Well, year 6 in the books. And this time, about the best of any of my rides, thanks to some excellent scouting (and Albert going the day before).
This year’s ride was a bit shorter than usual. I had to be somewhere in the afternoon, so I kept it to under 40 miles. Still, it was cold, but a beautiful day, and the tree did not disappoint.
First, I believe it was last year that I discovered the CCTV on the highway near the tree that would show me about a quarter of it, and in the right light, it gave me an idea of how far the leaves had turned. Last year, in a nod to its usefulness, I took a CCTV selfie — screenshotting the CCTV on the Naver map while Albert and I stood aside from the crowd. This year, knowing better how it would look (and having taken a picture of Albert’s family the day before), I wheeled my bike into a good spot, waved for about 5 seconds, then looked down at my phone waiting for the 30 second or so delay.
The result was pretty good if you ask me…
And the tree itself? As good as ever…
Last year, I figured I’d seen the tree at its best (as far as riding to it — I’d seen better driving up with Micha back in ’21), so it was time for a new adventure. But no…I don’t think I can give up on it now. It’s pretty much the last big event of the year. The rest of them should be more local and laid back. We’ll see. Autumn is coming to a close now here (it was 32 degrees yesterday at the start of the ride), but there are still colors to be seen.
So I guess it’s “see you again next year…”