I decided to ride to the gym this morning taking my chances that I could beat the storm. I did manage to outrun the snow but the rain got me. It was around 40F when I left the house and close to freezing when I returned. When the storm hit, it hit with a fury. I took the dogs for a walk on their usual route but things were so bad, I had to turn back.
You man hear in my voice near then end of the video the struggle it was to walk. The wind was as we say around here, “wicked pissa”.
Tomorrow’s forecast is 8-14″ of fluffy snow. It was 50 degrees at noon today, the sun was shining and the wind was offshore. I called Larry, a new and very novice bike rider to invite him to accompany me. He declined, so I set out for a solo ride with no destination. I rode just about a mile when my phone rang and it was Larry. “John, he said, it’s too nice not to ride. How about we go to West Island.
Atlantic coast WWII lookout station.
Larry is going to take care of our cat for a month when wifey and I holiday. He used to have cats and built quite a playground that is protected from predators like coyote and fox, with chicken wire. The cat can also go to the roof of the shed and watch the birds enjoy themselves eating themselves fat on Larry’s back yard bird feeding station. My cat, Midnight has no interest in chasing birds as you will see when you scroll down to his photo.
Our little guy Midnight is going to love it.
Cat nap
We rode a few miles to the causeway and crossed over to West Island wearing only light jackets with really no need for gloves. An 18 mile spin hit the spot and now we are ready for the blizzard.
Larry crossing the causewayTiny house on stilts to protect if from the tidal storm surge.
My friend Bob Ramsak wrote about nostalgia on his site Piran Cafe today. He talked about Buenos Aires and asked for us to read his four year old post and critique it. I acquiesced, but in short order I was taken in by his writing which gradually started to make me nostalgic for our family trip in 2010 to South America. I decided to once again share my story.
I went for a bike ride around town to take some photos that would allow me to work on my new editing software. It was a sultry January day on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts with an approaching winter storm on the horizon. I got the photo shoot done in plenty of time and actually the rain didn’t begin till after the editing was done.
Click the Vimeo link at the bottom right for the best experience
On the first Sunday in May, 32,000 cyclists of all skill levels come from around the world to roll through every borough of New York City on streets totally free of cars. For one day, the roads are yours, the bridges are yours, the City is yours—there’s no better way to experience the Big Apple. Produced in conjunction with the City of New York, the TD Five Boro Bike Tour Presented by REI is the largest charitable bike ride in the U.S., with proceeds funding our free bike education programs. Last year alone, we taught bike skills to more than 17,000 kids and adults. When you ride with Bike New York, you’re helping us in our mission to empower more New Yorkers to grab life by the handlebarsNoon tomorrow, January 10, registration opens for the 40th Five Boroughs Bike Tour. I will register “amidnightrider.com” as a team again this year. Anyone is welcome to join during registration. Joining “amidnightrider.com” does not bind you to anything, it simply gets you a really good start time. There is a good chance we won’t even see each other over the weekend.
I heard the registration will be $100 this year. It gives many pause, but having done this event eight times I can honestly say that $100 is well worth it. And it’s for charity. 32,000 will register, but once you get going and things spread out, you will be riding in clusters of a lot less numbers. Like the photo at the top of this page. A hundred or so is a good estimate of people within a pitching wedge distance of your bike.
A Midnight Rider 