Friday Follies ~~ Checking In

Johann and Bill have been absent for a while, and I’ve not seen many other among my cycling friends.  This is kind of normal at this time of year, the holidays and the Winter tend to occupy and divert us.

Johann just blew through town.  He went back home for the holiday season, and just came back to the states (once it was possible to fly again) to collect a few things.  He is delighted with the unusually severe Winter conditions (he would be), and is engaged in ice racing on the canals.  He wishes you all a good and prosperous New Year, and asked me to remind you all that you are unworthy wimps, and you should be out riding in the wonderfully balmy conditions we enjoy here in Georgia.  (Don’t blame me.  I’m just conveying his thoughts.)

Bill the Alien just sent me an email, from Brazil.  I’m reproducing it in part:

Having a wonderful time here.  The weather is pleasant, and the scenary is wonderful  Your human women are delightful.  The beaches here are amazing, and the riding is quite delightful.  I do not understand why anyone is left in the northern hemisphere.  Why are you not all down here where it is so good?

Thenk you Bill!  We needed that.

This past weekend, I heard from an old cycling friend.  Mike lives and works in the Philadelphia, PA area.  He is an avid commuter and cyclist.  He is still riding quite a bit, and has found his Surly Pugsley to be the answer to snow-jams.  He was able to get to work during the worst of the recent blizzard, by riding through Fairmont Park, and then found the downtown area qutie navigable.  In his words,  “the cars that were down there were all stopped.  The snow was plied up, and the plows were stuck in traffic.  It was great!  I pretty much had unrestricted access.  Cars aren’t a problem when they can’t move.”

On the other hand, my friend Johnson, in Miami reports that it is far too cold to ride, and is complaining that the temps are dropping into the “low fifties at night, and barely getting into the sixties during the day.  What with the cold and the rain we’ve been having, riding is just impossible.”

I guess how things look depends on where you stand.

NOTE:  There is a Novice Road Ride this Sunday, at 2:00 P.M.  Starting in front of Bicycles Unlimited.  We’ll go, rain or shine.  If it snows, and sticks, we’ll cancel.