well, okay, it's more than a moment. i really despise the summer, you see, and it's weeks like this that drive home the point. while it's true that the weather in the northeast is not as consistently toasty and humid as other regions of the country, most of those areas have newer construction, and therefore air conditioning. central air is the exception rather than the rule around here. so, the optimal solution is to sit very still, and eat a shitload of freezy pops. besides, air conditioning doesn't do shit when your power company's incompetence leads to widespread outages when someone sneezes. what boggles my mind is the fact that some people like this kind of weather. 85 and humid everyday. people say they don't, but then why do they go to hawaii? bah. what a fucking curmudgeon i am.
but anyway, i'm really glad that this recent heat wave waited two weeks, as i doubt i'd have been able to survive the northeast aids ride in this kind of weather. the worst part is when it's warm and sunny, you're climbing a big hill with a lot of cars passing. there's a grassy field nearby, filled with those bugs that go 'click-click-click', and you're breathing hard, sucking in either car exhaust, warm asphalt-scented air, or the stale hot air coming off the tall grass. ugh. like i said, i've no use for summer. and i'm not bitter in the least about that little case of heat exhaustion i had. but for all that, there's also the wonderful feeling of reaching the top of that hill, and seeing a shady, tree-lined, long, gradual descent. you reach the top (and, in my case, stretch out in a way that looks like i'm humping my bike, so that my ass, feet, and back can restore themselves to a condition that will permit another 15 minutes of riding)... you reach the top, stretch out, and start rolling... after you kick yourself in the ass, you realize you've got to build some speed again. you start pedaling, slowly snap the gears back up, and then each stroke starts to get you some real smash... at some point, you've got the gears all the way up, then the pedals go around without pulling anything. drop one, and lean on that foot, and tuck yourself in. twitch the handlebars a little to avoid a pothole, warn the guy behind you; wait, there's no one there. you hit the bottom, looks flat, eventually you slow to the point where your pedals work again, and you keep pushing, because now you've got the momentum going, and you don't want to lose it, because now small hills that might be a pain in the ass are done by the time they sap you of too much speed. miles go by like this, you're cool, you're rested, you're going fast, and when you're finally stopped at a traffic light, you're jittery for a bit, and then, back to work.
now that's the fucking bomb...
it's very unlike me to do hippie charity things; i am neither shiny nor happy, nor optimistic. the best way i found to describe the atmosphere was that someone sang "wind beneath your wings", and meant it. that's a hard thing for a cynical bastard like me to understand. but you know, you sort of have to let them do their own naive, optimistic thing. as for me, it was a good cause, and a lot of fun, and a lot of nice people. i don't think i'll do it next year, but perhaps the one after that. who knows?
well, i think i've rambled on enough for today...