On Friday the interwebs were a all buzz about the immenent start to winter. Southern New England and Mid-Atlantic were targeted for a big October dump. With the expectation of impending weather and the first glimpse of the sun after a week of serious steel grey skies, I grabbed the Superfly and headed out for a quickie during the day.
Though it was great to see the sun, it sure didn’t bring any warmth with it. I rode from the office up the Pipeline and back down again, thinking that it would have been smart of me to bring my winter shoes to help keep my toes warm. At the start of the ride I felt a bit unfocused, not really sure what I was doing out there and feeling out of synch. By 2/3 up the Pipeline it was all coming back again, the rhyme and reason of riding and the rhythm of the trail.
Saturday was a ruin of errands in Burlington, yard work and bummed out lethargy. Seemed that the entire world was out at one party or another, and I was sitting at home watching the worst Disney movie ever. On the plus side, my date was cute.
On the other plus side, I was not hungover on Sunday morning which was good because the morning brought this:
and the boy was so excited for the first snow that he was up and donning all his snow clothes to go out and play in it before the sun even came up. A little later he headed out for a play date and I had only a couple of hours to quick go out and do something. 34 degrees, 3 inches of snow, and a dog that needed exercise.
So we headed to Perry Hill with the bike. A little less snow down there in the village, but by the time we climbed up to the start of Permission the snow was more significant. There were also big, fresh hunting boot tracks and so the dog and I turned around and hit the lower stuff before dropping out. Wasn’t a long ride, but at least it was something. This snow won’t stick around for long. And there’ll be some more warmish days for sure.
It was important for me to get a ride in this weekend and mark another anniversary of sorts. It’s now been three years since I recovered from my heart problem. Three years of getting my self back and appreciating every single ride, run and workout. Going through that whole experience has made me extremely thankful for a working body and extremely proud of what I’ve been able to achieve.
oh, and happy halloween.
Changing directions today, talking about a book. Years ago when I was preparing to leave New Zealand, my friend Brenda handed me this book, Danziger’s Travels by Nick Danziger, to read on the long plane ride back to the states. I was captivated by his story of traversing the silk route in the early ’80s. Recently I had recommended the story to a friend and coincidently on my last visit home I found my battered copy in my old bedroom and had to read it again.
