The cloud cover over the city broke on Thursday and ushered in a magnificent fall weekend. And we sure took advantage of it!
Six of us met out at L1 at 7:15am, and there were already numerous people out at the lakefront. They weren’t runners – and they certainly weren’t swimmers – but they came out for the brilliant sunrise. And Ma Nature certainly did not disappoint!
The clear skies and calm water helped magnify what was to become an absolutely stunning early November sunrise that started out deep red and then blazed into a fiery white orb within a few short minutes. Not a bad start to a swim!
I had to do a double take when I pulled the thermometer out of the lake. The surface temp reading came in at an astonishing 57.1F! And while the official in-swim temp ended up at 55.4F, it was still an unexpected – yet very welcome – rise from the previous week.
I went sans wetsuit this time, although I did double up on the headgear with both silicon and neoprene caps. And after a very brief immersion shock, I acclimated right away and was quite comfortable the entire swim.
I made it down to Oak Street Beach and decided to get out and jog most of the way back as I was feeling somewhat fatigued. But the obsessive side of me decided to leap back in the lake at the 1/8 mile point and swim back to L1!
Several of us stuck around for a while afterwards as the overly abundant sunshine and lack of wind made for a very pleasant post-swim experience with only a minimal afterdrop to contend with. And the nicer weather brought out many more people who could not believe that we were actually out swimming in November.
Little did they know – the lake is MUCH colder in May!
Lakefront sun worshipers
Autumn leaves
Sunrise shots
Happy Lake Monsters!
Back at L1!
Sunrise video
LADDER #1 got two more coats of orange to help it shine all winter – and the bottom rungs are now gloss white…
Ladder #2 is now Mellow Yellow with gloss white ladder rungs
the 1/8 mile marker got 2 more coats of orange
some of the the bars got 2 coats of gloss white