Turning Winter's Blues into Diamonds

Took la perrita to the new Shoreline Trail about an hour and a half before sunset.

Lightly falling snow from before we arrived had dusted the path like confectioner's sugar on a christmas cookie.

Not a breath of wind on the water. Paul and Otto, two old-timers were down the end of the pier, fishing for small herring, and that was about it for human company. 

This was magical, like when I grew up, winter afternoons spent playing along the trails by the gravel pit lakes.

Serenity and intrigue.

View across Hempstead Harbor into the Glen Head gloamin'

For a gloomy day, it was an unexpected surprise to be transported back in time, when cold and snow were irrelevant, all that mattered was the last hours and minutes of daylight that we kids had to play in, before dinner.

This day needed a little salvaging. MTB plans were canceled for various reasons, and folk were grumping around the house. 

Dog's delight ... even if we went for a 'walk'
running was inevitable.

New trail, fresh tracks.

For all intents and purposes, it was as gloomy a day as you could conjure up without rain, so to turn it into a new trail exploration/run with dog, was like striking a vein of diamonds in a day that was an ideal candidate to induce seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.) in even the jolliest winter aficionado. 

What I did not expect was the peace and quite here. The soft but crisp air and light snow cover conspired to hush almost all activity. The waters here are seldom this placid, as there's always some kind of breeze, if not outright gale force wind this time of year.

Even though close to the main shore road, the loudest sound seemed only to belong to a flock of birds about to migrate. beyond that nothing but serenity this evening. Even serenity while running, and we did careen down a few roller coaster sections.

If I'd been PO'd that a few too many obligations and distractions had made the MTB plans untimely, this seemed a far better outcome. 




  

An enormous flock of birds decided winter or spring had
 finally arrived — who knows which? —
and prepared themselves for the next trip.

A break in the running agenda.

"Dogs Are Welcome"

More Mild January Weather, More Hills

 For January 16, a clearing morning after the rain, but with spring-like temperatures in the high 40s, and a light breeze, a bike ride or surf was a must. But with only 45 minutes to play with Saturday morning a roadbike session was the call.

 A temperature of 47F is more the fare of mid-March, and even though a front or a low was passing, the breeze was toothless; no icy fangs, no wintry blast. Just a steady breeze from the west.

 A few hints of blue in the sky and but the dirt in the garden was very muddy in places, so I'd give the official trails a rest.

Blue water in the distance.
Great view of Hempstead Bay from here; not easy
to capture with a cellphone through the trees.

Fun descent, hold onto your hat.

 The road was still wet and sandy in places, so caution was part of the game plan: no fast corners, no extra speed on the hills in places where hard braking was required. Shaving off speed by braking ahead of need, etc etc. Even with those speed-killing measures in place I still managed a top speed of 32.9 descending. It just didn't feel like it, as the wind was holding me up on most of the descents, felt more like I had a drag parachute attached to my back.

Never mind. still some fun hard climbing with plenty of stops to remove gloves and take pics.

January MTB Hill Repeats -- in Shorts!!

For a few decades, I had mentally tagged this day on the calendar as the last "warm enough" surfing

Pick your poison. Windsurf buddies from the O-Bay crew
 take a break during a January "heatwave" lull.
Temps in the low 60s courtesy of El Nino.
PHOTO BY RICH SIMONS.

day of the year. And indeed, a few of my good buddies were out surfing yesterday enjoying the semi-balmy temps. For me it was a perfect opportunity to get a quick ride in between storms on yet another record warm El Nino day on Long Island.

View from the knobby. A favorite part of the  

"Baby Brickyard" section. Today it was 

wet tree roots on goat trail. FILE PHOTO.

Typically, the temps drop into the no-go zone from Jan 10 to Feb 26, and windsurfing and surfing take a backseat. With my van in construction-headquarters mode, windsurfing took a rear pew long ago, and surfing has been ruled out for two years no because of the spasms from neck disc herniations I get when using the left arm strenuously/lying in the prone position.

However, A storm kicked in overnight with strong onshore winds, so although this was very doable temperature wise — it probably would have been a sweat machine/washing machine of a surf day in a drysuit, with a large dose of "victory at sea."

TROLL FACE

But my neck is still not ready for surf, windsurf yes, but not surf-surf. And with a lot on the menu at home, an MTB ride among the trees was the way to stay out of the wind and get some good, almost muddy climbing and general pfaffing around on two wheels done. The MTB handles nicely in swooping turns.

Ye Olde Continental Vertical Pro.  FILE PHOTO

The "Baby Brickyard" section was a little more challenging today. Did not clean the right side climb -- no traction to speak of climbing over wet tree roots on the goat trail portion, but that's not to say it wasn't fun. If anything it was more fun with the extra challenge.

A few thorns came out to grab my bare legs on the ledge of a technical section just to remind me that MTB should sting a little to feel right.

OK a selfie by the Baby Brickyard for posterity.

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. 

First colder weather ride

'Tis finally that time of year, when cyclists really start to think about riding rollers or trainers indoors, or doing some other sport.

The leaves have mostly fallen from the trees lightening the horizon and with enough of the right clothing it's doable.

Today was a sunless affair, and just a light breeze, but as Lennydasquid said, "it's the type of damp cold that goes right through you."

Tested the new Arsuxeo fleece riding jacket (what kind of a name is that—genius marketing there :} for the English speaking market -- but fortunately the product seems to be an overwhelmingly good value for money).

High visibility for sure, spacious side-access back pockets, very convenient camera pocket on the chest, bit of a stiff zipper, and I would not trust the side-zipper pocket tags to hold up well over time, they felt cheap, but for $27 it's a steal of a deal compared with a lot of high end cycling gear.

I would lube these zippers soon to help preserve them. I think some skateboard bearing lube might be the ticket. We'll see.

P.S. Love the road in back of Leeds Pond and Gristmill/Papermill roads leading into it. Worth the detour off the ever fabulous "Reverse Cowgirl Stonytown Rd" segment.