Wool socks

The appearance of the sun today, essential if a day is to be "partly cloudy", occurred only early and only very briefly. The afternoon was "cloudy", as in "overcast", as in no sun at all. As a result the predicted mid-50s high temperature didn't really happen where I live. It was cold enough to induce full end of season gear.

I went to the drawer where all of that stuff has been waiting and came back with long sleeve base layer, heavy long sleeved jersey, tights, full finger end of season gloves, a Windstopper helmet liner and balaclava. I produced wool socks from the sock drawer. I passed on the light weight windbreaker that has served as a "jacket" and went ahead and put on the real jacket.

It was 50 at the cattle barn but I was fine. I have the gear.

Here is what is going on down at the end of our street, we are getting a new what the crew at VeloCity would undoubtedly refer to as "sidewalk".The local city planners refer to it, of course, as a "bike path". The city is getting a new sidewalk, a bunch of my neighbors are losing big chunks of what they have come to consider to be their front, or occasionally side yards. But it is a sidewalk and it is being installed on the city owned right of way so the neighbors are not actually losing anything that they ever really had.

I watched on cable TV the city council meeting where construction of the new multi-use path was approved. Several of the folks who testified in favor cited the current danger to pedestrians along that stretch of busy street due to the necessity of them walking on the shoulder, too close to the cars.

And its okay with me that it is a sidewalk. I ride on the road anyway when I am riding but during the season when I find bicycling not possible I often walk along that stretch of street. After they plow up the snow piles on the shoulder on each side of the street it is, as my fellow citizens testified, a bit dicey walking out there.

And further, while in most places it is illegal to bicycle on the sidewalk (not to mention much more dangerous than in the street), here in Roseville, due to the almost complete lack of sidewalks, there is a local ordinance specifically allowing bicycling on any city owned pavement which is not a street. Mostly the city calls such things, particularly if they are asphalt, bike paths. But if the pavement in question is concrete and has those regularly spaced expansion lines, then the city goes ahead and calls that "sidewalk". And the local ordinance states that it is okay to ride on it.

As I say, I ride on the road, all of this doesn't affect me very much. Except that in this case the new sidewalk will actually be useful to me during the season when I rely on walking as my primary fitness tool.

PS-The season I am referring to is usually called "winter" and today I bicycled in full early winter gear.