Revision

I'd say that this is going to be the saddest news in the world, but honestly, given the state of things, it's not even close to the bottom of the heap. I mean, I have three bicycles, an adorable cat, and friends who love me - what more could a girl want?

I don't think I can ride to Rhinebeck this year. What's more, I don't think I can even go to Rhinebeck this year. I sat down and did the math, and poked around on the Internets and found, as Juno had warned me, that the hotels in and near Rhinebeck are already brimful of knitters who planned earlier out than a month. (side note: holy shit, in what weird world is a month ahead of time not enough advance planning for a weekend excursion?)

Any way I crunched the numbers, I came to the same conclusion: too expensive. If I could ride the whole way in one day, MAYBE. But I can't. My bike isn't even ready yet. I haven't trained on it. I haven't tested my legs on the big big hills of upstate NY. I haven't re-learned how to ride a geared road bike, and I've never used the kind of shifting/braking setup I am having made.

The long and the short of it is, I don't think I can go. I thought about taking the train up, riding from the station to the festival and back, but that's a big chunk of riding, and would take almost half the day, and then what's the point?

So I guess I am bagging it. I thought I'd be really really sad and let-down, and I find that I am not.

I will ride the road bike on some long hilly rides into the country, and I might even do an overnight here and there, and I will manage to see some leaves before they all fall to the ground and get snowed on. But the grand adventure will have to be put off for another, more solvent year. Plus, of course, there's the fact that if I went to Rhinebeck, I'd drop at least $100 on wool. I mean, ya have to. It's there.

So, y'all have fun, ya hear? I'm gonna knit from my very nice stash for a while. And maybe ride to the beach and look at the terns and gulls. The beach is nice in the fall. Quiet. Windy. Mmmm.