158th ride - 11/21/2015

I went out at 8:15 this morning in 30° weather to ride in my first truly wintry weather of the season. We had gotten a light dusting of snow in the early morning hours, and then weather.com was predicting snow to begin in earnest around 8:15. That's about what happened—there was none when I walked out to the garage, but very early in the ride extremely light flurries began to fall, at first so light as to be almost nonexistent, but steadily and slowly increasing both in size and intensity throughout the ride (though it was still not a heavy snow when I finished).

Early in the ride, I briefly considered riding two round trips to Marsh Park. But the tingling pain I began to experience in my toes and my fingers (despite my gloves) soon convinced me to shelve that plan, and just do a single one. This 9.5-mile round trip took me 1 hour and 1 minute—a little slower than recent rides, but I was taking my time and riding with care, both because of the traction (I wasn't sure how slippery it might be), and also because the light snow was enough to decorate my glasses quite thoroughly and obscure my vision. Late in the ride, in fact, I had to perch them down on the end of my nose and look over the top of them—not optimal for a guy as severely nearsighted as I. But I know the route well enough that, by that point, with only a few minutes left, it was no problem.

Also, on the way home, I snapped a picture of the most daunting hill I have to climb. It doesn't look too bad, but it's a challenge. I am able to pick up speed slightly on the mild downhill (though the trike is not built for speed) before the climb begins, and then keep shifting steadily into lower and lower gears as I climb. The view is along the sidewalk I ride paralleling Lohr Rd., from Rodeo Dr. (which is roughly halfway between Ellsworth Rd. and Oak Valley Dr.), looking northward.

I was glad to get the ride done early, as the snow is projected to continue and intensify most of the day. Now I can just stay warm and enjoy football for most of the rest of the day (Michigan plays Penn State at noon, and then Michigan State plays Ohio State at 3:30, with both games on ABC.) It will feel odd to be rooting for Ohio State, but if they beat Michigan State, it would enhance Michigan's fortunes. Then tonight I'm looking forward to watching a movie with Michelle—after my ride, I went to the library, and picked up a DVD ("The Best of Me"), which is described as "The perfect date movie; the film is romantic in the purest sense."