Training for a bicycle touring during a New England winter is a tedious endeavour. I set my bike up in the spare room/library with the goal of putting in some serious time in the seat. In a good week I managed a couple of sessions. It turns out staring at the same spot on the wall is not all that inspiring so I furiously tried to distract myself by watching movies and tv. I can report that action movies work the best. Even so, it turns out I’m no all that in shape.

This past Friday the weather promised to be something other than winter with a possibility of spring. I got all giddy at the prospect of a lovely country ride so I planned an 80 mile loop that I am fond of. I learnt two things. One, I’m not nearly in shape as I had deluded myself into think. My knees starting a hurting halfway into the ride, which means I need to do a lot more stretching. My physiotherapist tells me my tendons are too tight and pulling the knee cap, which causing the pain. So I must stretch more. Second, I learnt again not to trust the weather forecast.

On the positive end, my ride took me along some of my favourite routes around Walden Pond and Harvard, MA. Spring hasn’t fully sprung yet so those routes are only going to get more delectable as the month rolls on. The apple orchards around Harvard gave me reason for a second glance. My many years working in the orchard leaves me no stranger to their different seasons but the combination of snow on the ground and cloud covering with some sun slipping through gave the trees a particularly ghost-like quality.