Thursday, February 16

Morning:

Weather: Nice, sunny, low 40s.
Quality of Ride: I'm starting to get tired of winter bike riding. Ride was really quick.
Tech Issues: zzzzzzzzzz
Incidents: None, thank god.
Comments: Photo is of intersection of Park Drive and Beacon Street. There are several things that suck about riding in the winter. The road salt is everywhere. You can taste it as you pant over the Mass Ave bridge, it gets all over your boots, clothes, bike, bike bag. The other thing is the roadside sludge - brown, clay-like, caked up crap that gets all dried up and creates a kind of crud-dust.

Evening:
Weather: 50 degrees, windy, clear, lots of salt and crud-dust blowing around with all the bus exhaust - a heady draught!
Quality of Ride: Maybe I'll take the T tomorrow.
Incidents: Yes, a couple of minor ones. Pedestrian on First Street did her imitation of an animal stuck in the road while an auto bears down on it. I started to swerve around her about 20 yards away, but she was confused by the maneuver and stopped dead in her tracks. After a couple of seconds, she plodded off to the other side of the street. Nearly side-swiped by an box truck at end of Lights Out, and SAP attack near the Beacon/Park intersection. The guy didn't even look to see if he was in danger of being mowed down by 180 lbs of salt-and-crud-encrusted colnago-riding misery.
Comments: Photo is of The Sinkhole at the end of Edwin H Land Blvd where it majestically transforms into Memorial Drive. Before you can revel in the charms of Memorial Drive's Cheese Grater, you have to navigate The Sinkhole which drops under the Longfellow bridge then splits. One fork swings out over the Charles, the other does a 180 degree loop allowing access to both the Bridge and the beginning of Mem drive. I take the loop as the other route reminds me too much of an expressway. I'd go into more detail, but I'm getting tired.