Today I rode Arielle, my Mercian Audax, to Greenwich, Connecticut.
I am so lucky: I had the day this day off, and conditions were perfect, by almost anybody's definition: It wasn't too warm and on the way up, I rode into a breeze that flickered shadows of leaves and waves of light. And I sailed home, or so it seemed!
I had no great epiphanies or revelations, just a good time. And I really didn't want much more.
But I did notice something that somehow escaped me on previous rides. Greenwich Commons--the site of the war memorial and some lovely gardens--also has a few big, beautiful old trees. One of them towers over the gate.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this:
Oh, no! I cried out loud. I thought the tree, which has stood for, probably, longer than anything else in the area, had a branch snapped off in a storm. I couldn't, however, recall any wind or rain we'd had recently that would have been strong enough to do such a thing--unless, of course, one of the storms that missed us in Astoria struck Connecticut.
Turns out, there was no break, no fracture, no rupture. The branch simply curved downward, possibly from its own weight. Whether it can remain that way, I don't know. Whatever happens, I hope it stands long enough for me to see it on another ride, and another, and another...
I am so lucky: I had the day this day off, and conditions were perfect, by almost anybody's definition: It wasn't too warm and on the way up, I rode into a breeze that flickered shadows of leaves and waves of light. And I sailed home, or so it seemed!
I had no great epiphanies or revelations, just a good time. And I really didn't want much more.
But I did notice something that somehow escaped me on previous rides. Greenwich Commons--the site of the war memorial and some lovely gardens--also has a few big, beautiful old trees. One of them towers over the gate.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw this:
Oh, no! I cried out loud. I thought the tree, which has stood for, probably, longer than anything else in the area, had a branch snapped off in a storm. I couldn't, however, recall any wind or rain we'd had recently that would have been strong enough to do such a thing--unless, of course, one of the storms that missed us in Astoria struck Connecticut.
Turns out, there was no break, no fracture, no rupture. The branch simply curved downward, possibly from its own weight. Whether it can remain that way, I don't know. Whatever happens, I hope it stands long enough for me to see it on another ride, and another, and another...
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