Ride # 33: Ever Larry

Big Balmy. Thursday afternoon, 3:30 or so
plenty of sun, a breeze, low 60s

The Rasputitsa looms close now. Nine days. Close enough to start watching the extended forecast. Right now, wundergound.com is calling for "Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 56F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph" for race day, Saturday, April 19.

Okay, I can take that. Each day between now and then also stands to be above freezing, some days bright with sun. It sounds like the race will befit its name.

Here's a recent interview with the founders of this madness, Heidi Myers and Anthony Moccia.

Today? A Drumlin Ramble. The big sun, the balmy blowing breeze, the blue skies. Dubstoevsky combing the hills for Akhmatova.

Not Tom Boonen or Thor Hushovd
Just a local Drumlin Shad

Plenty of soaring turkey vultures throughout the ride, great shadows swaying on air streams low above the fields. Late in the ride, a great blue heron loping through the blue sky.

Note on the title of this post: 33. That was Larry Bird's number. It's talismanic, sacred, numerologically significant. Today's ride, # 33 of 2014, while not particularly galvanizing, magical, or even metaphorically apt, nonetheless bears the pure number combination of the double 3. There's a local brewery here that makes a "Larry" IPA. While it has nothing to do with Larry Bird, with 33, or with almost anything else pertinent to this post, it is, I must say, a fine drink and one in which I imbue significance without rationality. It comes in black cans with some green thrown in and says "Larry" in black on a yellow background. Whenever Boston (or New England) sports teams are competing in playoffs, I recommend drinking Larrys while watching the game.

Ride Summary: 25.68 miles (40 K), 13.3 mph, almost 2 hours of riding. No road kill. A day of peace and the iration.

Parting Shot

Shadows of the Drumlin