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.