IT'S BEEN A WEEK since I last got out for any sort of ride, and even longer since my last ride of any "consequence", so it was definitely time. The past week was full of overindulgences in food and drink, and correspondingly short on exercise of any sort.  I've gained back several of the pounds I'd previously shed: negative progress, if ever there was such a thing.

Since today's weather was nothing short of fabulous it would have been criminal to waste it, so I went out for 28 easy miles.  I was on my road bike but in no hurry whatsoever at all in the slightest; it took nearly three hours to complete a circuit I should be able to do in two.  But I wasn't out for a heart-pounding, leg-burning chest heaver; I was in a laid back, relaxed frame of mind, thinking only that every mile I covered at whatever pace the road chose for me was a mile I would otherwise not have done so it was all good.

And it was indeed good.  I stopped for breaks whenever I chose.  I stopped for lunch.  I stopped at a lock along the C&O Canal, because it was there and because it makes a good turn-around spot.  In other words, if I felt like stopping, I stopped.

In keeping with the ongoing journal motif of "every ride serves several purposes", this one did too.  A while back I ordered "Da Brim", a very wide brim that attaches to (many, but not all) bicycle helmets and shades the rider's / wearer's face and the nape of their neck.  Or at least that's the theory.

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It certainly shaded my face the entire time I was riding, and the back of my neck doesn't feel like Krispy Kritters so I'll assume it did its job in that department as well.  It's not the most fashionable accessory one could contrive ("downright dorky" would be my description of its appearance), but it's certainly functional although on an especially windy day it could pose challenges.

Da Brim is incompatible with helmet visors, and my touring helmet has a non-removeable visor so I mounted Da Brim on my "roadie" helmet.  Since it is a very wide brim, it basically replaces the visor anyhow and does a better job of fulfilling the same purpose. 

I was also trying out a new rear view mirror.  I've had mirrors mounted on every helmet I've owned for  the past 40 years or more; without a mirror I feel vulnerable and exposed.  The type of mirror that mounts on the ends of drop bars won't work for me, because my Bike Friday is equipped with bar-end shifters.  (My philosophy relating to touring equipment: keep it as mechanically simple, and as close to universal, as possible.  That seems like it maximizes the potential for emergency field repairs, where the latest and greatest gizmos and do-dads add complication and risk.)  So, the mirror has to be mounted on the rider rather than on the bike.

Keeping the mirror on the helmet, as opposed to the sort that mounts on the bike or on my glasses, means that as long as I have my helmet I have the mirror, and that makes one fewer things to remember to swap when I change bikes.  (I'm notoriously bad about the swapping thing, so I've long since decided it's worth it to simply equip every bike with a dedicated set of whatever I think it needs- tools, patch kit, spare tubes, etc.- rather than try to move one set between a fleet that has at times comprised as many as eight separate bikes.)

But Da Brim does not play nicely with the mirror on my roadie helmet: they compete for the same space around the perimeter and bottom edge of the lid, meaning that Da Brim doesn't mount and fit properly, and the mirror (whose "mount" is nothing more than a spoke, bent to proper shape and coated with plastic) gets shoved uncomfortably against my forehead and temple area.  So, I've caved and gotten one of the type of mirrors that attaches to the bow of my glasses.

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I've seen this type of mirror (may even have had one, once) for years.  You've no doubt seen them, too.  It was not clear to me that it would work with my glasses, though, because they are the frameless type with very stiff but thin titanium wires for the bows.  That doesn't give the mirror a lot to grab hold of, and indeed it has a tendency to want to rotate while I ride.  However, it does give a nice clear, stable, easy-to-see image and the rotation isn't so bad as to render the mirror unusable.  What's more it definitely enables Da Brim to mount and work as it is supposed to.

The tendency to rotate is easily enough dealt with by simply reaching up and putting it back where I want it; I did it so often that it quickly became a habit, almost an unthinking "reflex".  As long as I am scrupulously careful to always, always put the mirror in the same place when it's not in use, so I don't mislay it, I think it'll work out fine.

[UPDATE 6/19  As matters have developed, neither DaBrim nor the new mirror are going to make the trip.  DaBrim proved to cause my helmet to move around too much and in unacceptable ways, and also stressed my neck and shoulders at even modest touring pace.

As for the mirror: it would not stay in the position I wanted when attached to my glasses, in part because DaBrim kept pushing on it and in part because of the thinness of the wire that makes up the bows on my glasses.  I fought it to a standstill by gouging some indentations in the inner shell of my helmet and jamming the mirror mount into them, then holding it in place with electrical tape, but that's not a viable long-term proposition.  Since I have abandoned DaBrim that makes this mirror unnecessary as well; I can go (and have gone) back to my preferred touring helmet that has the built-in visor and a mirror to which I'm long accustomed.]