Given this dedication to bare legged riding it may come as a surprise that it is from BKW that I learned a rule that has served me extremely well. The rule is that one should keep one's legs covered when riding in springtime until the temperature rises to at least 20 degrees. Obviously that's 20 degrees Celsius, it is a rule from Belgium after all. 20 Celsius is equivalent to 68 Fahrenheit. The idea is that bicycling puts a lot of stress on the knee joint, a joint which does not have much flesh surrounding it to assist in keeping the joint warm. It is better to keep some covering until the air temperature is high enough to reduce the danger to these important joints. Each year I resist uncovering my legs until the temperature is at, or at least very near to 20 degrees Celsius.
Once having uncovered my legs it is a little difficult to cover them back up. It seems wrong somehow. Today, however, the threat of being cold seemed much more wrong. What I donned are technically leg warmers, but leg warmers are just knee warmers that extend all the way down to the ankle. Today felt quite cold.
But the sun was out and it was an extremely pretty day. I went for a bicycle ride. Among the things I wanted to accomplish today was a brush up on looking at old stone churches. The one that I found is the Church of Saint Andrew near Lake Como.
It isn't really a very old church and it is brick, not stone. I couldn't find any information on line about how old the building is but I am pretty sure it isn't as old as this one.
The Cathedral at Chartres, afternoon photo of the west portal. The west portal was built between 1145 and 1155. A fire in 1194 heavily damaged the rest of the church and it was reconstructed over the course of the next 100 years with assistance from le Roi and a prosperous merchant class. The first evidence of a Christian church on this site is when one was destroyed 743 by Hunald, Duke of Aquitaine after a quarrel with the sons of Charles Martel. There are hints that the spot may have been used as place of worship in times before historical records by Druids. The legend is that Druids gathered once a year at this spot around a well. A well said to be the Druid well is preserved in the lower level of the church, below the sanctuary. This is all relevant because there is a Church of Saint Andrew in Chartres, dating from the 12th century. The part extending over the Eure River was demolished in 1827 for safety reasons.
Isn't this fun? Doesn't it make you want to examine some old stone churches?In more mundane matters, I rode on towards home and passed this undecided lilac. I pictured it once last year but this year I have available hours during mid-day when the light is much better for photography. The branches with the white flowers are not a separate bush, they are branches that have been grafted onto the bush with purple flowers.
It was cold today with a north wind. I ended up mostly riding east and west to avoid too much exposure to the wind. As a result I passed Lake Como a couple of times and eventually succumbed to the urge to include a lake photo.
I have been expecting to see some activity in the corn field and today I was rewarded. I was hoping to see the planting but the piece of equipment I saw going into the field does not conform to my memory of what a corn planter looks like.
Sure enough, when I walked into the field and examined the residue being left being left behind by that apparatus it was apparent that today's application is of fertilizer. I think the ground will soon be warm enough and the planting will begin.
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