Sculptor7

Here we are in Maine with mild lovely weather and I have to face the fact that if I don't rake the leaves today I will regret it when I am trying to herd them up in a blustery cold NW breeze later in the week. And to make matters worse they are not all yet fallen which means I will have to do a clean up at a later point.

It is always a tough call whether to wait for all the leaves to fall hoping they won't be covered in wet snow or ice, or tackle them now when the majority have fallen.

Well, I put over 50 miles on the Trek in the last two days so I guess I will accept the role of responsible homeowner for now.

10 Wheels

Always choose ride.

RonH

Leaves? What are they?
Where I live the grass is cut and the nonexistent leaves are taken care of by someone else. As my realtor said when we were looking at lots to built on, "Did you move here to cut grass or to play." Very wise person.

aRoudy1

New study says don't rake them! Don't rake your leaves, scientists say

side_FX

Did you consider tying a rake to the back of the bike and just go back and forth across the lawn? How cool would that be?

SJX426 

vacuum or blower works better than a rake. Riding is even more effective for emotional stability!

james_v

Blew the pine needles off the roof this morning. Picked them up in the back yard and now working on the front. Good fire going at this time. Told the wife that 35 years ago there was an easy solution to this problem before the house went in! Will ride later today as it is to start raining again tomorrow and through Saturday.

JohnDThompson 

Rake today if you'd prefer to ride in that "blustery cold NW breeze later in the week." Otherwise ride today and let the "blustery cold NW breeze later in the week" blow the leaves onto the neighbor's lawn

Gnosis

I have to go with RIDE! The leaves should be the least of anyone's worries.

Shamrock

Ride now rake in March like I do!!

qcpmsame 

Mulching lawnmower blades, perhaps? I just run over the entire lawn with the mower every few weeks, like one post above said, its supposed to be better for things. Anyhow, very little of the bright green stuff, we have a 2/3 wooded lot, in a pretty much rural area. I let the real lawn geeks do the detail lawn stuff, I want to ride if its a nice day, and very few days aren't nice if you are out riding.

Bill

Tundra_Man 

I've picked up 32 (heavily compacted) bags so far. About half of my leaves have fallen. I've got 14 large trees on my property plus a bunch of big bushes that shed their leaves. It was very pretty looking when we bought the house one spring, but after the first fall arrived it was like, "what was I thinking?"

I've got some trees that start dropping early, some that wait until late November and some in between. Starting in September I just spend an hour at some point every Saturday picking up leaves from whatever tree(s) have dropped that week. When I get enough bags filled up to make a load (my truck will hold 16, including one on the passenger seat) I'll take a load to the drop-off site.

So I'm spending an hour a week for about 12 weeks, but it beats a marathon session of trying to pick them all up at once. And it leaves plenty of time on my Saturdays for other activities (such as riding.)

70sSanO

If you can find a couple of people that want to make a few bucks, I'd have them rake the leaves and I'd go for a ride.

No regrets and you are helping the economy more than anyone in Washington has been doing.

John

Needles

As Buddha says: there is no decision.

David Bierbaum

The ride/rake question is easily answered. If there's a significant other looking out the window, then saying "Honey, when are you planning to rake the leaves?", then the answer is "rake", otherwise, the answer is "ride."

smoore

I'm in GA and have the same issue...except it's almost 70 degree here. Have you ever considered....naw, never mind.

70sSanO

It's 6:00pm....

Did the ride happen?

John

Moe Zhoost

Raining buckets here today, so I can do neither.

h2oxtc

In our neighborhood, if it's windy I'd do neither. I don't like riding in the wind and chances are the wind will blow most of the leaves to our neighbors yard. If it's not windy, I'd go for a ride and hope that tomorrow is windy.

Retro Grouch 

Uh - this is 50+. Didn't you train your kids to clean up after themselves? Let the guy who put those leaves there take care of them.

Wileyrat

It's warmed up enough to go do a bit of yard work, and when that's done today, it's off to do probably some trail riding (unless the wind dies down, than the road bike comes out to play).

ltxi

Agreed! Make God rake them up!

Daniel4

Rake? Why? Mother nature doesn't rake. Mother nature doesn't use chemical fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides either. And Mother Nature didn't create algae bloom and dead zones at the coasts.

Sculptor7

Actually, I decided to do both. Raked up 20+ bags of leaves last week and managed to put in 100 miles of cycling also. Raking leaves in the wind is useless but riding in the wind is just challenging but doable (unless it is really blowing). Of course, I don't know what I will do when I get old but for now I am enjoying the present.

RR3

I usually rake them myself but with a torn rotator cuff, I decided to cave and compromise by letting some local illegals earn a few bucks allowing me to more properly suffer on the bike. Two guys for 5 hours and $170 later, it was done.