This morning Anne’s all vegan bird feeding restaurant toyed with the idea of adding a meat course or two.  At least the Cooper’s hawk that we saw in the backyard seemed to be suggesting that.  I tried to get a decent photo of it, but was unsuccessful.  Either my gyrations in the window or the by then paucity of winged breakfast caused the hawk to move on. 

Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a rather dangerous lifestyle.  A recent study found that a quarter of all Cooper’s Hawks examined had healed fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the wishbone.  A Cooper’s hawk captures birds with its feet, and will squeeze it repeatedly to kill it.  It does not bite the prey to kill it in the fashion of falcons, but holds it away from its body until it dies.  It has been known to drown its prey, holding a bird under water until it stops moving.  Hmmm, fun facts!

This weekend was the third weekend of Anne’s all women FrostBike series of bike rides.  I helped her launch this morning and maybe helped her a bit too much for her taste (Whoops!).  It was fourteen degrees out then.  I had packed my bike in the back of the car with plans of first going to the annual bike swap meet and then going biking, all over in Illinois.  As I detoured around the Park what had been just flurries started to become accumulation.  I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and parked at the history museum.  I unloaded the bike and put on the rest of my biking accoutrements, just in time to catch Anne as she rode by on her way to VeloCity.

Kubie was already at VeloCity when we arrived.  She facilitated my special dispensation to be able to ride with the women, hence this post’s title, but when she started to call me Marcia, I almost backed out.  Anne had brought one of her knitting projects along for a fitting with Kubie. 

Today’s header shows the FrostBike peleton in snow storm action and this post’s picture shows intrepid Anne peddling along, “Are we brave or just stupid?”  There were fourteen women on today’s ride.  There were several captain crashes, but no injuries and after a half turn of the Park, the ladies decided to bag it.  I tried to extend my ride, but in the end I only got six miles.  To add insult to injury, Anne got seven miles (insert your favorite Bronx cheer here).

I joined Anne and her compatriots and really enjoyed VeloCity’s Sunday brunch.  Anne decided to leave her bike at VeloCity, the cyclery not the café, for service.  So we drove home together.  One more FrostBike series weekend ride to go …