Three rides; Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. A cold and blustery week. Tights, layers, gloves. The threat of snow showers. Bright sun and blue skies. Windy, sometimes harshly so. But all rewarding. The grit and gnaw and grind and spit, the dazzle and the shine.
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| Tuesday 4:43 PM, April 21, 2015 |
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| Saturday, 12:05 PM, April 25, 2015 |
Bancroft Tower stalwart in all weather conditions, a rocky testimonial to loyalty and the Generous Spirit. A Beacon of Whack. And on top of a giant hill, let's not forget. The last time I visited it (the 25th), as I started descending the other side, the driver of a car coming up gave me the thumbs-up sign through the windshield as if to say "Nice job, dude, that's a fucking steep hill!"
The Tower is one constant and so are the Holden Reservoirs of the oft-titled "Reservoir Loop" on Strava. I zipped by them with the Niceness three times this week.
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| Reservoir Style. Tuesday, April 21, 2015 |
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| From the northernmost point Sunday, April 26, 2015 |
Saturday's bright sun dappled the pavement with branch shadow, an ever-changing spasm of cosmic dendrites patterning the road ahead.
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| Cosmic dendrites |
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| Classics on William St Saturday, April 25, 2015 |
Sunday was another story. The day dawned in full sun, a last-day-of-the-week promise of Brightness and Warmth. Illusion! By 10:00 AM huge gray-puff clouds in steely phalanxes crawled across the horizon in what seemed like an orchestrated assault on my little patch of the Cosmos, and though the thermometer suggested 54 degrees, the morning grew into nip and snarl.
The thing is, with these sorts of changing weather conditions, figuring out the proper riding attire is always a challenge. I chose well today, opting for the winter-heavy neoprene neon lime top over two layers of riding jerseys, one short sleeved and one long sleeved. And a brown paper shopping bag lining the front. Full tights. Full fingered liner gloves over biking gloves. Perfect! Not cold once, and never too hot either.
I had no time constraints so I decided to ride out of Woo City via Holden St alongside Indian Lake, up Bullard St to Malden St then down to Bailey Rd and into the reservoirs, the climb up South Rd to rt 31 and on to Paxton. Kettle Brook Reservoirs, rt. 56, Mulberry St along the back of the Worcester Regional Airport, then up through Worcester Airport proper, passed the state police vehicle parked in front of the terminal, and out the other side, down to Mill St. Then rush back toward the Woo, a turn onto June St and along to Pleasant, all the while pedaling furiously, and finally into the Elm Park area and back to Shad Rides HQ.
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| Out in the rough somewhere |
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| Just past Kettle Brook |
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| Approaching Worcester Airport |
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| From Worcester Airport |
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| Elm Park Edge, Woo City Sunday, April 26, 2015 |
Sunday was thirty miles when all was said and done, an honorable day if not remarkable. On the week? A little over 70 miles.
Birds seen: Turkey vultures, Canada geese, robins, house finches, crows, hawks, blue jays, starlings.
What are you doing with that camera Shadman? Wild images attending yor Wustadelic prosa. Ayeeeee! Should you being having so much fun with this riding and blogging stuff? "Approaching Worcester Airport", the steely phalanxes, cosmic dendrites, "From the northernmost point" That thing is KUNST! You must be using a real camera, not your cell phone, right? And Bancroft Tower holding steady in the lowering spring. Love that thing.
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