October rides: put a little color into it.

[Crankin]

I did a short ride this morning, before meeting a friend for lunch. Nothing special, except it was already 75 out and very humid. Please, I am done with summer, at least the new version of summer that is humid. Totally sopped through. So, short, but hilly, and my leg is feeling better, especially after a ride. Now I just need the giant bruise on the back/side of my forearm to go away. It never got blue, as I got Arnica on it, so I am hoping by Friday, when I go to the gym, it won't be noticeable!
That hurricane is getting my son in Columbus, GA; on the edge, though. But, his new house in Fayetteville looks like it will be a target again... they are already dealing with asking the seller to fix the damage from the last one. It wasn't huge damage, but enough.

[north woods gal]

Hope everyone survives this big storm. Not that our weather is anything to love, right now, but those monster hurricanes are terrifying.

We did get to do a short neighborhood ride, late afternoon, after heavy rain most of the day. Now the cold moves in. Temp at noon tomorrow is supposed to be only 36 degrees. Highs only in the 30s for the next week, some rain and snow, too. We're having November in October.

The good news is that I felt better on the new Nature Boy, today, on our short ride. I definitely felt stronger than yesterday. Had me worried that it would take awhile to get in good enough shape to enjoy the bike. I'm still going to very slightly drop the gearing down, though, just to be safe.

[Crankin]

That is good, Sheila. I will be talking to my son again tonight, but I think the storm may have been a little closer to Columbus than he thought, when I spoke to him yesterday afternoon.
I did a decent early AM ride this morning, as we are getting rain associated with the storm, starting around 1 PM, with local flooding predicted. It was already 67 degrees out and super humid, but I wore a super lightweight Soleil jersey with long sleeves, which was perfect, and although I had my vest on more for safety, it was fine. I rode across town, around the perimeter of Concord Center, and a bit north/west, then back, essentially on Main St, once I made the turn back. The part of the ride from Concord Center and north, through the turn around is part of the original route of this ride I used to do from my house on the other side of town. It's almost exactly the same mileage, but before, the beginning of the ride was deathly quiet and almost rural at 5:15 am. Now, I am on Main St as soon as I leave my street, with way too many cars heading for the highway east to Boston at that early hour. Seriously, the quietest part of my ride was when I was actually in Concord Center. On the way back, same thing. I rode through west Concord village, instead of staying on Main St., picking it back up after a 1.5 mile detour. It was crazy busy at 6:00 AM. People cut through, coming from places west of here, to avoid a notorious round a bout on the highway. This saddens me. I have another route of the same length, for early AM or short rides that goes west, but it is considerably hillier. Anyway, this route has one short climb, one I gauge my fitness on. Thought I might have to go to the small ring (usually don't have to at this time of year), but I didn't. When I got home, I was surprised to see my average was higher than my last few rides, but it was mostly flat. However, I think I go faster when I can't see my speed on the Garmin!

[rebeccaC]

And my property is fine, so far.

it's difficult for those who haven't actually gone through/witnessed the destruction of a hurricane to understand the longer term problems both financially and mental that survivors go through. I've always been impressed with your strength of spirit in dealing with the storms that have affected your area.....glad to hear your home wasn't badly affected this time......and there are some good opportunities for work in sustainability management and policy here in the hurricane free western u.s.

[Crankin]

Cemeteries are tourist attractions in my town... when my husband had colleagues in town from China, they wanted to go to "Author's Row," to see where the transcendental writers were buried. They took pictures, as do others. They even have walking paths in that one, where some people ride.
I don't see anything wrong with it.

[Crankin]

The south was home to many thriving Jewish communities, and there are remnants of many of them. Even in Columbus, I saw glimpses of this, stores that had been in business for 70-100 years now going out of business, because the original owners' descendants no longer want to be shop owners. Jews were owners of dry goods stores, restaurants, and often the town pharmacist or physician. Pretty much after WW 2, this started changing. I remember a long time ago, my parents had friends who moved to Atlanta; the guy was a liberal rabbi. They were back in MA after a year or two. They couldn't take the racism of the area in the late 50s/early 60s.
There's a lot of family history hidden in those old cemeteries. I have never been to Charleston. It's on my list.

[Crankin]

Yes, I have been to Savannah, twice. Once when we went to boot camp grad and the next year when we rented a condo in HHI and flew my dad in from San Diego for a vacation. I did not get to see that much, either time, but I did see the monument to the early Jewish settlers.
Spoke to my son last night. The base opened late yesterday. He said winds Wednesday night were no more than 30-40 mph, they lost power for about 2 hours. A few people went to the shelter in the convention center because their power was out longer. Schools were closed yesterday, which he thought was weird and stupid (coming from a New Englander, I can see this). He said the rain was nothing more than a regular hard rainstorm.

[north woods gal]

Np tropical storm for us, but some light snow, this morning, then periods sunshine interrupted by short snow squalls. Very windy and cold. We both rode fat bikes, this morning on our neighborhood ride, then did some extra riding to check on flooding in various areas. Our dock, for instance, is now mostly under water. Hubby then went back to the house to warm up and I hit the trails with Star for more riding.

Lowland areas of my trails are aslo flooded with up to a foot of water in places covering the trails. Not an issue, of course with the fat bike. The Pugs 2 just takes it all and keeps rolling. Really love this second edition of the Pugsley. Has all the great features of the original plus some nice upgrades. The trails are fat bike, only at the moment. It's not just the flooding and soft sections; it's also the heavy layer of wet leaves. If someone didn't know my trails, they wouldn't even know they were trails with all the leaves. Figure another week, at most, and all the leaves will be down. Then it will be time to clean the trails once more before they get covered with snow. Anyway, finished with 5 miles of trail work and 2 miles of road work on the Pugs. A good morning ride, even if it was chilly.

Even if the weather wasn't telling me winter is coming, all the migrating birds would. Saw my first migrating Juncos, this week. That's a sure sign of fall. Lots and lots of waterfowl on the lake. This morning was a real treat. Six Tundra Swans stopped on the lake and we could see them from the house. These are a migrating bird for us and an uncommon bird. Only see Tundras every second or third year.

The cool weather is invigorating. May try an afternoon ride, too.

UPdate: Did, of course. Only 8 miles because if the high winds and cold, but beats sitting in the house.