Saturday, September 19, 2015

September bicycle JRA

The morning newspaper reported that September is the fourth warmest month (as measured by average temperature).  Well, OK then, that helps to explain a bit, I guess.  Today was a nice day, noteworthy because we have had a few days of chilly.  Today was certainly not a day from one of the three warmer months but it would have been a very nice day in May.  And it was a very nice day for slightly past the middle of September, a couple of days before the equinox.

For example, it is probably relevant to report that yesterday I donned long pants for the first time (with the exception of ride on airplane days, I personally take exception to people riding on airplanes with their unsightly thighs hanging out of ill fitting shorts, I don't do that) since returning from our spring road trip to Niagara.  And I do not mean long pants for a bicycle ride, I mean long pants for hanging around my house doing not too much in view of the fact that it was raining, raining really hard.  Warm it was NOT.

On the subject of long pants I am dismayed to report that the brand that has provided me with the long pants that I have worn for a huge majority of the times when I was wearing long pants throughout my adult life has totally abandoned my demographic.  What that means in English is that Levi's no longer makes a pair of jeans that suits me.  Mostly the styles are for people far heavier than me, or far younger (you know, skinny jeans in odd shades of blue).  Even the denim itself is suddenly radically altered, it now seems to be about the weight of one of those cheap (and I do mean CHEAP) cotton t-shirts.

Probably if I was shopping for a bicycle I would discover that LOOK no longer makes a bicycle that suits me.  What is painfully evident is that I have passed out of the group of people who buy lots of things so people making things no longer make a huge passel of products that are likely to appeal to me.

*sigh*

So it goes.  So it was meant to go.

I rode my bicycle today and I spent most of the time trying to dodge the wind.  Wind avoidance has gradually evolved into a lot of direction changes.  I try not to ride directly into the wind for too long.  The wind becomes onerous, I take a 90 degree turn.  And then another and then another, breaking the ride up into segments.  I used to refer to this as just riding around.

 I did get what I think is a nice addition to the bench series.  This is a pile of benches.
Possibly detectable but not totally obvious is that there is an open area just behind that pile of benches.  During the Fair they set up a stage there and benches (the ones pictured) for folks to sit upon.  I do not believe that we have ever actually partaken of any exposition at that spot and on those benches although we certainly pass by within a few yards.  I think I heard the announcer once this year and I think it was a dog show.  I could be wrong.

Even though the Fairgrounds is now open and available for riding a new obstacle has been thrown up in the way of any ride I may want to take to the big city just to our south.  They have closed the road at Deadman's Curve.
Note that Deadman's Curve advertises that there is a bike lane ahead.  This is noteworthy in that there is not actually a bike lane under those two bridges with the two turns.  There is a bike lane ahead, but not under the bridges through the turns.
That's why I call it Deadman's Curve.

But not today, today what they have is road closed and a look out from under the bridge proves that they are serious.

1 comment:

Santini said...

That bench photo is also a nice addition to an (undeclared) series of water tower photos. A big cluster of benches is a nice variation on the theme.

I cannot be sure of this, but I think you might wear long pants more often if you lived downwind from a really, really big puddle of cold water. Anyway, sorry about the Levi thing. It could be worse -- you could be built to wear the ones they do make.

Avoid that curve.