Time to retire my skis

Yesterday the temperature reached the lower 80s, and as if that wasn't enough sign to put away the skis leaning against the garage, cutting through the apartments where I found my new rusty old bike, there was a pair of cross country skis, in much better condition, standing next to the pile by the dumpster. They weren't just in better condition than the bike, their base was also far more intact than the pair I've been using for over ten years of southern New England winters with incomplete snow coverage of rocks.

Cross country skis, especially those for gangly people like myself, are long, longer than a bike. Yes, in recent times, skis have grown, or shrunk, shorter, but I still like the old, fast skis that are harder to turn, and not just because those are the ones I'm more likely to find free. Those are, however, not what I wanted to carry up to, and back from, Greenfield. Instead, I discovered another effective use for invasive knotweed, like the thicket growing at the edge of the apartment complex. It's not just a good screen for roadside peeing. It hides skis effectively too!

Despite the ski stashing delay, I still didn't drop the hammer to make up time heading north, but happily for me, someone else already had, five miles up Route 116. I'm a fan of the opposite: picking up the hammer, especially when it's a nifty Estwing hand sledge! It may weigh more that the skis, but it was much more compact for stashing in tall grass to collect on my return trip.

I did eventually make it to Greenfield for a meander through town, and then, to stick with my theme of lightening my pedaling load, I took the option of skipping the less pleasant section along Route 5 by hopping on a well timed FRTA bus to South Deerfield, and I wasn't the only biker to make use of a slot in their three place racks! A quick conference confirmed he was riding the bus all the way to Northampton, so I took the outer position.

Back south, I again picked up the dropped hammer (yes, I'm over using that word play, darn it!), and the skis, and even found room for the rear road wheel that was nestle into the roadside free pile, and then a front from Hampshire Bicycle Exchange. And finally, after a stop to collect my hold from the Amherst Library, I rode home the long way, so to speak.