In Which the Witch of November Comes Early

Oct. 30--Ready for morning bike ride, first ride in full winter gear.

Oct. 30—the eve of All Hallow’s Eve—and I was getting ready to ride my bicycle to work.

Two days earlier, I rode on a cold, windy Saturday, and planned to put in more than 20 miles but gave up and came home and rode just a bit over 14 ½ miles. I had planned to ride north to Lafayette, but my feet were letting me know that my bicycle sandals were totally inadequate, despite warm socks, when I got out to County Home Road, so I sat for a minute, ate my Lafayette snack, and turned back.

I rode again Sunday, a shorter ride, and it wasn’t as windy, so despite being cool, it was OK. But Sunday into Monday true cold weather, a genuine hard freeze, settled into Iowa. The witch of November came stealing a bit early.

So Monday was my first long johns commute—the first day of riding with warm winter boots, long underwear, my biking hat, my hood, coat and gloves.

Oct. 28--Cool bike ride, colorful Sumac bush beside Cedar Valley Nature Trail in Robins.

There had been some frosty nights by Oct. 28, and few flowers were to be seen--but a few still hang on.

Yet, it was still a good day to ride. Even with a temperature in the 20s and wind chill in the teens, I was OK. Partly, it was because it was a north wind I’d been feeling, and most of my commute involved riding south.

Cold weather bike season came for a visit. It didn’t really stay long, as the first days of November, according to my weather app, will feature cool nights, but not the bitter cold that visited us both Oct. 30 and Oct. 31.

Well, I get more miles in during the warm months, and I do like the flowers and butterflies of that time of year. I’ll still ride some miles during the chill months, too.

Must be the warlock in me. I wasn’t ever that scared of witches.

As of Oct. 31, I had 235 miles for the month. I finished October with 2, 972 miles for 2023, just 328 from my 3,300-mile goal for the year. November is here now, and I missed riding Nov. 2 because I had a blood draw that morning (routine checkup blood tests for an old man), and didn’t have time for biking. But on Nov. 1 and 3, I managed commutes that totaled 14.6 miles. Not bad for a cold, old man.

Sunset Oct. 23 sunset, seen on bike ride home. More night rides coming as time change is this weekend.