Back on the road again!

The Ride: Neighborhood Crit Course, 8 laps

First outdoor miles of the 2018 riding season!

Miles: 15.3

Time: 1:08

Ave. Speed: 13.3 mph

Weather: Mostly cloudy, 44, light wind

Total Outdoor Miles 2018: 15.3

Total 2018 Indoor Season Miles: 161.0

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The Story

The 1979 song from REO Speedwagon says it all.

And I've always liked this song too.

Not sure what I'm talking about?

Here you go.

Back on the road again, as my 18th season of cycling out there on the road kicked off today on a sloppy course, but it sure felt good to be back on 'Old Blue' once again.

It's always rather odd to me to be riding with snow cover on the ground, and this time around, ice fishermen and people out sturgeon spearing on the lake as I rode by.

Plus, the conditions of the road are not the safest. It's wet, slick and there were spots of slush and ice in some corners. The worst corner was the one at my house, where you had to swing out wide to avoid the ice, but then cut it back in quickly before hitting the slush and ice from the opposite side gutter.

Needless to say I took my time there. One other corner had a pretty deep puddle that couldn't be avoided either.

But my outdoor season started with a bang because a long-time mystery was solved out there today.

Let me explain.

I'm a classic car guy....a car guy in general.

Now, I have ridden this course for hundreds of miles, lap after lap over the past few years. On a handful of occasions I have seen a red Corvette inside a small one-car garage. I always wondered about this older Vette, a Stingray like the one I used to own. But I never saw it outside...never saw anyone around.

But today there was a car that was parked at the curb outside a house near there with a woman inside seemingly waiting for someone or something to happen.

Then I saw it.

The tiny garage door was open, and I saw the red nose of an older Corvette Stingray. It WAS in there!

As I passed I thought about stopping. I didn't think about it for too long before deciding to pull off and check this out.

Heck, this might be my only chance. The house is for sale too!

I've seen it done on those car shows on TV, car guys rolling up on strangers to talk about their vehicles. So I tried it.

Yup. A convertible 1973, which I knew because that's the same year as the one I once owned, the only year with chrome bumpers in the back and a bumper-less soft nose up front.

The man who talked to me about the car said he's just watching it for a relative who was out of town.

But once and for all, I solved the mystery of the neighborhood Little Red Corvette! And I did on my maiden voyage of the 2018 riding season. All in all a good start to the new riding year.