Saturday morning, I awoke to a thin blanket of snow and dark, wet roads. I was happy to see some snow enough for the kids to get outside and play in, but I also knew that meant no ride. Luckily, the sun shone brightly all day, drying off enough of the roads to make a make-up ride on Sunday possible.
That meant, though, as we rode Sunday, the landscape was a mix of deep greens, browns and patches of white. It also meant staying extra vigilant looking for ice on the roads. Mostly, where we rode in the sun was clear and dry, but one road we turned down had a large slushy, icy patch flowing a foot out into the street.
The wildlife clearly enjoyed the day. I saw several groups of Canadian geese, some ducks on the river, squirrels acting squirrelly, and another beautiful white egret flying overhead against the bright blue sky. But my favorite part of the ride came as a surprise. I had just turned onto the road that used to have the beautiful fall foliage but is bare, wintry branches now. I caught a flicker of movement as a bird darted into the trees, and I thought I saw the tell-tale red breast of a robin. I looked about for more robins, wondering if the day after our snowstorm, signs of spring were already evident. But I soon forgot about robins as I saw overhead flying twenty feet above a young bald eagle. For a moment I wished I had a way to signal to Bill up ahead to look up. Instead, I got the rare treat of watching the eagle soar along a path nearly parallel to the road I was riding on, so I enjoyed my birdwatching for several minutes.
I did have one frustration throughout the ride. Because of the time of day and the angle of the sun, I decided to wear my sunglasses under my helmet. Big mistake. I spent too much of the ride having to fight the visor up so I could adjust the glasses back up on my nose. Wearing those glasses was a mistake, one I won’t make again. I’m just glad I had my glasses adjusted when the eagle went soaring by.
And if you are wondering about the heated socks, I adjusted my under socks to thin trouser socks and wore the heated socks on the outside of my leggings to better reach the controls. My winter pants, though, adjusted the heat setting. I had them on high, but when I was taking off my gear, the right sock was on the lowest setting, and the left was on the medium setting. My feet were warm, but I would like to be the one controlling the heat settings, not the riding pants!
Flutterby Biker 