Heat Or Rain?

 Another soupy morning.  Again, I went for an early ride.  Today, however, I wasn’t sure whether I was trying to beat the heat or a rainstorm.  Both were forecast for today.

When I pedaled along the Malcolm X Promenade, just past LaGuardia Airport, I would’ve bet on the rain, except that I don’t bet. Anyway, I kept on riding—out to Fort Totten.

My money (colloquially, of course) was still on rain.  I actually wouldn’t have minded it on such a hot day.

By the time I got home, clouds were parting and the sun was peeking through. The weather forecasters still talked about “possible” showers or thunderstorms for the rest of the day.

Sunrise Ride Before The Heat

I've been busy during the last two days.

This morning, however, I was able to take a "beat the heat" ride.  Today, yesterday and Monday were "90/90 days, with temperatures (in Fahrenheit) and humidity exceeding those numbers.  

But, even with such summer-like weather, the days are becoming more autumnal in that every day, there's a bit less daylight than the day before.  A few weeks ago, the sky would have been in full-daylight mode at 6:30 am.  This morning, at that hour, I crossed Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn and, as I glanced to my left--back toward Queens--I saw this:

Beating the heat was just one benefit of such an early ride:  Rarely do I see a sunrise so filling an urban canyon!  

  

Idyll By The Airport

 Ah, the joys of an early morning ride.

You can almost hear the overture from Sprach Zarathustra in the background 

or, perhaps one of those early Infiniti TV ads.

Believe it or not, I chanced upon this scene along the Malcolm X Promenade—about half a kilometer from LaGuardia Airport,

From there, I pedaled out to Fort Totten and back—40 kilometers on Tosca, my Mercian fixed-gear.  I’d say it’s a respectable “beat the heat” early morning ride.