The last Sunday Morning Ride of 2009

Rich, Brian and I all met at Kaladi Bros., at 9:00 this morning, for some preride coffee. We figured that, if we waited until 9:30 or 10:00 to take off, the temperature would climb a bit and make for a more comfortable ride. And, it did...it climbed from about 20 F to 25 F. Oh, well, at least it was sunny.

Once we got rolling, it was not too bad. The sun was actually warm on our backs, and there was no wind to speak of. We rolled north, through Washington Park, and on to the Cherry Creek Trail. On the trail, we headed toward Confluence Park.

Once we got to Confluence, the three big cups of coffee I had drunk at Kaladi's were beginning to work on me, so I suggested a pit stop at the public toilet (Porta-Potty). I was surprised to see a beer tap inside.

At least, I figured it was a beer tap. I couldn't think of any other "foaming alcohol". My advice: Skip the beer in that joint. It tastes a bit off.

I came out of the toilet, threw away my beer mug, and noticed that both Rich and Brian were very intently staring at their bikes. I stared at mine for a bit, just to fit in, then took this picture of them.

At that point, a street urchin came by and offered us chiclets. Instead, I had her snap this picture. After chasing her down and retrieving the camera, I returned to my bike and we soldiered on.

At some point, Rich apparently accosted an Imperial Stormtrooper and stole bits of his armor from which to fashion mudguards.

Bringing up the rear, as usual, I snapped this picture of my two intrepid companions.

Rich...

aaaaannnnddd...

Brian!

Eventually, we wended our way back to Kaladi Bros. The ride was about 20 miles long, over mostly packed snow, with little ice. None of us were rolling on studs (although a couple of think we are "rolling studs"), and never had any trouble on the ride.

Our weather has been pretty consistently cold and overcast, since the snow fell, so we never had that "half-thaw/refreeze" cycle which can make riding pretty trecherous. I figure that we are getting that, today, and I'll be glad to have the studded tires at 5:30, tomorrow morning, for the commute to work.

I tried another panda portrait, but that old guy jumped in between me and the camera, again! I'm gonna have to do something about that guy, one of these days. (Looks like the old codger might have had a few extra helpings of Christmas Dinner...)

I got home and parked the XO-2 out in the sun, to thaw a bit before coming inside. I ended up sitting in my lawn chair for a while, after changing clothes, and enjoying the sunshine. Twenty nine degrees F, and I was comfortable in the sun, with no jacket. That part of Winter in Colorado is okay, in my book.

I got a bit more thawing on the bike than I had anticipated, though!

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