Where I want to be

A surprising rise in temperatures in New York over the last week has given Zdenek and I occasion to keep riding with a bit more frequency than I would have predicted for this time of year. Although I feel a bit like a fat kid on a bike when I'm bundled up in my winter riding gear, it beats going to the gym any day. Eventually, the seasons will shift entirely and my little Red Giant will have to be put in hibernation until spring. Until then, every time we head out for a ride, I find myself saying, "This could be our last one of the season..." As it turns out, we haven't yet encountered the fated last ride. Every week has brought at least one day of double-digit high temperatures (in Celsius, of course), and though we're now into the second week of November, I'm not sure when autumn is supposed to end and winter begin. I will take what I can get.

My uncertainty about the long-term weather forecast seems to be only one of the multitude of precarious situations with which I'm faced these days. I've had countless days not knowing where I am or where I am going, let alone trying to figure out where I want to be. Perhaps that's why riding my bike in the comfort of the Park, or running laps in a semi-meditative state, is always such a mental retreat. The biggest decision I face is whether to add an extra loop or not; the only worry I have is that Central Park maintenance might decide to turn off the water fountains for the winter on a day that I'm particularly thirsty. In uncertain times, I treasure the hours, by foot or by bike, when I am exactly where I wish, moving in a direction dictated only by me.