I decided to spend the weekend with Dee-Lilah, my custom Mercian Vincitore Special. There was no particular reason why I chose to ride her. She is a special bike because I gave her to myself for a round-number birthday, but like anything special, I shouldn't need a special occasion to enjoy her.
All right...Saturday was, save for the wind, one of the best days, weather-wise, I've experienced in a while. I chose to pedal to Point Lookout because it meant pedaling into the wind on my way out and riding the wind on my way home. Dee-Lilah liked that idea, too.
The conditions surrounding our ride were of the kind one encounters for a few days around this time of year, between the unofficial and official ends of summer. The day's high temperature was only a couple of degrees higher than the water (74 F or 23F), so some people swam or at least waded into the water.
Also, the sun shone but didn't bear down on me. So, I didn't need to use quite as much sunscreen as I'd needed on other recent rides. Thus, while I didn't feel drained as I often do after riding under unfiltered sunlight, I needed to drink as much water as I would on a hot day, because the wind brought dry air with it.
Yesterday was a bit warmer and I woke up later. So I simply wandered along the waterfronts, and through some of the back streets, of a few Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods. Dee-Lilah thought the light around the Statue of Liberty and Valentino Pier flattered her. I agreed.
This weekend was not a special occasion. But, with Dee-Lilah, it was a Dee-Light!
