I didn't blog anymore after October but I rode through November and into early December. My total miles for 2012 was about 1,700. I had hoped to achieve 2,000 miles! A friend of mine suggested that in 2013 I should try to do the equivalent of New York to San Francisco... 2,905.5 miles! I think that would be possible, since I didn't start riding until May last year and then only 4 miles a day in the beginning. This year I'm hoping to commute (28 miles one way) to work occasionally instead of just once like I did in 20112, and I've already got a good start in January.... so San Francisco, here I come. Sort of!
I bought some additional riding gear as the weather turned colder. I got a pair of neoprene shoe covers, wool socks, a balaclava to cover my face, and a pair of Bar Mitts for the bike handlebars. It seems that as the temperature drops each 10 degree or so, it requires a different dressing for the ride. Todays ride lasted about 2 1/2 hours and due to the wet road spray and light rain, I was just beginning to get cold toward the end.

One of the things I noticed as I rode is that I can see much deeper into the woods than in the summer when the leaves hide so many secretes. Pieces of old junk farm machines, old cars, hidden cabins, buildings, and campers are all unveiled in the naked landscape.
The creeks where high with the January snow melt and the January thunder storm we endured durring the night. This morning as I went about feeding the animals, I couldn't see flooded valley as Narrows Creek became a roaring river, but I could hear it through the fog.

As I finished my ride this afternoon, the creek had subsided but great chucks of ice remained jammed against the bridge and were left lying out in fields adjacent to the creek that had barely slipt back into her banks.
I arrived home soaked from the inside from my own body sweat, and from the outside by the rain and wet highways. The photo is blurry, sorry. It was supposed to be a shot of my dirty pant legs and the dirty bike before I washed it and brought it in the basement to dry. My wife tried but missed! Ha!
