well-paved road ride

The weather was threatenin' no ride today, but when I got up, the prediction was for clear & temps to 47F, so I quick gathered the bike stuff and got up to go out with Winter Larry. At 8:40, I was the only one there for a 9:00 ride start, but Larry & two others appeared, and off we went on this route. Mostly flat, so we added a quick trip up Aggress Road (if you look at the elevation on the linked page, that's that spiky stuff about 2/3 the way through), but this ride was mostly memorable for three things: first (and most important), the excellent quality of the road surfaces (mostly new to me), especially in the first 15 miles or so (although we made up for it on the way back); second, for the fact that we needed to adjust the route for the cross-the-Turnpike-Bridge-closings (Sharon Road is now out, while others are closing soon or newly-reopened); and the terrifying crossing of route 130 at the Cranbury circle, largely due to the factor just listed. I hate crossing main highways where there are no traffic lights, and this circle is not friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists. It's not even that friendly to cars. I said the "Ave Maria" to help us get across, and it must have worked; nobody got hurt.

I was all grumpy that this long weekend would only contain one bike ride, so today's was a pleasant surprise, and has lightened my mood considerably.

Now back home, where the scent of roasted chicken is wafting up the stairs, and I see evidence of two lasagnas being assembled in the kitchen by the excellent wife, in preparation for the kitchen's limited availability during its upcoming renovation. We're getting all new cabinets, and new counter and sink. The excellent wife thinks the current floor is odious (and it's hard to gainsay that; it's impossible to clean where it's heavily-worn, for example), but we're putting that off for another year or so. She spends yonks of time in the kitchen, and the products that emerge as the result of her labors are almost always delightful, so I'm going along with the renovation (I was about to write I was going along happily with the renovation, but that's a fiction that not even I can sustain, and I have a taste for fantasy).

In other news, I have a new Tracfone, a pay-as-you-go phone, because while I need a cell phone, I no longer need it as frequently as I did; so I don't need the guaranteed monthly cost of the Boost Mobile that this one replaces. I now have a new cell number; if we agree you need it, I'll get it to you in a way other than by posting it here. (I'm spending a bunch o' minutes playing with it, but I expect that will pass in a day or two, and I'll get back to my five-calls-a-month standard usage.)