Unscathed

Another Halloween survived. Most of the vandals in our neighborhood are long since in jail, though there’s a new crop down the hill that had me a little concerned, but for no reason. It was a beautiful, warm night. The girls (Bekah: half angel, half devil; Hannah: vampire corpse bride) were invited to go off with friends, and for the first time in years we didn’t have to walk the streets, on a night when it turns out I would have been perfectly happy walking the streets. We didn’t have an overwhelming turnout — the kids who get minivanned in all seem to go to the newer neighborhoods, now. That leaves us with mostly kids who live around here, which is just fine with me. A pleasant night all around.

Sunday was also beautiful, and I had my best ride of October. That’s not saying much, since I think I only got in four real rides during all of October — pathetic, but man there was a lot of rain. I don’t like riding in the rain, anyway, and at this time of year you have to add in the real likelihood of hypothermia, and it just doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’ve got decent rainwear, but the problem is that you sweat so much that you end up soaking yourself from the inside out. If you stop, you freeze. So, Sunday was a delight — almost 60, with a very warming sun, a little more wind than I would have liked, and dry roads. Did the Best Road / North Schodack Road / Phillips Road circuit, a sort of semi-circle that doesn’t take me that far from home but still gets me 20 miles or so. I’m hoping for but not expecting better weather, but now that the time has changed, weekends are the only safe time to ride (it’s hard for me to get all geared up for a cold-weather ride in the morning), and with any luck I’ll be able to stretch it out to Thanksgiving, and then I’ll go on the rollers until March. I had a great season — less psychotic need, better rides, and I was in great form all season. I hope to keep that form through the ski season and then come out into next year with some ability to do longer rides. Would still love to get to a century.