I personally believe that there are four types of people currently roaming the earth. There are people who thrive in the heat, people who thrive in the cold, people who thrive in both and people who don’t seem to enjoy either!
I am not fortunate enough to enjoy both hot and cold weather, but thankfully I am not unfortunate enough be to uncomfortable in both. I am the type of person who thrives in cold weather.
So, as you can imagine I was not thriving at work today with the thermometer in the kitchen flirting with the 100 degree line. Heat drains me and I was working as if moving at one-tenth of a snail pace was the current fad. In my heat scorched mind I listed off the prep I had to get done before the end of my shift.
Slice tomatoes
Slice bread
Make potato salad
Cut French fries
Make beef gravy
Languidly, I moved through these tasks often forgetting basic details. Yes, slicing tomatoes requires using a knife, so yes, I need to get one. And before cutting French Fries it would be helpful to have a bucket to put them in. My brain simply doesn’t to focus well when it is melting under the force of unrelenting heat.
But with only an hour left in my shift, I knew I needed to get my prep work done promptly. So I downed a glass of ice water and pulled through as best as I could. My shift over, I headed outdoors to my bike who was impatiently waiting for me in the shed.
Surviving the intense heat of summer is trying at times. (I use the phrase “intense heat” somewhat tongue-in-cheek here, I know New York summers are mild compared to the raging heat of other locales.) But guess what makes the hottest summer days a bit more bearable? Going out on the road on my bike. A steady breeze cools my face and restores my sanity, allowing me to feel human again.
And as I rode home today, enjoying the wind and fresh air, I spotted something that gave me hope.
Autumn is just around the corner so I think I will survive.
Noooo! Stay summer!
Summers in upstate NY and New England are glorious. How I miss going to sleep with the windows open listening to the cars and trucks on the Thruway. Then it gets cold and we shut the windows. We endure the cold rain of autumn. Boo.
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Haha, can you imagine if I had to spend the summer in DC? Then maybe I would be a bit more thankful for Upstate summers 🙂 As it is, come quickly, oh cold rains of autumn!
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DC summers are pretty miserable but the spings and falls are spectacular.
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I loved the cherry blossoms photos you took this spring, I can’t wait to see what your fall looks like 🙂
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I can relate to the heat. It does get quite unbearable here in the deep south especially when the humidity is up around 90 percent. People think I’m nuts when I talk about riding when the heat index is over 110 degrees. But like you I enjoy the breeze that comes from riding. I’m also a fall sort of person so I’m also looking forward to cooler temperatures.
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I have spent two weeks of my life in the south during the summer, it stunned me how oppressive the heat and humidity are…I can’t believe you can actually bike in that! It is so humid and hot it must be like biking through a boiling hot ocean 🙂
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LOL, It’s really not as bad as that. Although, as long as you’re riding you’re fine. It’s when you stop that’s when it catches up with you.
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I bet! Your sweat pores probably go into overdrive when you stop!
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I can’t belive what I just read. I get it, it just does not compute.
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I blame my dad. He passed the warm-blooded gene down to me which is great for living in the cold, but not so great for hot summer days!
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Unfortunately I’m of the last variety. I don’t like being too hot or too cold. My body just doesn’t seem to adjust to either very well. But I would rather be cold because I can always wrap up in another sweater or blanket. There’s only so many articles of clothing I’m willing to shed. 😉
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I am with you there! Staying warm is pretty simple…but keeping cool, at least for me, is impossible at times.
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Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not! ~ anonymous
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Amen!
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There seems to be something in the “keeping moving” part of this. In the cold, if I stop moving I soon chill through, but on my bike in the winter (although it wasn’t as harsh as yours), providing I have adequate clothing, I’m comfortable and I enjoy it. It seems to be similar in the summer heat (although it’s pretty cool at the moment where I am compared to some other places), if I’m out on my bike, providing I keep well hydrated and don’t let myself get burnt I feel fine, but indoors, with more mental tasks, the heat can be tiring.
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You have hit the nail on the head, Brian! Pedaling down the road on my bike keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Bikes are magical things, I tell ya 🙂
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This is the first time I’ve ever looked forward to fall! I LOVE summer and the heat and sunshine, but it gives me a headache to ride home in the afternoon so for the first time in my life I’ve been counting the days until fall!
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It will be here before we know it 🙂
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I’d rather sweat than freeze any day. Especially on a bike. 😀
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We get a week of 70 degrees if we’re lucky… I had to convert that us brits measure heat differently.
It rains alot too….. puddles everywhere here 🙂 I love cold weather.
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Wow, I should move to England! But I don’t think you guys get as much snow as we do, so I am not sure if it is worth it 😀
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I haven’t seen snow in about 18 months…
If I go Scotland though there’s plenty there. It never really drops below -3 celius ( sorry don’t know what that is in farienheit…) so we just get a little tiny bit of hailstones and ice…
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Amen, sister. Colder is better in my book as well. Although I’ve noticed that when I’m cranking up the hill on my way home from work, I can’t really tell the difference between 80 and 98; I’m just as hot either way. I only start to notice a difference when it gets down into the 60s. 50-something is just about the right riding temp for me. It doesn’t get much below 20 around here during the winter (and that’s rare), and when it does, my motto is “if you’re cold, you’re not pedaling fast enough”.
I also look forward to fall, but not just for the cooler temps–it’s because I also like to ride over crunchy, dry leaves, and I kind of like riding in the dark, as long as it’s not raining.
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I agree, 50’s make for the perfect biking weather.
Biking through crunchy, fallen leaves is the best! I can’t wait 🙂 All we have to do it make it though a few more weeks of sweaty, humid riding…
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