Oh Yeah, It's Coming

When they think of Spring, most people imagine flowers and butterflies and soft green grass. These people do not live underneath Live Oak trees. Those of us who do, think about piles of stiff brown leaves on the ground and buck moth caterpillars. This morning the streets around the house were covered with leaves, which we all know is a sure sign of Spring around here. For some reason, these old Oaks always seem to drop more leaves in the Spring than in the fall. With exquisite timing, the neighborhood buck moth caterpillar spray coordinator had stuck the annual sign-up sheet in my mailbox yesterday. Although the annual ritual of the Spraying of the Oaks is organized through the city's Department of Parks and Parkways, it still costs ME the sum of $65 per tree to treat THE CITY'S trees. Now, being the frustrated researcher that I am, I have for the past ten or fifteen years had only the tree in front of the house sprayed, leaving the one in the back to fend for itself against the hungry lepidopteran larvae. Frankly, I can discern no difference whatsoever between the health of the two trees despite the fact that the leaves of one of them are ravaged each year.

The weather today was a bit warmer, and although I chose knee-warmers and two jerseys, it would have been quite feasible to go with shorts, jersey and arm-warmers today. Even better than the warmer air was the increasingly early sunrise. That makes it so much easier to get out of bed and on the road. Not surprisingly, there was a fairly big group today, especially for a Friday ride. As we headed out, we saw Joe F on his way in. There is a little article about Joe in the Newspaper today, by the way, entitled "The Best Revenge." I haven't had a chance to find an actual paper copy of the "paper" so I don't know if they included a photo or not. If any of us are still going out at age 77 to meet the morning training rides, we'll be lucky! Another sign that Spring is coming is the sudden journalistic interest in local cycling by freelance authors. Yesterday I spoke with a local writer who is doing a story on the levee bike path, and just a minute ago I was speaking with someone from Bicycling who is doing a story on traditional city group training rides (i.e. the Giro Ride).

The ride today was a bit faster than a typical Friday ride, but it was still quite nice. The prospects for Sunday, weather-wise, are not too good at the moment, so it's good that today's ride wasn't too easy. Hopefully we'll get enough of a break Sunday morning to allow us to get in a long ride. You never know about the weather around here.