Central Park, Nov 9–15: Veterans Day is the ride of the week, then Friday turns cold and wet

Hi all,

Three good days, then it ends. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are sunny at 59°, 61° and 61° with nothing booked anywhere in the park — and then Friday arrives at 47° with steady rain and 20–25 mph wind. The mild autumn is over on Thursday evening.

Wednesday — Veterans Day — is the one to take. 61°, sunny, and the wind finally drops to 6–9 mph after three breezy days. It is the best riding and running day left on the forecast.

Weather this week

Mild and sunny through Wednesday, breezy Monday at 16–20 mph and calm by midweek. Thursday 57° with rain by evening, Friday 47° with light rain all day and a 25 mph wind, Saturday 46° and raw. Front-load the week — everything you were saving for the weekend should move to Tuesday or Wednesday.

Mon Nov 9 – Wed Nov 11 — the loop is clear and nothing is booked

Three consecutive days with no scheduled events at all.

One thing to ignore: the record still shows a loop-affecting permit Monday and Tuesday covering East, West and Center Drive. That is the marathon envelope, and it expires Tuesday. It has been load-out since the day after the race — fencing and trailers — and the drives have been open throughout. Nothing blocks a lap any day this week.

• Wednesday is the day. 61°, sun, almost no wind, empty roads.
• Monday is windy at 16–20 mph, which on the west side you will feel the whole way round.
• Lawn maintenance at the East 106th Street Lawn, Monday to Thursday — relevant only if you cool down up there.
• Birding Bob: Strawberry Fields Monday 8:30 AM, Loeb Boathouse Thursday 8:30 AM.

Thu Nov 12 – Fri Nov 13 — the weather breaks

Thursday holds at 57° until the evening, when rain moves in and the wind gets up to 25 mph overnight. Friday is the worst day: 47°, light rain most of the day, 20–25 mph sustained. If you run or ride Friday, it is a hard-shell day and the Bridle Path will be mud.

The CPC Annual Fall-Winter Gala takes Rumsey Playfield and Bandshell Plaza from Friday morning — and it now runs three days, through Sunday. No effect on the drives at all, but the Bandshell end of the park is out, and there will be trucks where you normally loop past Rumsey.

Friday’s one bright spot: Birding Bob at the Conservatory Garden, 8:30 AM. Best venue in his rotation, one week in four — and under rain the formal garden is worth it anyway. Iconic Views tour at 2 PM.

Sat Nov 14 — cold, raw, and better for walking than riding

46° with a 20 mph wind and showers around 31%.

• St. Martin’s Parade, 3:15–5 PM at Summit Rock — a lantern procession at the highest point in the park, timed for dusk. Worth the cold.
• Iconic Views tour at 2 PM; Birding Bob at Loeb 7:30 AM.
• East Meadow closed for maintenance — the lawn only, East Drive beside it is open.

Sun Nov 15 — the Great Central Park Hike

• Great Central Park Hike, 10 AM from Dana Discovery Center. The Conservancy’s full-length walk, top to bottom, with guides. On a cold clear Sunday with the leaves down and the sightlines open, this is the best walking of the month.
• Birding Bob at Loeb Boathouse, 7:30 AM. East Meadow closed again; the gala’s last day at Rumsey.

Steady all week

• Bethesda Terrace closed every day through December 8 — a fourteenth extension. And it is not alone: five separate closures now all end on exactly December 8, and all five moved there from December 6 together in this week’s filing. Both Bethesda permits, the Swedish Cottage lawn, the East 96th Street playground lawn and the East 106th lawn maintenance. Something is scheduled that week.
• Race to Deliver 4M, Sunday November 22, 8–10 AM — the first genuine loop closure since the marathon. Two weeks out; diary it.

Take Wednesday.

Have a strong week, Kin