Central Park, Nov 7–13: a run on the Upper Loop tomorrow, then seven days of sun

        Hi all,

Seven consecutive sunny days, zero rain, highs 55° to 63°. This is the week to spend outside. The one thing to plan around is tomorrow morning: a charity run has a permit on the Upper Loop, 9 AM to noon.

Weather this week

Sunny every day — 62°, 61°, 59°, 63°, 61° on Veterans Day, then 55° and 51° — with rain chances at or below 10% all the way through. Windy Saturday through Monday at 16–20 mph out of the northwest, which on the open west side of the loop you will feel on every lap.

Tuesday, 63° and sunny with the wind down, is the long run and the long ride of the week. Take it then if you can take only one.

Sat Nov 7, 9 AM–noon — Saving the Elephants Run has the Upper Loop

The permit reads Bandshell Plaza and the Upper Loop, 9 AM to noon. That is the northern arc of the loop drive. Do not count on a clean lap tomorrow morning: expect coning, staging and foot traffic at the north end, with the Bandshell end of the park used for setup.

Your options, in order:

  Go before 8:30. 62° and sunny, and the loop is entirely yours.
  Use the Bridle Path or the Reservoir between 9 and noon — both are well clear of it.
  Ride south. The lower loop and the 72nd Street transverse are unaffected.

Worth saying plainly: our own tagging missed this one. It reached me only because I read the raw permit this morning — the loop flag that would normally force it into this email never fired. I am fixing the cause; meanwhile this paragraph is here by hand.

After noon, Saturday is excellent:

  Woodland Walk: The North Woods, 10 AM from Dana Discovery Center — waterfalls, the Loch, the best remaining color.
  Seneca Village Tour, 2 PM from Mariners’ Gate.
  Birding Bob at Loeb Boathouse, 7:30 AM.
  East Meadow closed — the lawn only. East Drive beside it is open.

Sun Nov 8 — sunny, windy, and a good walking day

61° and sunny with a steady 16 mph. No loop impact at all.

  Woodland Walk: The Ramble, 10 AM from Belvedere Castle.
  Iconic Views of Central Park, 2 PM from Doris C. Freedman Plaza.
  Leaf Peeping Hike with the Urban Park Rangers, 1–2:30 PM from Boys’ Gate at West 100th — free, and the north end is at its best right now.
  Birding Bob at Loeb Boathouse, 7:30 AM. East Meadow closed again.

Mon Nov 9 – Thu Nov 12 — four empty days, all of them sunny

Nothing is booked. Not one scheduled event in four days, and the forecast is 59°, 63°, 61°, 55° under full sun with the wind easing after Monday.

The marathon envelope expires Tuesday the 10th. It has reported a loop-affecting event every day since the race — that was load-out, and the drives have been open throughout. From Wednesday it is gone and the record matches reality again.

  Birding Bob: Strawberry Fields Monday 8:30 AM, Loeb Boathouse Thursday 8:30 AM.
  Lawn maintenance at the East 106th Street Lawn, Monday to Thursday — only matters if you cool down up there.
  New Dendrology at the Arsenal Gallery, weekdays 9–5, free, for anyone who wants an hour on trees.

Fri Nov 13 — the Conservancy’s gala, and the week’s first clouds

The CPC Annual Fall-Winter Gala holds Rumsey Playfield and Bandshell Plaza 9 AM to midnight. The Bandshell end is out all day. No effect on the drives — but if you normally loop past Rumsey, there will be trucks.

51° with a slight chance of rain. Iconic Views at 2 PM, and Birding Bob at the Conservatory Garden at 8:30 AM — his best venue, one week in the rotation.

Steady all week

  Bethesda Terrace closed every day, now through December 6. A thirteenth extension, and there is now a second overlapping closure permit on the same spot from November 19. Route around the arcade.
  The Great Lawn has its first permit in sixteen weeks — a picnic, tomorrow. The four-month blank was never a closure after all.
  Coming: Race to Deliver 4M on Sunday November 22, 8–10 AM. That one is a genuine loop closure. Diary it now.

Go early tomorrow, and take Tuesday.

Have a strong week,
Kin