plastic sleeve. All of my lights ( day flashing ) and other electronics had no problems

2old

Great ad for Trek; I didn't think e-bikes, even OEM, were that rainproof. Make sure there are no crevices where water can "pool".

01 CAt Man Do

Interesting that you should mention this because I had the same thought yesterday after I went to work. After reading your post I pulled the battery off the bike to do an inspection. It seems water did manage to find a way to get near the electrical connection. Only saw a couple wet spots but if I had pulled the battery off just after the ride who knows what I might have seen. At least the area of electrical interface is designed in such a way that there are areas on the platform where water can drain if it gets inside near where the electrical connectors are. Knowing this I wish Trek made some type of plastic jacket designed for the battery. Not worried about moderate rain but a long heavy down pour could possibly cause a problem.

2old

You might consider some type of plastic covering (like a plastic bag covering the area) in case you get caught in another severe downpour. Just make sure that you remove it at home so it doesn't trap any water that might have seeped in.

01 CAt Man Do

The battery itself is encased in hard plastic. Nothing going to get through that. The weak point is at the bottom of the mounting platform where the battery tilts onto the mounting platform. That is where the electrical connector plug is. Perhaps a 2"wide rubber-band around the crack where the two join might be of some help in preventing water ingress providing of course I can find something like that somewhere.

Once again today I had to cancel the planned start time of my ride because of rain in the area. Turned out to just be a quick sprinkle and the roads really never even got all that wet. Afterwards I decided to do a more prolonged night ride since the roads were dry. With all the batteries on all my devices fully charged I carried my bike down stairs and proceeded to turn on all my lights. Last but not least I turned on the e-bike battery. That was when I got a troubling surprise. The battery turned on but the control module on the handlebars didn't . If the control module doesn't turn on you're not going anywhere as the module controls the motor. After a couple unsuccessful attempts at rebooting ( turning the battery on/off ) I ran upstairs to get the key to the battery platform ( battery is designed to lock onto the mounting platform. Will not come off unless you have the key. )

Now I've had the module fail to come on before but usually only for a moment. This time was much different. After I took the battery off the mount I did a quick inspection and then remounted the battery. This time the module came on and booted. Since I was troubled that I had to go through all this I decided to take the key with me just in case I needed it. I hadn't ridden more than 300 ft. when suddenly the module went dark, albeit only for a moment . Once again it rebooted, this time by itself. This I find very troubling but at least it came back on and continued to run. After seeing this I decided it best not to venture too far from home so that pretty much nixed my planned longer ride. I continued to ride and ended up riding about 13 miles. I had no further problems with the module. That said I'm not particularly happy about all this as it ruined my plans and could end up being a continuing problem. Last thing I want to happen is to get 15 miles away from my car or home and suddenly have the electrical system on the bike fail.

The connectors on the platform which the battery tilts onto resemble a four prong AC plug only the four male prongs are embedded into the base mount. The battery itself has four slots that when tilted slide over top of the four prongs. I am not particularly pleased with the design.

Anyway, after I got home I cleaned the four prongs on the base and plan to clean the female connectors as well. So far it seems to be working but if I see this happen again me and the LBS where I bought this bike are going to have a conversation.

01 CAt Man Do

I've done more than a couple rides since my last post. It seems the computer module on my bike seems to on occasion, "blink out" momentarily. When this happens usually I just notice that the battery assist has stopped. Quick press of the mode button and usually I'm fine after that. Most of the time this happens at the start of the ride. Since last week I've no other major problems with the bike module failing to boot.

As to the periodic, "blink-out" issue; This might be happening because I'm starting off in too high a gear. If that's so then perhaps it's part of a protection circuit that is protecting the motor from taking too heavy of an initial current surge. Still, if it happens it is usually only during the start of a ride. I can deal with that as long as it isn't happening every couple minutes. Maybe I just have to make sure I'm in a low gear when I start from a dead stop.

Memorial Day I was fortunate enough to get a rather nice ride in during the day. ( finally...a day without threat of rain ). I'm getting braver and taking longer rides. Hoping this Saturday turns out to be a nice day. Last couple days have been very warm, particularly considering it only May. Getting use to the heat helps. Looking forward to taking the bike on a short day road trip as long as it isn't too hot. June in Maryland has tended to not be real hot the last few years. Hopefully this will continue. Damn if we don't see a good amount of rain though. Which reminds me...I still need to buy some more rain gear.

,,,and speaking of rain. Just the other night I had a rather nice road ride going and once again as I'm almost home it starts to rain. Had me momentarily freaked because my rain gear was home and no rain was in the area when I left. As I'm climbing up a long moderate hill I fumbled with the weather app on my phone to view the local radar. What I saw had me smiling. Seems I was just happening to be riding through the smallest cell I've ever seen on a radar screen. After riding another quarter mile I rode out of it. Just a mild sprinkle on a warm night. Turned out to be refreshing and nothing to worry about. Funny but as I'm finishing this post my song list is playing CCR's "Who'll stop the rain".....

01 CAt Man Do

Had a beautiful day ride today. Temps in the mid 80s ( F ) so thought I'd try for an extended ride. At the start of the ride I just wasn't feeling it but chose to ride anyway. Just too nice of a day not to ride. I figured if I started to not feel good I could cut the ride short. Planned ride was for 18.3 miles. At about the halfway point I decided to take another route that should have knocked some miles off the original route. I was starting to get warm so I figured I'd take some roads with a few less hills. Turns out the changes I made during my ride really didn't cut the ride that short. Ended up riding about 16.8 miles. That 1.5 miles difference would of had a few more hills though.

During the ride I did have a couple "momentary power cutoffs". This time it didn't happen at the start of the ride but during the ride. Both times it happened I distinctly remember hitting a bump and then the power going out. With this said I hit bumps in the road all the time so it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often. Still, it's a PITA and I plan to bring the issue up with the LBS. Could be the battery platform is not completely stable. I thought I noticed some wiggle on the platform but I'll let the shop take a look at it and see what they say. In the mean time I'm going to wrap a Velcro strap around the battery and down tube and see if that eliminates the problem.

Now here's something funny that happened after I finished the ride. As I was standing in front of my building turning off what lights I had on and just trying to cool off while I'm doing it, some dude ( a complete stranger to me ) walks over to me and starts asking me questions..."Is this your bike, do you live here"?...I nod and say yes. Dude than asks me If I know where the ***** store is just down the road. Once again I answer in the affirmative. Dude than asks me if he can borrow my bike to ride down to the store............Trying not to laugh ( but failing ) I of course told him I couldn't let him use my bike. Dude just turns around and walks away. I now realize that what I should of said was, "Sure Dude, you can use my bike". Just give me $3000.00 to hold as collateral and I'll give it back to you when you return the bike".

Some people just have no sense of what is socially acceptable behavior. Not too many years ago I was witness to a similar incident. I'm getting in an elevator with a women, two other people and a Dude holding a cell phone. When the door closed the Dude started muttering something about his battery just died...Dude turns around and then asks the women behind him if he could use her phone to make a call.......The women ( looking very annoyed ) was not amused and answered, "No!" ( She's probably thinking, "Yeah like I'm going to give you my $700 iPhone with all my personal information on it and trust you, a complete stranger, are going to give it right back. ) ...idiots! ....Anyway, after I took my bike into my unit I looked in the mirror in my bathroom just to make sure someone didn't write, "Stupid-a** trusting idiot", on my forehead while I was asleep last night.

01 CAt Man Do

Big rain moved in today right around my favorite time to ride. No problem, I was a little tired from my ride yesterday anyway. Rain passed rather quickly but unfortunately if did bring high winds and a torrential down pour. Don't mind the rain that much but with all the high winds and downpours it is just littering all the roads near me with debris, not to mention what it has been doing to the local MUP's. Downed trees all over the place and a real pita. No doubt the County will be busy with the chain saws for the next week or so. I hate to think what all the bad weather is doing to the local MTB trails. No doubt there are going to be multiple downed trees across trails for at least a couple weeks.

Because the rain came somewhat early I knew I could get a ride in later on after sunset. By the time I knew I would ride I figured the roads would be mostly dry but sadly it turned out with the high humidity there was still mostly damp or wet roads. Wet roads mean that the throw from my low beam lamp wasn't going to carry as far as it usually does hence one of the reasons I hate riding on wet roads. Sure was going to make it harder trying to avoid all the road debris.

I thought about canceling the ride but I wanted to test my theory that I could keep the battery from cutting out when hitting bumps. Just before leaving I took three of my buckled Velco straps, joined them together and then used them to wrap around the top of the battery, all way round and underneath the platform that holds the battery. I did away with the idea of wrapping a strap around the battery and down tube. With the strap mounted long-ways around the battery you really can hardly tell it's there because the black straps blend with the color of the frame so it looks completely natural. Oddly, it turns out it also makes the battery look smaller which I consider something positive.

Didn't do too much of a ride, just about 6 miles but in that six miles I put the battery strap idea to the acid test. I hit every manhole cover, crack, rumble bumps I could find. I even rode it down that bumpy ol' MUP I mentioned in an earlier post. Then, as if that wasn't enough, I decided to drop the bike off a curb. ( BANG, BANG! ) I figured if it didn't lose power with that big of a hit then it wasn't going to lose power. It didn't lose power, all of which I find very encouraging.

Hopefully the Velcro straps I use will hold up over time. The plastic buckles tend to be brittle on these cheap Velcro straps. At least replacements are easy to find on Amazon and fairly cheap.

BTW, I forgot to mention in my last post that my ride that day only used one bar on the handlebar module battery indicator. This of course doesn't mean it used exactly just one bar. The indictor on the module doesn't show half bars or any such thing so could of used more than one bar. Later when I charged the battery the indicator on the battery itself showed two bars that needed to be charged ( two lights blinking ) so fair to say I used a little more than just one bar.

01 CAt Man Do

This is the post that is going to be very frustrating for me to write. It seems my initial test with the Velcro strap ( helping to hold the battery ) must of been some kind of fluke. Tonight after getting home from work I decided to do a quick ride just to unwind. To my dismay I began to have more intermittent power outages then I've ever had before. The difference this time though was sometimes it would happen after a bump but sometimes it would just happen for no apparent reason. My ride was short, no more than 5 miles and on nice asphalt roads. And in that five miles I had the e-assist cut out three times in the first three miles. To me this is something I am not willing to tolerate. Could be the strap lost tension but from what I could tell it hadn't moved. I may have to reposition just to see if that helps but I have to be careful with how much tension I put on the straps because if I put too much tension on the strap one of the plastic buckles could break.

If I can't figure this out by the end of next week I'm going to have to return it to the LBS. I doubt they will have a replacement because this model is no longer sold. This is even more sad because I go on vacation in a couple weeks and this could ruin my plans on taking some road trips. Odd though that the first ride with the strap was completely perfect ( hitting every bump I could find ) and then the next time I ride I barely hit any bumps and I get the complete opposite effect, go figure.

If there is one type of problem I hate more than any other it's intermittent electrical problems. I've assumed to this point that the issue is with the battery moving and losing connection with the electrical connector built into the battery mounting platform. However there are other possibilities. Could be something wrong with the computer control module or perhaps the switch. I think I can cross out the switch as the problem because I've seen the module screen go completely blank and then come back on. You can't turn the power off to the module screen from the handlebar remote. Sometimes the module stays on and I just lose power from the e-assist. When that happens I just turn it back on. Other times I see the entire module screen go blank and then come back on. Of course when that happens the e-assist automatically turns off and you have to turn it back on with the remote when the screen reboots. This is not looking good.

Next time I go out for a ride I'm going to try double strapping and see if that helps. There is one other possibility; It might be the battery itself. When I look at the female end of where the connectors are suppose to go I can't help but notice that it seems the copper contacts are pretty far up into the battery. Maybe too far up (?) ......uhhhhhhh...boy...what a PITA this is going to be.

There is only one upside to this. I should be able to get my money back since I've only owned this bike less than a month. That said I've learned some things about ebikes that I didn't know before. This will help me if I choose to buy a different brand.

***Edit; I read on EBF that the intermittent "cutting out" is a software problem. Seems others have had the same problem. I need to go to the Trek dealer to get the software updated. Hoping this will not take more than a couple days. I'll give the LBS a call tomorrow to inquire about getting this done. Glad to hear that others had the same problem and that the newer software is able to get it all working again. We will see.

2old

The one positive is that Trek has great CS from my experience with them. I was unhappy with the rear shock on a premium MTB that I purchased, and they swapped it for an upgrade, no charge. You might need to go up the chain of command though; I did.

01 CAt Man Do

I got up a little early yesterday so I could truck on down to the LBS before heading off to work. After speaking with one of the mechanics there the previous day on the phone, we both seemed to agree that the problem was likely what I had previously surmised, "problem with the computer control module". Didn't take long to fix. Maybe ten minutes for the actual diagnostic and download then another 15 or so just BS'ing about ebikes and such. The guy told me that not only did the module take a new program but so did the switch. Interesting. The diagnostic also checked out the battery as well.

No time to take it for a test ride after getting it back since I had to get to work but I did just now finish a short test ride minutes ago after getting home from work. Didn't want to be out too long since I plan on taking a nice long ride tomorrow. So far, no problems, all seems good to go. System is up and running and the only difference I see in the UI is that there is no more "walking mode". Walking mode was kind of redundant anyway so I doubt I'll miss it.

Other misc. comments; I mentioned to the mechanic that since there is no "back pedaling" ( the chain does not go backwards although you can reverse pedal ) that it makes it hard if you want to clean the chain. He suggested that I take the chain off and clean it that way. I told him I always hated trying to get those "quick link" things apart and then he showed me the easy way by using a Park tool. That will work but still not as easy as using one of those plastic chain cleaners.

Several posts back I talked about getting caught in a down pour and how the rain jacket I had with me on that day was a total fail. Well, last weekend I was driving down the road during a light rain when I just happened to notice a guy riding a bike wearing one of those clear vinyl emergency poncho's. What struck me was that he wasn't putting the hood "Over the helmet but under the helmet". Sheesh!.....Now why didn't I think of that. Not the perfect solution and likely hot as all get out BUT it should keep the rain from pouring down my face as long as it's not raining really hard. When I got home that day I tried mine on that way and by Jove I think it's gonna work. Worn under the helmet the hood on mine comes out over top of my glasses so I consider that a big plus as it should keep water from running down my face and into my eyes...at least that is my theory that I hope proves to be actually. Regardless. I hope never to get caught in a downpour like I did that day. Riding in that kind of rain without some type of face shield would be almost impossible.

Tomorrow I'm planning what I call a "Lightning bug Ride". This is a ride where you start just before sunset when the Lightning bugs are just starting to rise from the ground. I've done this before and the Lightning bugs put on quite a show. I think this particular route is about 17 miles and has a good 2-3 , steep, roller coaster type hills. When I did these hills on my normal bike I could make it to the top but would always have to stop near the top to catch my breath ( and that was more than ten years ago ) Can't wait to try the Trek ebike on the biggest hill. Not suppose to rain tomorrow but one never knows.

2old

As opposed to socal where it's not supposed to rain for the next four months.

01 CAt Man Do

LOL....SoCal, the land of milk and honey. Reminds me of that song from back in the 70's ( It never rains in SoCal ) I guess as long as Cal. doesn't break off and fall into the ocean or you get trapped by a raging forest fire you're good to go.

01 CAt Man Do

Just thought I'd add a quick update before going into work today. Still haven't done a ride over 14 miles but since getting the bike back from the shop with the new program in place I have done 3-4 short rides which added up to about 25 miles. So far I've had no problems with the e-assist cutting out. Hoping that continues. Should get a longer ride next week when I off. I should also mention that in that 25 miles both the module and the battery are still showing all bars, a good sign the system is more efficient.

01 CAt Man Do

I have a feeling that next week when I'm off I'm going to get very frustrated. The forecast ( starting Sunday ) is for rain ( 40-50% ) almost everyday. Saturday looks to be my best chance for a ride but unfortunately I have a doctors appointment and other errands to run. For me this is all very depressing and reminiscent of what I had to deal with last year. Almost seems like there is some kind of curse on me that makes it rain every time I get some time off to ride. Either rain, horrid heat wave or high winds....those are things I can't deal with.

Well I did say I wanted to test my rain gear so no doubt that will happen. That said I don't plan to ride in rain if I'm planning a road trip and driving somewhere. I have a feeling if I'm able to do any road trips it will only be for one or two days if what the long range weather forecast predicts is true. Yesterday a storm front moved through that dropped 0.5" of rain in less than 15 minutes. I thought my car was going to start floating down the road. Total 1" for the entire day. I think I can forget about mountain biking for the next week altogether. I haven't ridden my MTB in so long that all the air has completely leaked from the tires. Nope, can't ride in mud, not my thing. All I can do now is pray that the weather algorithms are wrong. ( I kid you not, this is almost enough to make me apply for FMLA so I can call out from my job at anytime without risk. )

Well, yesterday the Amazon man brought my new rain pants. I also have a set of goggles that will fit over my glasses that I've treated with Rain-X. I also have a pair of water proof cycling gloves ( although they might have to be sent back as they are somewhat small ). I guess I'll get a chance to see how well all this stuff works although I'm not looking forward to it.

2old

Can't you put the bike on/in your car and drive where the weather is more clement, then stay for a few days (forever)?

01 CAt Man Do

Not really practical most of the time. More practical to look at the local weather radar and then try to judge where you think the rain is going to go. All depends on the size of the storm cells and the times when they will be in your area. I'm willing to drive a couple hours from my home area but I like knowing the roads I am going to ride. I rarely go out on road rides and just ride randomly around. Luckily for me my job gives me a vast knowledge of my local state. I have a couple nice rides worked up on my "Ride with GPS" account that would take me along some nice country back roads of Md.'s Eastern Shore. Sadly to get to these places would take more than a two hour drive but I'd love to give it try since most of the terrain over there is flat which would help conserve power from the battery. Still, during weeks when there are daily storms that come from the south and/or the west it can be almost impossible to guess just where to go to avoid the rain.

Today I drove down to the entrance gate to *Patapsco State park which is close to where I work ( *which I mention in post # 3 ) just to find out if the Grist Mill trail ( MUP ) was reopened. The man at the gate told me that the trail was now completely open. That made my day. I can now plan the loop I used to do that went through the park. The man also told me that the Dam that used to be there had now been completely removed. I'm going to miss that ol' dam. Lots of local as well as personal history with that old dam. Only reason it was removed was because environmentalist convinced the local government that some local water species were being effected by the presence of the dam. During that time the Obama administration was helping fund local environmental projects and unfortunately the Patapsco dam got targeted even though many people ( including myself ) considered it an important part of the local history. Took them some years to get the project going but they finally did get around to it. I can only imagine what the river that now flows freely down to the Chesapeake bay is going to look like. I'll probably find out tomorrow when I do the loop. I have a feeling when I get to the spot where the dam used to be that I'm going to be wiping tears from my eyes.

01 CAt Man Do

Well the hustle and bustle of my daytime Saturday turned out to use more time than I had planned. By the time I got home I was so pooped I had to take a short nap. Sadly got back up just as the sun was setting. That meant no ride through Patapsco park. Likely the park still closes at sunset and they have Park rangers on site, sometimes even till after 11:00pm. ( I know this because when I was younger ( in my 40's ) The rangers caught me riding my mountain bike a couple of times through the lower park ( where the park roads are ). Not to mention they might even close off the bridge at night that connects the trail at one spot to the road. Damn! wish I asked about that when I was talking to one of the rangers just the other day. Ahhhh...opportunity lost.

This of course meant that if it was suppose to rain the next 6 days I better get a ride in while I still can. Did a nice little 17 miler. Once again I love riding when the moon is full and the temps are nice. Turned out tonight was one of those nights. Again, I like playing CCR's " " just as I get the moon to my right. Kudos also to to "The Allman Brothers" and the song " and then finally "The Eagles" and the live version of the song " ". All great songs ( on my Google Play list ) that added to the mood of the night. Even stopped to take a photo of the moon. Cloudy night so the moon was playing "hide and seek" throughout most of the ride. Gotta love the moon at night. Just makes being out late at night more of an event. Photo below is of tonight's moon. Just slightly visible was the only other thing bright enough to breach the moon's glare, the planet Saturn, just off to the left of the moon. I'm surprised my phone camera was able to pick it up. Quite visible to the eye when ever the clouds would clear.

The Trek Conduit continues to perform without any other problems. Hopefully I'll find a way to get some day rides in this week without dealing with too much rain. Crossing my fingers.

01 CAt Man Do

I had my car washed today. Why is that important (?) you may ask. Easy answer. With the projected chance of 50% rain today I had to use my Metaphysics skills in order to get a ride in. In short I used the Quantum Inverse / reciprocal Principal of Muphy's Law. To those not acquainted with this principal I will quickly explain; Known fact regarding Murphy's Law; If you pay to wash your car it WILL RAIN either that day or the next day. Using the Quantum Inverse Principal I washed my car *because I wanted it to rain. ( *wanting the inverse to happen invoked a reciprocal reaction from Mother Nature). If it had rained I would have tested my new rain gear. Because of that and the fact that I washed my car the complete opposite happened. It did not rain. If I had not washed my car or had not had new rain gear it would have rained.

I did finally get a chance to get that "Lightning bug" ride in. That said it was rather warm and very humid. I was worried that I might get too hot but fortunately that did not happen. Turned out to be a very eventful and enjoyable ride. I avoided more than twenty ( very small ) frogs, avoided running over an Owl and yes even got a chance to see multiple Lightning bugs. The Owl event was a complete surprise. First time I ever saw an Owl on the ground. I scared the hell out of the Owl and the Owl scared the hell out of me. Still, very cool seeing the rarely seen nocturnal wildlife up close.

I Took more pictures of the moon. Wish I had some kind of filter so I could see the details that my eyes see when I'm taking the photo. With the moon being so bright the photo just looks like a bright round ball. I took a short video ( 55 sec. ) of the Lightning bugs. I'm supplying the video link but it's hard to see the small luminous output's of the lightning bugs on the video. First part of the video I turned off my lights. I didn't realize that the camera needed some light in order to focus. At the very end I turned on my front light on low and that helped a bit. "Lightning bug video link"

Tomorrow it will likely rain like hell. Once MNature finds it's been fooled there is usually some kind of retaliatory payback. Going to be warm tomorrow. I'd like to take a mountain bike ride but if it rains that's not going to happen. Hmmm....perhaps if I wax my car tomorrow and detail the tires ...AND...take all my new rain gear along....yes,yes... that just might work. Haven't used the Quantum Double Reverse Principle in a long time. Still it's a long shot. Very hard to fool Mother Nature two days in a row. I'll be treading on dangerous ground but I'll see if I can spoof MNature again into another dry day.

Almost forgot to mention; When I got back from my ride ( about 10 miles ) I reached down to the motor to see if the motor was getting hot. Nope, even with the warm day the motor felt stone cold. That's good to know.

01 CAt Man Do

Turned out to be a warm day. Although it had rained a short bit before I got up today, by the time I was ready to do something all the roads looked dry. Of course I hadn't planned on a day road ride in hot weather so I sat a while pondering what I wanted to do. Radar maps showed most rain had passed although the forcast said there might be more later in the day. ( Yeah Right ). Decided to go get a haircut hoping by that time I'd maybe figure out a way to out fox Mother Nature.

Back at the house I perused the local Weather Underground stations to check on how much rain fell in the place I had planned to mountain bike. A history of the last week showed that the area in question had gotten more than an inch on Thursday, that I already knew about. I figured after three days it should be good to go but then I checked on how much fell today. The graph showed only 0.2". Now normally I wouldn't have let that amount of rain stop me but with the combined rain that fell on Thursday I figured it might have softened the trail surfaces again. ( drainage on this particular trail system is not particularly good, this I know from experience ) Damn!, I said to myself. "Looks like MN got her revenge". At that point is was a little too late to start the Patapsco ride I wanted to do earlier in the week. Could of done it but damn it was hot so I thought it better to wait for a better day. That left just my local area for a ride. Fully dark by this time it cooled a bit and turned out to be a fairly nice night for a ride although it was still warm.

On one particular short /steep hill ( on the same MUP I rode last night ) I hit the assist mode button to "normal" just to make it easier since it was hot. When I was almost to the top I powered down to "eco" mode and then suddenly I thought I had lost all assistance from the motor. Looking down at the module the module indicated "eco" mode. Damn, felt like I was pedaling a tank. I stopped to think on this and to be sure something wasn't wrong I rebooted the module. After that all seemed fine, eco mode seemed like eco mode. I realize now that this just might have been a mental faux pas on my part but I really am still not so sure. At the time I was still going up a slight hill and so I have my doubts. What I should have done was taken the damn BT ear buds out of my ears so I could hear if the motor was working or not. I'll remember that the next time this happens ( if it happens ).

Well MN nixed my mountain bike ride but I did get a nice local ride in. Still, MN was punishing me by blocking out the moon and shutting down most of the lightning bugs. Turned out though that I scored a victory because obviously she was tempting me to extend the ride, WHICH I may add, I almost did. Turned out to be a smart move "not to extend the ride". That was because Mother Nature planned to ambush me at the end of my ride. Of course I had no idea about that at the time. Turned out to be just dumb luck on my part not to extend the ride. That's because not more than ten minutes after I got home and had removed most of my cycling clothes I heard a big, Ba'Boom outside. ( a very loud thunder clap ). I got up from my couch and pulled open the blinds. Just a torrid of rain falling outside! Now where in the hell did that come from! The weather radar before I left showed no storms anywhere near. I realized this was Mother Nature using one of her old tricks.. the sudden Pop-up storm. This type of storm is very common in this part of the country especially during the summer months. This is why I have to always carry rain gear.

Anyway, after I stared out the window in disbelief for a minute or two I suddenly remembered I wanted to test the rain gear...Wow! Now how could I have forgotten that! I quickly threw on my cycling clothes and put on the rain shorts I have and the rain jacket ( And with the hood under the helmet ). And of course the goggles that I treated with Rain-X. Boy did I feel like a jerk as I'm outside pedaling around my parking lot in the pouring rain. I'd of gone for a longer ride but had just finished a ride and so decided just to lap the parking lot a couple times. Got some strange looks from some folks who were in their cars waiting for the rain to stop. The good news; The rain gear work very well although I'm a little disappointed that the Rain-X I used on the goggles didn't seem to do too much to remove droplets from the front of the goggles. Still, the goggles were a vast improvement over just wearing my glasses. Considering how hard it was raining they did a fair job at letting me see where I was going.

I'm still worried of course that Mother Nature is not yet finished with me this week. ( ) Tomorrow brings another day and another episode as the saga of the "Me vs. Mother Nature" battle continues.

01 CAt Man Do

Yesterday I finally got a 22 miler in on the Trek Conduit. Originally I was planning a night MTB ride but after taking the MTB outside for a quick pre-ride spin it still seemed pretty warm outside. The ride I had planned would of taking me up a number of slow rocky climbs so I opted out for the ebike ride. Strange, but after I came outside with the ebike it had gotten significantly cooler ( of which I was very, very glad ). If I had known it would have gotten that much cooler I would of taken the MTB ride.

Turned out to be a nice night to ride the ebike. With the cooler temps it inspired me to do a longer ride ( which was not planned ). Found a couple new roads to ride and that help extend the ride. I now know I can do a longer ride as long as I'm feeling good. Looking forward to some more 20 milers. BTW, only used a little over one bar according to the battery indicator. If I could change one thing about the computer module I wish the battery indicator was digital. Would be nice to know exactly just how much battery juice you have left especially once you get down to the last couple bars. Did the whole 22 miles in Eco mode, no sweat. ( ...and for once, NO RAIN and barely a cloud in the sky )