Bike Month 2011

Once again it's May and that means Bike Month for us in Sacramento. Like an idiot I pledged more miles than I am really capable of, and I'm already behind.

Today I got out for a 60 miler and felt pretty good despite the wind. My legs had more miles in them, but I had limited time between dropping my son off at school and picking him up.

I snapped this picture to text to my friend Bill during my ride. I like it for many reasons that anyone who knows Bill understands.

One interesting thing of note: check out the curved shadow of the spokes. Why is this?

There are a lot of things happening here. The spokes are casting a shadow on the ground, but the ends of the spokes (near the tire) are traveling much faster than near the center of the wheel. The sunlight, casting a shadow of these objects moving at different speeds along their length, then reflects off a surface moving at 20 miles per hour under me.

My guess is, being a camera phone, the shutter speed is probably pretty slow. I assume between the time the shutter opens to let the light in and when it closes there is enough time for the faster part of the shadow to move relative to the slower part, causing the curved effect. Just a guess.

In other news I saw the first rattler of the year, a big boy. An attractive young lady, running in an outfit better suited to a strip club than a bike trail, stopped and asked me to please not hurt the snake because "she just loves big ol' snakes."

This kind of thing only happens when you get old.

Later.