Ride # 37: Just Like That

78 Degrees at 3:30 in the afternoon
road bike time

Just like that, it's 78 degrees, the sun pouring down through a vaguely gauzy veil of high encroaching clouds. Saturday I was battling the elements in northern Vermont and today (Tuesday) it's beyond spring-like, it's early-summer-like.

It's amazing how the transition to short sleeves and shorts occurs. One day you're in tights and layers, a few days later and you're wearing hardly anything, just a thin bike jersey and a pair of skin tight shorts. For the first few minutes today, dressed so, I felt incredibly exposed, even silly. But then the arrow-like line and the speed of the road bike took over my awareness and all I cared about was zooming forward with grace and assurance.

Unfortunately, the warm weather brings out the animals and that ups the road kill total. We are entering the Season of Slaughter. Today offered a preview of the sanguinary scenes to come.

Calamity on the tarmac

1st turtle casualty of the year

On a positive note, I passed a branch of the Nashua River and there, lined up along several logs, were 20 or 30 very much alive painted turtles soaking up the sun's energy. A sure marker of spring.

Ride Stats: Road Bike! 1st time this year. 34.38 miles (54 K), 15.7 mph, two hours and eleven minutes. Felt great being on the more slender, lighter bike, the thinner tires, the less road resistance. The beginning of what I hope to be a long season of road cycling.