Fall is creeping in, alas
Yup, it’s still sunny and warm(ish).
During the day.
At night it’s not warm. It’s not freezing (mainly; sheltered pockets get really cold at night, and I was noticing this in August, and it’s two months later now) but it’s now at the time of the year where I have to, when I go out for a reasonably long bike ride, dress for both freezing cold and somewhat warm weather.
And the days are getting short; when I go out for a 300k, I leave when it’s dark and return when it’s dark (it doesn’t help that my 300k permanents all go up into the mountains. I could probably do them in daylight if I managed to stay on the Willamette valley floor.) So, sadly, it looks like riding anything longer than 200k will be grinding to a stop after the next couple of weeks (this upcoming Sunday I’m riding a 300k – I’d made tentative plans to ride it with a friend, but I’m riding it even if those plans fall through because I’d hate to waste an unseasonably sunny day – and the weekend after that, depending on if the permanent is approved, I’m going to be riding a 700k to finish up my permanent-SR for the year) and I’ll be stuck riding a combination of 200s and 100s until the year staggers to an end and I make the appointment for shoulder repair surgery (which will take me out of service for 3-6 months unless I can get a Tadpole trike for physical therapy purposes, and even if I do get a Tadpole it’s not going to be what I would call the most inspired bike riding, given that the whole “out of service for 3-6 months” includes not using my right arm for anything during that time. So, actually, the 3-6 months is likely to be closer to a year, given that if I don’t use my right arm for 3-6 months it will atrophy down to a twig and I’ll have to slowly build it back up to a level of fitness where I can actually use it when I’m riding my bicycle.)
But, on the bright side, I may not have to worry about looking around for waterproof bicycle shoes for the rainy season, and that will defer spending $middle-three-digits for a while. Oh the joy.