Yet four days later, after shifting fronts, varying winds, warming trends, and two days of sustained temperatures above freezing, Saturday heats up to 55+ F (12+ C), a wan sun shines through the ashy clouds (they remind me of the clouds cover over the Somme or Verdun in 1916), and the roads are ice-free. Classic New England about face.
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| 55 Degrees F, Good for Riding |
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| Lemonstar, Not the Somme or Verdun |
The Crust performs flawlessly. I've always loved Specialized bikes and this one is a joy to ride. Stable. Comfortable. Zippy. Responsive.
The one thing I don't have on the Crust, however, is a fender. So today, knowing that with the road side snow piles there'd be snow melt streams, I positioned a plastic shopping bag inside my tights, spreading it out to literally cover my ass. 'Ingenious!' I thought and it actually proved to be effective. I didn't get butt-soaked.
The other consideration besides watery run-off today (and for the next few months) is sand. It's a hazard and complete mindfulness is a must. Winter riding in these conditions means riding conservatively. Scrod's unfortunate crash last month proved to be a Zen cudgel, whacking me squarely in the Consciousness and reminding me to ride with focus and care.
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| Mindful Shad |
Interestingly, before taking off on ride # 99, my beloved ND fairly pleaded with me not to go, telling me that she had a bad feeling about this ride and didn't want me to ride. She was straying into "manifest the occurrence of that which you fear" territory and I had to reassure her with casual bravado not to worry & that everything would be all right (even though her talk of danger had begun to spook me).
And in the end? Everything was fantastic! The wan sun. The empty melting sandy roadways. The snow depths shrinking in the woods and fields. Periodic blasts of cool air off the snow banks. Raw wet farm land. Picturesque town commons, church and town hall as white as the snow cover.
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| Shad's Hometown Commons, December 21, 2013 |
I'm shocked! December 23 out for ride 99! Yes we can! Heard about the unseasonably high temps in NYC and wondered if they'd get up to you. Yahoo!! We've got just under 10° C so no ice or snow. Just wet and dark and cold. I love reading your posts - calms me, comforts me to know that someone is out there holding the torch hight, riding.
ReplyDeleteAnd inside candles and Christmas tree lights a tree in the living room, and kids going wild with expectations, this year we hope reasonable expectations. Mo gets an Ipod, Zo gets a super mario player - whatdajacallit Nintendo. Among other things. Have seen the first two episodes of Breaking Bad. Wondering if I can take more. The madame backed off after the pilot. Mad Men, of which we watched a season or so, was easier to take though with a similar sense of through and through corruption. Not that Mr White in BB is corrupt - yet. Do you guys watch it?
Glad to hear that you consider the safety issues before riding these days. Don't just think of me, think of the kids in the Fail videos who try to ride down railings and end up with squashed cojones, though maybe I'd rather have a couple of days of soreness there than six weeks of lying around. Have left the crutches in the corner, was even limping through downtown yesterday for a few hours finishing up the shopping. Angus roast beef from ARgentina for Christmas EVe dinner tonite! HO HO HO to all in the great city of Lemonstar! S C R O D
Master Scrod, enjoy that roasted beast, mon frere. Christmas Eve day and it's sunny and the roads are dry and I'm working only a half day (from home) so that means ..... possibly .... hopefully (so as not to jinx it) ..... ride # 100! Will post it if I manage to get out there and rip it up on the frozen tarmac.
ReplyDeleteTV shows, alas, nope, I'm ignorant thereof. No time! Too many books (to read AND write), too much cooking to do, too much archiving to attend to, too much Living to do.
Good for you to be up and moving about! Steady, even, determined progress. To less and less limping as the new year unfolds!