Thunder storm in december

The weather always makes for a good web logging for bike commuters.  Esp when it gets down right odd.

I missed the rain this morning. A fortuitous circumstance.  Always nice to arrive and not have to hang up wet stuff around the office or park the shoes in front of the fan.


After a day full of sitting awkwardly in a wooden auditorium seat through the elementary school concert and then the Middle school and high school concert, this morning my back let me know that was not the best way to spend 4.5 hours on sunday after the low cadence mud slog at Ice Weasels.  My left side is locked up, on either side of the pelvic bone on the back left up the outer spinal support muscles.  Felt good riding though, there's that.

A bit odd riding in w/o either a defined purpose to go as slowly or as hard as possible.  Just ride. Different.  The off season is here.  As much as I would have loved to plan on going to Fitchburg there are a few other things that trump Cyclocross.  I can't even make the early AM singlespeed race work.

This pain, it is muscular, i fatigued the supporting muscles, I put them into a position that strained them and woke up to pay the price.

But on the bike tonight, riding home. Rain....

I merged onto Waterman street, heading to the red bridge.

Got tucked in behind and to the right of an old RAV4 (the little ones) and when we hit the double lane after riding green lights from Thayer on...  I passed it, and blasted down the right lane, hit the green there at Gano, passed more cars and blasted through the light at Wayland.  It was red and waiting at that last light before the bridge.

I took the lane. It went green, I matched acceleration with the car in the left lane, I passed it, caught up to the tail end of the cars that had just turned before my light when green, flew along on the wet dark streets up to the bridge, and over...  Settled in to a nice rhythm climbing the elevation that the bridge creates...  And headed home.

The rain was light, more than a mist but not soaking.

Over and through to Bow, dropped down onto Valley and spun up and clicked down to the 12 and sprinted to get to the point where the puddles weren't deep and the road wasn't full of deep valleys...  Rolled into the stop sign and then on to the bike path.

Up the incline with measured but fun effort, rear tire slipping occasionally on the rain soaked layers of leaf debris.  Rolled around past an empty parking long.  The sun had gone down, the watchers had moved on, no  one wants to sit in their car in the rain after the sun has gone down in this spot.  And I just pedaled.

The motion and the effort seems to sooth the back a bit.

Hit the causeway, battery in the lights dying ineffective with the cloud cover and the light pollution from the port anyway.

Rode most of the way w/o them.  No need.

Then as I hit the pipeline it started raining, harder. Not just hard but like summer deluge hard.

It felt amazing.  Instantly grateful to be able to riding like this, grateful for all those days I've had on the bike like this.

THE SKY LIT UP mid-thought....  woah... not only is it 60F out there, we've got lightning? Took a long time before I heard the rumble of thunder, not too concerned.  But the headwind and the downpour, bare hands, just a long sleeve jersey, in december?

"I wonder what this would be like if it was snow?"  That was my next thought.

It got dark through the forest of Riverside, and both lights, battery needing to be changed before tonight, were barely enough to light up the inky black wet new asphalt.

Got home, cycling shoes sloshing with water, socks soaked, everything wet and damp but my spirit.

I watched the gnocchi video, then the calamari video (you can find them probably - fast boy's videos, link in the previous).

I got thinking about inspiration, muses and the like.

Dinner is being made, my shoes are under the fan.  The week is going to be insane, and it has a mixed start.  Cait's got a clean bill and is cancer free, but Ezra got the words from the doc no cancer patient ever wants to hear.

Life is what it is...  it is what we have.

time for me to finish making dinner.
heddwch
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