Thursday, November 5, 2009

Lots of people went outside

Clear blue sky appeared this morning. It was a pretty nice day, lots of the people who yesterday huddled next to their fires today ventured out.

But it wasn't really quite that nice. It is still, after all, November. Even so, the weather people got almost giddy at the prospect of temperatures reaching 50 when the average high is upper 40s. It was a nice day but I would have appreciated a little more restraint (I'm talking to you KARE-11).

What wind there was was from the south so I started off down into the city. This gave me an opportunity to do more research on those Fairgrounds temperature displays. East end of the Grandstand: 50. Cattle barn: 46. West end of the Grandstand:I don't think so.

I am now operating under the assumption of equipment malfunction. Either that or I can change my winter time vacation plans from somewhere south (like, just for example, Florida) to west end of the Grandstand. It will be plenty warm there, in fact, almost balmy.

I took the State Capitol loop. I must say that this riding in cold weather IS hard. I have ridden that loop quite a few times this year, including at least one occasion with pretty high winds. Today was HARD even with light winds.

I was feeling a tiny bit knackered so I took a little sit down on the edge of the reflecting pool in front of the Veterans Service Building and turned the camera towards the seat of government.Nice blue sky, eh?

The sun was out, it seemed like it might be getting a bit warmer. A detour back through the Fairgrounds wouldn't add more than a few yards to the total trip. I decided to give the equipment one last look.

East end of the Grandstand: 51. Cattle barn: 49. Sure enough, it had gotten a tiny bit warmer. West end of the Grandstand: 62. I am now operating under the assumption of equipment malfunction.

For the first time in about 6 weeks I came home with my face reddened by the sun.

3 comments:

gfr said...

I had one of those days yesterday -- it was just hard work to ride. I even checked my tire pressure to see if soft tires were the culprit. Nothing I could pin down to explain it, so I blame it on the effect of the cold on leg muscles and cardio pulmonary, and the previous day's ride out into the teeth of a stiff wind.

I think vacationing at the fairgrounds might be an idea you should pass along to your chamber of commerce.

Very nice bright blue sky. No photo shopping going on?

The end is near, but not yet here. Kind of like being 65.

Emily M said...

It does look like it was a beautiful day to be out biking - one of the last ones left, I think.

Definitely equipment malfunction, by the way.

Dame Agatha said...

Don't you have a sister, or something, that spends the winter in Florida? That really does sound to me like a better plan than the west end of the grandstand.