Cyclists in the Mist

Joy here...This morning "Team Sunday" got up early to get our weekly loop of the park underway.  The weather network was forecasting thundershowers, and none of us knew whether our ride would be on or not.  None of us were willing to ride in the midst of a rain storm.

But 7am came, and while the clouds were hanging heavily above, they hadn't opened up yet, so we hopped on our bikes and made our way to the park for loop #12 of the season.

The low-hanging mist on the horizon, but no rain.

The milkwater sky hanging low over our heads.

The day was humid and heavy, and the sky hung white and low overhead like the thick cream that rises to the top of a milkmaid's bucket first thing in the morning.  It was atmospheric and misty, like a scene from the Lord of the Rings, and we rode forward amidst the low-hanging haze as if riding through clouds.  On we rode, me, the trainer, the professor, Cili Padi, The Man, Superdave (Cili Padi's husband), and our friend who has pulled her daughter through the park before (who we've now dubbed Power Penna because of her powerful legs that pump like pistons as she pedals).  Lined in a moving, whizzing row, we filed our way through the mists.

Power Penna pulling away from me!

Power Penna hasn't been able to join the rides lately, and her husband has come instead while she stayed at home with their daughter.  But I can tell you that her brief break from loops in the park has had little to no effect on her fitness.  She's truly remarkable on the bike.  She is smooth and comfortable, and the bike moves as an extension of her extremely powerful legs.  She goes down the descents at break-neck speed, getting low over her handle bars and dropping like a stone.  I might be able to climb up the hills and get some space between me and her, but then on the downhill, I don't stand a chance!  So it was good to have her back joining the ride for this Cyclists in the Mist experience (with a nod to Dian Fossey).

The dawn mist hanging over the lake.

The view from Champlain Lookout...low-hanging clouds.

So as I rode up the hard climb to the Champlain Lookout with the trainer and Power Penna by my side (Cili Padi and the professor had ridden up the rode like they had wings on their bikes and were waiting for us up top), we enjoyed each other's company, and more than that, we enjoyed the fact that we had pulled ourselves out of our beds and into the mist to ride in a world shaped by a fantasist's imagination or an impressionist's paint brush.  


While each of us had toyed with the idea of cancelling the morning's ride because of the weather forecast, each of us couldn't be happier that we actually got out there and pulled off a beautiful ride in a mist-filled world.


And so you might be wondering what is the moral of today's story?  What is the point of today's blog post?


It's simple really:  Don't trust the weather network!


Over and out, 
Joy