Long, Dark and Cold

Today was the last Tuesday morning ride before we switch back to Standard Time on Sunday, and you could tell. It was cool enough that I skipped the arm-warmers and went straight for the cozy Pearlizumi Kodiak today, zipping the high collar all the way up to my chin to combat the morning chill. I was right on schedule to meet the group when I rounded the corner at the end of Willow St. only to find a train at a dead stop blocking the road. I rode up to it and looked down the tracks and could see it was blocking Oak St. too. After a couple of minutes, I finally heard the clink, clink relay down the cars as each one in turn started to creep slowly forward. This train was in no hurry, and since it started so slowly there was already a steady stream of cars moving down River Road when I got there, so again I had to wait until there was enough of a gap to jump across to the bike path. Between the train and the dark, we started out more than a couple of minutes late today, but at least there was a decent-sized group of a dozen or so.

It was just downright dark when we started out, and although it was even colder than yesterday, at least the wind had died down. My legs still felt stiff from the prior three days in the wind, though. It wasn't until we got to Williams Blvd., about ten miles down the road, that I felt comfortable turning off my front flashing light. Those ten miles had been exciting, too, as runners and walkers kept appearing rather suddenly in front of us. We weren't going all that fast, though. We're not quite that crazy. Anyway, it was a pretty nice ride and we finally got warmed up somewhere out there by the turnaround. Perhaps the worst part of having to leave before sunrise is that we end up riding back with the rising sun directly in our eyes most of the way. We had to hit the brakes at one point when an old man with a fishing pole suddenly materialized out of the glare. Our late start, combined with a delay to fix a flat along the way, got me home about fifteen minutes later than usual, so I hurried about and soon discovered I'd need to iron a shirt. Halfway through that miserable process I noticed some light scorch marks on the white shirt and when I went to check the temperature knob it fell off in my hands. It had disintegrated way down inside the iron which was apparently now locked into "burn" mode. Sheesh. By the time I got another shirt ironed I was a good half-hour late.

But there is a bit of good news today anyway. The maintenance guys are up here today fixing all of the holes, scrapes, gouges and marks in the office and stairwell sheetrock that resulted from the transport of all the heavy equipment and stuff going to and from the roof over the last year of repairs, so in a way that's another sign that we are slowly returning to something like normal. If that's not nice enough, well, the view from the roof today is just awesome.