Fall falls

I have already experienced and worked through a couple of stages of grief concerning the end of summer but clearly most people who live around here have not. I have already been colder than I am used to being while riding. Today when I opened the front door to pick up the newspapers I felt a bite in the air that hasn't been there for a long time. But today it was. It was cold. For most of the people that I ordinarily see outside while I am out today was TOOO cold. They stayed inside.

So how cold was it? The newspaper reports that average high for today is 71. Here is what I got at the Fairgrounds at about 3pm:

EG:55 CB:53 WG:59

The weather channel was reporting 54 when I got home. That is quite a bit below normal but it is also quite a bit above freezing. I have the gear, I rode my bicycle.

Here is what was new today, out of the drawer and onto my body for the first time since, oh, I can't really remember. But I know for sure I have been to France since the last time I wore long pants.That's what you see there, long pants, full finger gloves and if you look carefully at those socks you may be able to read the brand name: SmartWool. Wool socks.

I was completely comfortable and had a really nice ride.

But for most people this was the moment of shock of recogition. Summer is over. Most people stayed inside.

As a result I had the outdoors pretty much to myself. I saw one other bicyclist during my ride and that was a teenager with a back pack riding home from school. I saw not a single other recreational rider.

GRider doubted my statement that this was a temporary building over at the Fair. Well, here the building is about half way through the process of deconstruction.It appears to me that that is sort of a Lincoln Logs kind of building. They put it up every year for the Fair and then take it back down and store the logs in the toy box. Lincoln Logs, just Lincoln Logs on a bigger scale. For any young people tuning in Lincoln Logs were sort of like Legos, only made out of wood. That was from pre-historic times, before all toys were made of plastic. I digress.

But all is not lost at the Fairgrounds. The Fair is over but it looks as if some sort of event is on at the Coliseum for this weekend. I don't know for sure but I expect that it is a horse show of some kind. The other possibility is that it is a horse trailer sale.If you look carefully and have been paying attention you may notice that the Mashed Potatoes on a Stick stand has been packed up and has left the Grounds. So have the Pronto Pup stands. Today I saw some guys with a fork lift loading a giant buffalo statue onto a flat bed. The Fair is a memory, fall has fallen.

Did I mention that I had a really nice ride?