THE FLEECING OF BEVERLY

4 November 2002

I think I'm in love with fleece. My new red fleece biking shirt arrived from Team Estrogen on Friday and this morning I decided to wear it for my bike ride. Just the shirt. No jacket. Cold air. In the first half block I was thinking that I was out of my ever-lovin' mind. It was damn cold out there. By the second block I was wondering if I should go back and get a jacket to wear over the fleece. By the third block I was realizing that what was cold was my face and my hands and feet, but my torso, the fleece covered part, was all nice and comfy--and that I was actually very, very comfortable. I rode for an hour--slowly because I was taking pictures on this trip--and covered 13 miles and came home warm and cozy. Bring on the fleece!

I started my trip this morning by going through the greenbelt, a trip I haven't taken in several weeks. I started out by checking the David memorial tree to see how it was handling fall color. I'm pleased--it looks like it's going to be one of those really colorful Chinese pistachio trees, unlike the one we planted in our back yard.

Then over the formerly-dreaded overpass. I sailed up over the thing smiling at the thought that this was once a daunting uphill for me. I'm back to my pre-laryngitis self and was enjoying the feeling of power in my legs again.

I made the circle of the overpass and then headed for the park where Cindy and I start our morning ride. She was there and we talked about what we wanted to do. She wanted to take the 6 mile ride out to the bridge again, but I realized that I'd been saying for a long time that I wanted to photograph the route of the morning ride in the daylight, so I told her I'd prefer to go off on my own. We parted ways. I took the route a lot more slowly than we take it at 5 a.m. For one thing I was able to see it myself, since it's always dark when we ride.

I took about 50 pictures, covering most of the route and was thrilled when I looked at them later and realized that there was only one in the bunch that wasn't good enough to make a slide show out of. I'm thrilled with the results.

There isn't a lot of fall color around here, compared to Ashland, for example (or the east coast!), but what is here is beautiful. This is a medical office complex with some beautiful trees turning color...

...and these are trees along the freeway.

I took a bit of a detour this morning, hoping to find some fall color in the university's arboretum, but everything there is still pretty green.  Still, I enjoyed my morning chat with the campus cows and continued to record the route Cindy and I take through campus in the morning.

When I realized I had gone about 12 miles, I was really surprised. I had been so busy taking pictures that it hardly seemed like I'd gone any distance at all.

When I returned home, at 13+ miles, the house felt very warm after that chilly air and I started sweating until I ripped off the fleece shirt. But it was really a comfortable ride, clothes-wise, and it was a good ride, body-wise. It's nice to ask my legs for power again and have them respond.