Commute

Date: Nov 21
Mileage: 26 (20pm)
Ride type: Commute
Bike: LHT
Temp: 32a.m./48p.m.
November mileage: 243
Year to date: 2057

3rd nice, long, leisurely, meandering day in a row. no snow flurries like yesterday morning. i went straight to school b/c of a meeting, but the afternoon provided another day with coolish but acceptable temps, this time blue skies, and some time to meander. at least this week i've taken to heart the "adventure" crew's suggestions to seek and find. today took me on this general route:

Hill/12th/17th/all through Portland/NWPwky/Riverwalk/Washingtonish/Baxter/Norris/home

Hightlights include:

• old factories. the 'Ville has lots of them, especially west of downtown. some are in use, others derelict, but all have intersting nooks and crannies.
• old store fronts. fact is, the 'Ville was one of the largest 19th-century cities in the U.S. all over the place you find old store fronts, brick dwellings, abandon railroad tracks and junk like that. so much of it has a "character" that you cannot find in today's new gleaming cities and suburbs
• the Ohio river. it's up quite a bit, not enough to cover the low part of the Riverwalk, but i was able to take a side trail right up to the shore today and watch a barge pass by.
• a couple other commuters. one came by and was cordial, but then put his head down and motored on. of course the dumb dog in me made me catch up somewhat, changing my pace from 14ish to 17ish. to the day i don't get cyclists who are also commuters who seem to NOT want to shoot the shit instead of being even a little social. other walks of life shoot the shit when interests are at heart. most cyclists, Louisville cyclists at least, just motor on. ???? I'll still say "hi". he was riding a piece-of-shit old road bike BTW, with full cycling gear and shiny white running shoes. it sort of made for a jarring juxtoposition. saw another that i almost, almost caught. he turned when i literally was 5ft from his back wheel after making up quite a bit of ground on him. who knows? maybe he knew i was back there and the sight of me made him dive to the right. do commuters in other towns say "hi"? is there any espirit d'corps?

i just read poor Pete's entry today that he's going to have very low mileage this month. i'm going to try and get good mileage the rest of this week and finish Nov. strong. we're off school tomorrow, then Th,Fr,Sat,Sun, all with what looks like decent weather and some to spare. the "new bike dream" has spurred me to actually ride the ones i own. swift, eh?