In case I haven't said this to you already, Happy New Year everyone! Also, happy Winter, because it's been that long since I've checked in here. I'm probably in the minority, but I look forward to Winter, just like any season. They're all different, and they all present opportunities.
Back when I was a Wash Cyclist, I was often asked what exactly I did in Winter. I realize the concept of delivering laundry on a bicycle seemed crazy to be doing in Winter, but I rode, of course.
I work in Lawn Care now, so I still get asked that question. We also still work during Winter; we just don't go out on lawns. Our busy season officially wrapped up on December 13th, and after some end-of-year housekeeping, we all went on a brief hiatus. For me, it was the perfect time to take the family back to PA to celebrate the holidays and my birthday, which did include some riding:
If you frequent this blogspace of mine, you may have noticed the bike above that's not a regularly appearing character. Long story short, I couldn't take our bikes with us due to an issue with my car, so I was forced to borrow bikes from my Mom & Step Dad for the week we spent back home. Thanks to their help, I kept a promise to myself to ride every day during my birth month. I even convinced my girlfriend to brave the cold on the D&L Trail with me one day:
It was a little strange to be riding someone else's bike for an extended period of time. Even stranger to be doing so in the town I grew up after so many years away. Strange, but good. If nothing else, the nostalgia was a breath of fresh air:
My ride down memory lane continued after we left Palmerton, when we ventured back to Philly to celebrate my birthday, and our 2nd anniversary on New Year's Eve. I made sure that we called the IndeGo bike share system into action for a day to finish out the month of December:
I did have another ulterior motive in all of this, but despite my best efforts, I came up just 7 miles short of 3,000 for the year. I'm not too broken up about it, because in the last month I rode on 2 different bike share systems and 4 other bikes in 3 different states, so I'd say it was a pretty successful final month of 2018, and a pretty great year overall.
We returned to Ohio in the midst of some unseasonable warmth. I was able to sneak in a couple days of beautiful bike commutes on my first few days back at the office:
Winter finally showed up (seemingly) for good at the end of that week, and we're now blanketed with several inches of snow after several dustings and a near miss from a blizzard. I've sneaked in a ride here and there, but I think it's time to move into full off-season mode, namely tuneups and maintenance. I'll be doing plenty of those types of things to our work equipment over the next month or so.
At home, it's time to seize the opportunity to overhaul the bikes. They surely need it. Of course, I'm not going to disable all of them at the same time, just in case we get a nice weather day mixed in here or there. BUT, this is as good a chance as any to gear up for next year, and if you haven't done so to your bike, get crackin'. Happy off season!
