i will get some new photos up soon, i never really get the chance to take any and post, time better spent riding and living. the weather is decidedly november-like. not the fading glory of ski season but the beginings of another long winter. thankfully it's not but it sure feels like it. another icy commute today. i arrived at work questioning my logic to have one car, that i don't drive. i got on the bike and made it in without the slipping of the tires on black ice. without skidding across the slick tarmac and ruining another set of shorts/legwarmers/shoes. i was reading about alberic "briek" schotte, a racer who died at age 84 about 40 minutes into the tour of flanders in hospital. aside from winning the tour of flanders twice and world championships twice he finished second to the great gino bartali in the tour de france in 1948, epic in that bartali won by over 26 minutes that year in a tour that was over 5000km and his time was almost 150 hours, double the norm of today. to put it lightly flandrian diesels. i love reading about how it was, today the athletes are faster but they don't go as long, a toss up, faster or longer, either way mentally it's tough. the wind is making me very strong, i never seem to get it at my back, i seem to plow a lonely furrow nearly everyday into the wind. i like it, i feel better after a windy ride. the new headphones do wonders for limiting wind noise and giving me motivation. i may ride alone but the music helps.