Three weeks after the autumnal equinox, days grow noticeably shorter. That, I feel, makes late-afternoon rides even sweeter: Sunlight simmers into shades of sand, stone and rust just before the sun begins to set.
And, it seems, I notice things anew, or for the first time, along familiar routes. Today, I pedaled a loop that skirted the edge of LaGuardia Airport and wiggled through an industrial waterfront area. I had one ulterior motive: to climb the local version of Mount Ventoux. It's nowhere near as high as that iconic French peak that has served as a "statement" climb for Tour de France winners and leaders, but the hill erupts, seemingly out of nowhere, from the cauldron of Berrian Boulevard and up 41st Street.
After my second climb, I coasted back to Berrian, where a building I'd passed a number of times before caught my eye:
It's a waste water treatment plant, which is why it's surrounded by a chain-link fence. The ship portal-style holes are telltale signs of an Art Deco-influenced Works Progress Administration building. Other similarly-styled and -detailed buildings stand in other parts of this city. This one, though, must have the least conspicuous location as well as purpose of such buildings.
WPA public works buildings like this one often feature some interesting bas-reliefs, often depicting scenes of workers, if in stylized or romanticized ways. Ironically, works like these were made at about the same time "social realism"--which also featured stylized and romanticized scenes of workers--was taking shape in the former Soviet Union.
The late day light and air would have been enough of a reward from my late-day ride. But they highlighted something I noticed, for the first time, along a familiar route.
