It was a sultry day for a winter ride, but who's complaining?

Manhasset Bay from the Leeds pond end.

 I guess the modest cycling equivalent of the Amnesty International motto "it's easier to curse the darkness than light a candle" might be, "it's easier to curse the rain than ride a bike," but with a little help from the weather forecasters, and a couple of heads-ups from friends, it was fairly easy to get rides in during these four days of mostly sunless, foggy and damp — and not get too wet.

 Christmas Eve, I think it was, some fairly heavy drizzle perfused the ride for a brief time, but the temperature was right around 70 degrees. So no complaints — to be able to wear summer cycling gear — shorts short-sleeved shirt — in the first few days of winter is an offer few cyclists would want to refuse this time of year.

If you are an egret, this is good fishing territory. If you are not
an egret, it's still pretty scenic even on the dullest of days.

 Today, was another sultry day for a winter bike ride, but who's complaining? Temps close to 63 were on tap. The dampness could not prevail, the rain held off at least until nighttime, and anyone who wanted to ride, had a decent shot at a dry ride in perfect conditions.

 Temps in the 50-60 Fahrenheit realm in late December, seem like a pretty fair trade off against sunny and frigid — even for a  natural vitamin D hound like myself.

 There will be plenty of time for "frozen bluebird"days in the coming months ... unless El Nino turns into an East Coast rainmaker/snowmaker. Let's hope not.

 For now, though, the pre-El Nino onset has given us day after day of rideable weather. Never in my cyclingest dreams would I have imagined four-out-of-four rideable days over this short Christmas break. But we got them in — between occasional showers and fog.

 A longer ride to Greenvale/Glen Head was on the "possible" menu, today, but after hooking up with another rider and swapping pulls on Shore Rd., I figured I'd give him some space — as I would be no help in the Roslyn hills. So I decided tit was a good time to experiment and try a new route.

There are different reasons every ride as to why one turns right instead of left. This time Mott St. hill was calling, and I almost wish I hadn't listened to it. But I did.

Two-thirds of the way up, I thought I was not going to make it all the way without a dismount, such was Mott's unrelenting steepness. ... but I had a little more juice in the tank, a little more hill miles under my belt, and I managed to make it to Layton on two wheels. I'll take it. That put me in position to enjoy a long easy reverse ride down Country Club Drive, and across 101 to Bonnie Heights. Also not part of Plan A, but improvisation is the spice of life in cycling, keeps it fresh ... even if the sun ain't exactly shining.

Christmas Morning Run

Warmest Christmas ever?  But it was pretty balmy 54 F for Christmas Day...and a beautiful morning for a dog-accompanied run.  "Accompanied?" Did I say? Z-dawg was jacked up and practically dragged me down Sandy Hollow.

An Extraordinary December, With Rides to Remember

Extraordinarily warm days fueled by a strong El Nino in the Pacific have made for some of the best riding weather that many cyclists around here can remember.

They ...  we ... would have to have pretty long memories: temperatures reaching 64F on December 13 haven't been experienced here since the 1880's.

And it felt warmer than that.

How did things look facing Northeast?
Completely different is the answer..

I rode bare armed -- in my quest to maximize vitamin D osmosis, a light under armor T-shit under a regular team cycling shirt on the outbound leg.

For the return trip, I pulled a light Cutter & Buck sleeveless vest out of my middle pocket to cut the windchill. For sure this was not cycling chic. But the C&B vest does an amazing job of breaking wind not he golf course, and is light svelte enough to pack in the back pocket and go unnoticed.

Moody, stacked on top of sultry.

64F in mid-December will do that.

It was as warm as advertised and then some. A light headwind made for stiffer riding this noontime, but I think it only felt that way since I had missed the last few weeks of cycling due to a home repair project.

It's uncanny but facing in the general direction of the sun, the LG onboard cell camera adds a ton of mood.

Looking toward the city, however, there was a light mist over the water looking northwest. it was not evident facing northeast...where things looked like a regular spring day.

Facing toward Manhattan, the vista was moody stacked on top of sultry. But beautiful at the same time.

Back home, 7 hours of back breaking D.I.Y. surgical demolition and repair awaited.

And the reward for the ride and repairs? An outstanding Allagash Black Belgian Style Stout; 7.5% abv, a phenomenal beer that any Guinness lover could or should drool over.

On your knees, measure, measure, set up, clamp off, cut,
drill, screw, sawzall, pull nails, chisel in tight corners, schlep,
push, lift, hammer, rip ... etc etc. it's fun really.

And then back to reality with the D.I.Y. until beyond dark -- easy a 1,000+ calories on a 1/4 small slice of pizza.