YTD – 1077
MTD – 124
Saturday – 15.5
Sunday – 22.5
Monday – 18.5
Christmas was good to me in the realm of cycling gear. My Father spearheaded an effort to purchase a nice wool top and bottom base layer. The top is a quarter-zip Sugoi, and the bottom Smart Wool. Although the weather has given a slight break it is not expected to last. I also was fortunate to receive another hundred that I dropped almost immediately at the LBS On Your Left Cycles. I picked up a frame pump, a new helmet, and a cable lock. If I picked up that Brass Bell I would be rolling pretty sweet.
Christmas Day looked like a great day weather-wise to get out but the logistics of the day did not allow it. Friday looked promising and then the rain came. By Saturday I was chomping at the bit as the temp rose to around 70. Granted it was pretty windy and the sky looked periodically ominous, but – 70? In late December? Unfortunately my lovely wife was working all day and I have three children to attend to. So I made a phone call to my Mom fishing for her schedule with no luck, it sounded like she staying in the county for the day. Then I thought about calling my father in law. He is a bit of an unlikely bike commuter and rides a single speed Schwinn back and forth to work complete with a shirt and tie. I told him I was calling to try and convince him to come over and watch my crew while I got out for an hour or so. His schedule was pretty jammed but I could tell he wanted to help. Sure enough he came by shortly after the twins went down for nap and off I went into the warm day. I had all of this swanky new wool gear but this day called for shorts! That and a long sleeve t-shirt was perfect. I set out for Cherokee park to run a route I had used before. It basically goes into the park, around the loop 1.5 times and then out Cochran Hill to Lexington Ave. Then down to this great two mile paved path call the Beargrass Trail. Then through some classic neighborhoods – Irish Hill, Phoenix Hill, Germantown, and Audubon to make it back to my “upper Highlands” home. Cherokee had apparently been had been quite wet from the rains of the previous day. Tim snapped some pictures of the flooding. Here is one for reference:
There was debris and mud over a good portion of the trail. By the time I got home I was pretty muddy and I looked like I had been on a cyclocross race. I ran out of the house so fast that I forgot my water bottle. Oh well, it was just an hour…
I met up with Tim for a nice Sunday ride. The weather cooled down a little so I trotted out the wool top and covered it with a long sleeve t shirt. I started a little cool but it worked out just right. We made a lazy meander through Bon Air, Seneca Park, St Matthews and then out to Indian Hills towards the river. We were going to just repeat this backwards to get home but went to downtown instead. We fished our way throught to Germantown and Audubon to return home. That area has become a repeating theme for me as it appears to be the best and safest route back to my house. It was a nice day for a ride and the company excellent as always. Then it was back home and back to work (for a little).
I have been in and out of the office over the last few weeks both traveling and vacationing and Monday was my first legit chance for a lunch ride in awhile. It was a bright and sunny day but fairly cold at around 45 or so. It was also quite windy which I couldn’t feel at first but would make itself known soon enough. I took a quick call right before I left and managed to leave my gloves on my desk. My hands didn’t get too cold and it actually felt very visceral to be able to grab the brake hoods and feel the connection to the bike and the road. I took my Utica Pike route which can be altered to 15, 16 or 18 miles. I wanted some flexibility in case I was really feeling the ride. Traffic was light because lots of people must have been on vacation. I knew that the wind was helping me on the way out but it gave it to me on the way back. The first third of the ride after the turnaround was directly into a 3-club wind. It was very tiring and I was glad to clear it.
So, this finished off a three-day spurt when I had not done so in the month of December. It felt really good to be back on the bike and back on track to finish the month with some miles in the book. Then I only had a half day of work left and I was off for the year.
