85 degrees. Mike's running around the house trying to install window air conditioners---a little annoyed with me for not being much help. How do these things work anyway? He says, "Oh, you just plug them in---and they fit in the window". Really? "Do you have to add water to it", I ask? He says confidently, "nope---you just plug it in. It will drip water...but it uses freeon or something. Let's put it on your side of the bed". (So it can drip on me, I wonder?)
Sigh. It's not even that hot? I refuse to complain when it's warm out. I like it anyway. Today I rode through Carlisle, Chemlsford, Great Brook Farm, Lexington, Arlington and all around my little neighborhood. Now I can ride a 50+ mile loop and not ride back on the same roads I left on.
And shorts and a sleeveless jersey weather sure feels good. Peeling off the layers. The layers that don't come off quite as easily out here in the North East though are the layers and layers of "attitude, properness, and busy-ness". The reserved ways of New Englanders can at first be a little startling for a Californian turned Minnesotan turned New Englander girl like me.
During the work week, I'm pretty oblivious to this since I am surrounded by bike people most of the time. Bike people are the same no matter where you are. It's a small micro community of people that isn't separated by place so much---West Coast, East Coast, Mid West, even Europe...it's all good. And even if it sounds like I am complaining and comparing again---we feel blessed with this very different lifestyle and opportunity...I'm just observing.
And, it isn't that folks aren't nice...they are nice. (A little uptight in my opinion---and conservative in a traditional but not stuffy kind of way). But it isn't like the prairie where if you run out of water and don't have money, someone will give you water --- or even a ride home. Out here---no dough---no service. I ran into Mike coming in the opposite direction out around Great Brook Farm---he was headed out on a short spin---I was heading home from a long ride trying not to bonk.
As he passed me again (he's always passing me!), he hands me a full water bottle. That's the Minnesotan in him. The "salt of the earth" characteristic that you have to experience to understand what I am talking about. The water was just what I needed to get me back home! In any case---my layers are peeled off and ready to enjoy the summer days. Tomorrow we're off to race in the 94 degree Housotonic Hills road race in Connecticut---Happy Saturday!
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