A good, productive day.

25 miles of urban riding today. Right below freezing this morning, so the ride downtown was interesting. The 25 lbs of tools and cleaning products in my backpack, and the east headwinds made the ride a bit of work. The roads, covered in ice wherever a side street intersected them, required keeping a close eye on things, even riding the Monkey. My change in shorts seems to have paid off in terms of the pain. Have a two to three hour road ride scheduled for tomorrow. Different bike, with a different seat, so we'll see how things go.

Today's work at the Des Moines Bike Collective was very effective. A number of people showed up to volunteer their time and effort to clean up the space. Carpet was ripped up, old furnishings were drug to the curb, and floors were swept and mopped. While the carpet came up, after a bit of effort, the foam that had been adhered to the concrete did not. Thankfully, Carl Voss managed to borrow what I can only describe as "The Hellish Carpet Foam Removing Machine". It weighed about 75 lbs, had a large blade that was as wide as my palm. We turned this thing on and the blade vibrated back and forth somewhat violenty. For the next two hours we proceeded to separate the foam from the floor.

Clean up ended around 2 PM. Afterwards a few of us went to Ritual Cafe for a drink and some discussion. Afterwards, I rode with The Mostly Reverend to Zanzibars and onward towards The Orphanage. A big thank you to the folks at Zanzibar's for supplying us with tasty coffee to keep us working today. The rest of the ride was a warm, uneventful, if somewhat wet, trip home. About 25 miles of riding today, some of it cruising with friends and chatting. It was definitely a good day.