Perfect Days

We are enjoying a run of perfect weather days, lots of sun and warmth and no wind worth mentioning. The glory of spring! Everyday in the 70s, moderate to low humidity, a cyclist's joy. And how quickly riding in shorts and a short-sleeve jersey has come to feel normal again. As if the whole wrath of winter had never occurred. Incredible.

And along with the sun and warmth have come flowering bushes and trees, the emergence of foliage, all the trees aura'd in pale lime, a color that couldn't be fresher nor suggest ALIVE any more aptly. And yet the trees are not yet fully leafed so while spinning along the hardwood forest roads in Holden and Princeton, you can still see clearly into the woods, still see the graying stone walls running nobly into the hilly and tree-trunked distance.

Almost two weeks ago now (April 27), I road with the crew from Barney's Bikes on their Monday night ride. Among the riders (14 in all) was a scrum of fast guys that I did my best to keep pace with. I did for a while but once we reached the reservoir, try as I did to hang onto the wheel of the last guy, the eight or so guys ahead kept the pace at around 19 mph and I dropped off the back.

Monday night speedsters

Whirring by the reservoir, in vain pursuit

That chilly, darkening Monday night was the last ride with tights and long sleeves. Since then the earth has apparently shifted, the juncos have flown north, and the happy days of spring riding have arrived.

I followed up this past Sunday's spirited and lengthy sojourn to the Mountaintop with a reasonably fast-paced 20 mile Reservoir Loop on Tuesday (May 5) (a ride not captured by Strava as I had technical difficulties with my tracking device). Managed 15 mph solo, but that's easier to do when there's no wind and when you're clad in minimal attire. Still, given the hilly nature of that loop, I was pleased.

Today's ride was logged on Strava, and a fine ride it was. More irie weather, hot even. Unlike the previous two full-sun rides, today I lathered on the sun screen before setting out. Smart. Yet riding directly into the sun for much of the day was challenging at times and before long my exposed pink forearms gleamed with greasy sweat. Still, like Harry Crosby in his sun-worshipping mania, I welcomed the solar intensity. It's far too early in the spring/summer season to complain about the heat.

One thing that doesn't change is getting out of town. Though there are various ways of exiting the Woo, almost all of them entail some semblance of this:

Intersection of Pleasant and Park

Then there are the west side neighborhoods to traverse. They're reasonably traffic-free, generally quiet and, these days, just beginning to leaf over. They all look something like this:

In the Thickly Settled

One can never be too careful and must keep a wary eye on everything, 360 degrees, the full circle of awareness.

Dubstoevsky; ever wary, ever alert to danger

Finally, after generous energy expenditures, you get out of the city limits, into Holden or Princeton or Paxton, and you're in the hills and the forests, and some roads are better and safer than others, some are narrow and cracked and dangerous, and many are sweet and mostly empty of cars and it is on these streets, whether hilly or flat, curvy or straight, that you can let you mind roam and contemplate the Immensity of Everything, and your own minuscule place in it all.

Mason Rd. and the onset of spring

Today: 35 miles, 15.3 mph, 2000 ft of climbing, allez!