Who's The Nut Job?

Mirror Lake on a raw, early March Sunday morning.

Visit #855, Sunday 23 March 14, 7:25-9:15AM, 4.2 miles.
Temps in the low 30's, overcast.

Only a nut job would leave a perfectly warm bed early on a cold Sunday morning to pick up trash. Well, I guess I qualify! But what would make me so nutty?

Milan-San Remo, that's what.

Milan-San Remo is the first "classic" single day bike race on the european professional racing calendar. Held along the coast of Italy and 182 miles long, this is usually a race suited for the sprinters, and today's edition was no exception.

And I wasn't the only nut job as today's Milan-San Remo was held in a constant, raw, rain and only nut jobs would race, let alone ride, in such weather.

Enjoy the final kilometers:

I wanted to get home early enough to watch the race on the internet so I shifted into nut job mode (which some would argue is normal for me anyway) and got an early start on my duties.

I was on-call so I stuck close to the park, starting adjacent to the playground and walking west, covering all the trails on the south side of I-691. By the time I reached West Main Street, across from Belmont Ave., I had a full bag of trash. I also discovered the lock to the gate had been cut. I left the bag, and stacked some vinyl siding I found lying nearby. I'll contact the Meriden Parks Department to pick everything up and put a new lock on the gate.

I turned around and pointed myself back toward the park. Enroute I discovered a letterbox that was apparently left in the open (they're usually discreetly placed). Not knowing where it belonged, I took it home and did a little internet sleuthing. Once I learned the identity of the owner, I e-mailed them to see whether they want me to "best guess" where it belongs from the directions, or place it somewhere for the owner to return it to its rightful location. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Back at the park, I found the unusual leftovers of a fire someone had perhaps started in one of the fireplaces.

Who knew there was an alternative spelling for "chimneys"?!

I stopped at my truck, dropped off the box and my second bag of trash, then opened a third. I walked from the Soap Box Derby Trail up to the reservoir then turned around (I didn't want to be late for Milan-San Remo!) and walked the road back to the park, depositing my collection for the day.

Quiz question: So who won Milan-San Remo this year?!