Author: Tom Saccone

Today is my birthday.  I have this little ritual, that is now becoming a bit unwieldy as I am on the lee-side of the half-century mark by more than a couple of years.  I ride my age on my birthday.  Maybe it’s counter-intuitive, riding longer, farther as I get older.  But I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.  Some years, I don’t quite get there for the usual reasons, travel, weather, work.  But today I got it or came pretty close.

I left my home, the fiscal cliff, and 2012 behind and was able to rally for a 2:00 ride today,  the first day of the new year, January 1, 2013.  It was overcast and felt colder than the 28 degrees indicated on various thermometers in town.  I sent a tweet out and a few text messages, to see if there were others who would enjoy some motivation to start the year where we ended it, on the bike, on 446.  Emily Palmer, recovering from a cold responded.  Don Galligher (DRT) was hopeful to join us and a few others were apparently already on the road.

“No appreciable change in our surroundings…we can only attempt to go south in our crippled state…still, there is a sporting chance and luck may be with us!”  Shackleton.  Ship’s log.  South.  The Endurance Expedition.  1917.

I have a barometer on my desk at the house.  It’s the 1800’s equivalent of today’s weather app for your smart phone.  The barometer indicates the change in pressure in millibars over a given time and has a dial that suggests states of weather; Fair, Change, Rain, Stormy.  Since I last set it, the dial was moving from Fair to Change as the pressure was dropping.    So was the weather despite the sunny day today.