I've been waiting for 50

The average high temperature for the day has reached 54 and we now have more than 13 hours of daylight.  That high sun has punished the snowpack, what is still hanging around is anemic and on the edge of extinction.  As a result the streets are mostly dry.

We had that one day when it was I think 58 but other than that it has been grim.

Still, Sunday was the traditional starting date for DST and if you can't ride when daylight is being saved for you, well, when the heck are you going to ride?

I have become increasingly impatient and yesterday I wandered out to the garage, rearranged the hanging bicycles to get the one I want to ride out from behind one of the others and into the clear where I could ride it without extra annoyances if I should ever conclude that I could actually ride.  While I was at it I pumped up the tires.

But it was rainy yesterday, no riding, and today was still cold.

But after I waved (we are the waving family) to the TOPWLH as she left for work I stood looking at the street.  Mostly dry.  Tires pumped.  Only about 40 but I have ridden plenty of times in the 40s.  I mean, for crying out loud, the tires were pumped!

It took me about 40 minutes to gather all my gear (I had to retrieve pieces from three of the four floors that we have in our house (suburban split level don't you know?) but soon enough I actually found myself out riding my bicycle.

I had to make a short loop near home to check to be sure that I had the layers right and in fact returned home once (needed an extra layer on my head and you know, mittens are still a good idea at 40).  But I was pretty rapidly outside the radius of winter time walking distance and found myself revisiting old friends.

At least today I had the right bicycle for the small amount of cycle crossing necessary to actually pose the bicycle with the big bronze bovines.  Name that literary device.

I was going to head back over towards the Library but I was in the neighborhood and TOPWLH and I had had a recent conversation about the disappearing piles of snow in our front yard where she mentioned that they still might have a pile at the Fairgrounds.

It is quite a disappointment when compared to the record snow pile, was that last year?  I have a video somewhere.  But they do indeed still have a pretty big pile of snow.


There is some glass work going on at the cattle barn but really I am just proving that the high for today was still a major disappointment for anyone waiting for the average high, or even waiting for 50.

There is some work going on over there in the street in front of the DNR building, the trucks of the workers say plumbing and heating.  I have no idea what the men are doing but I do notice that they had to cut down three or four of those really nice large red pines next to old fire tower. 

So there you go, a ride report including bicycle content and I used to have a job content.

I rode for about an hour and a half.  My walks over the winter were usually about an hour and ended up being three miles.  You can get quite a bit farther by adding a half hour and a bicycle.

I was tired when I got home, a really good familiar feeling tired.  That bicycle, what a wonderful thing.  Once again it occurs to me that that thing will probably save my life, at least for a while longer.