Don't Drift Along With the Tumbling Tumbleweeds

BG before ride home:  179   BG after getting home, after 28 carb  snack: 144 
Evening stats from the GPS:    Total Distance Miles:  7.54
Overall average speed     Moving Avg      Max Speed
08.5  Mph                            10.3 mph            21.1 mph
Total Trip time                Moving Time     Stopped Time
  53:86 mins                      44:15 mins          10:00 mins 
 

Yesterday, when I finished reassembling the cam position sensor on Jacque's Exploder and aired up my bike tires, I also lubed the chain.  I noticed, as I turned the rear wheel, a clicking noise like something was touching the spokes... and there was.  A bit of tumbleweed.  I flipped the offending little thing out of the way, but it refused to get out of the way......  As I looked closer I could see it was part of a stem of tumbleweed wrapped around the outer ring of the cassette gears.  It had been shifting a bit weirdly recently and now I saw why.
Tumbleweed, especially this time of year, is just flimsy and fragile and dried out, right?  Not really.  I remembered the last couple of windy days when the tumbleweeds piled up underneath the Paseo overpass, completely covering the bike AND pedestrian path.  These pile-ups build up on almost every windy day, and unless a passing cyclist (like ME) stops and throws the things one by one over the rail and into the drainage ditch, they just seem to stay there.  I've never caught any city or county workers cleaning them out.
Anyway, a couple days ago I was running late for work and didn't feel I had time to stop and play throw-the-tumbleweed, so I just slowed down, eased over to the west side of the path where the pile was smallest, and rode right through them.  Made it OK, and got to work on time, but then a couple days later I find this so-called fragile tumbleweed stem wrapped solidly around my rear axle like it was strong rope.  It took a bit of hard digging with a  tool and several minutes to finally get it cleared out of the works.  I really like the smoother shifting now, with freshly lubed chain and derallier (sp?) workings.... AND lack of tumbleweed stubs gumming up the action.
Even though it was a bit colder this morning than yesterday, the sunny weather evidently is luring the cyclists back out.  Passed quite a few this morning.
Starting BG:  216      Post-Ride BG:  165
Morning Stats from the GPS:                       Total Miles:  7.43
Overall average speed      Moving Avg         Max Speed
09.8  Mph                          11.2 mph             20.4 mph
Total Trip time                   Moving Time       Stopped Time
45:38 mins                          39:44 mins            05:54 mins