Mugginess, gutter lines, and a test ride

I had a busy weekend, helping a friend move into town and get settled in before she starts nursing school next week. I did find time to FINALLY take the Trucker out for a test ride. Saturday was just about perfect for riding - some high clouds, a light breeze, about 65F. I hit the BWI trail with my friend Karen for the shakedown ride of the Trucker and it was great. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, with my Brooks B17 being comfortable to ride on its first voyage. The barend shifting worked great, frame felt solid as a rock, no real issues. The only thing I need to look into is adjusting the cable on the rear deraileur. When it was set or indexed shifting it had a tendency to ghost-shift on me. That went away when I switched over to friction (I love barend) but I would like to adjust it. I think it's a result of the one (failed) attempt to break the bike down and pack it.

This morning I decided to ride to work, despite a very grey sky. It is definitely approaching summer here, juding by how thick the air was on the ride. It was warm, but felt like I was riding through pudding the air was so thick. I don't know if it was the weather or what, but I also was having a hard time with the gutter lines today. Three or four times I tried to slide from the gutter back into the street and one of my tires got hung up, making me slide along the edge and feel a little unsettled for a minute. I hate it when that happens because I always think about what happened to my buddy's wife in that situation where she did tip. Unfortunately she was using toe clips and her shoe got hung up. She didn't do any serious damage, but ouch.