So, you're going to start riding a bike...

With spring finally showing it's face it seems like a lot of people are considering getting out and getting on a bike.  While many of these folks are seasoned riders, there seem to be quite a few people that I know that are getting back to riding a bike after giving it up since they were kids.

Since I'm an experienced ('experienced' means I've spent a lot of time on a bike, not to be confused with 'expert') bicyclist I thought I'd take a little bit of time and write down a few thoughts for people who are getting familiar with riding again, especially those who are getting into mountain biking.

There are a lot of different opinions on bikes - and I am not an equipment kind of guy, so I don't have much to add.  As far as advice on buying a bike I have one major point - buy from a reputable local bike shop.  For God's sake do not buy a Walmart/Target bike - please, just don't do it.  Go to a local shop, tell the person there what you want to do on your bike, and let them guide you towards the right bike.  If you can, try to compare a couple of shops.  Stick with your budget and don't get talked into a really expensive bike right off the bat.  If you're starting in mtb you should be able to get a 26" hardtail for less than $800.  This will not be a top of the line bike, but should be perfectly adequate for a new cross country mountain bike rider.

What other gear are you going to NEED to start riding?  Two items - helmet and gloves.  Of course you can spend a thousand dollars on neat new Lycra bike jerseys and shorts, with matching socks etc.  But what you really need is a helmet (for all singletrack mountain bike rides) and padded bike gloves.  A small backpack is nice for carrying water and snacks, and as you get more involved in riding you can pack first aid kits, spare tubes and tire pump, bike tools, lights etc.  But when you start - helmet and gloves.

If you haven't been on a bike in years (or even decades) it can take a while to get back into the swing of riding.  I started again in my mid 40's after not riding more than 20 miles a year for two decades.  It took me a while to get my leg muscles toned up so that it wasn't so hard to pedal.  If you're in the same situation consider getting used to riding by putting some in some miles on bike trails, or low traffic paved roads.  This way you can focus on the first requirement - getting your leg muscles ready to move you and the bike for an extended period of time  - without having to worry about picking up new skills like riding over roots and rocks.

Another thing if you haven't ridden for a while - shifting a drivetrain with 24, 27 or 30 gears might take a while to get used to.  If this is an issue for you try this: set your front derailleur in the appropriate position and just leave it there, adjusting your gears only with the rear derailleur until you get comfortable with shifting.  If you're on flat pavement set the front derailleur on the biggest ring, if there are some mild hills or wind try the middle ring.  Save the small ring for hills and rough terrain.  As you ride more, shifting will become second nature, and you'll be running through the range of front and rear gears without even thinking about it.

So now you're out riding on your new bike, and it's a lot of fun.  The wind is in your face, you're picking up the shifting concept and you can put down some miles.  But by the end of the first ride your butt is killing you.  There are a couple of things to know about this.  First - your rear end will get used to riding a bike after a while.  Second - you can adjust the position of your seat to make it more comfortable, all it takes is a hex key. Third - you can change your seat to something more comfortable than the stock seat that came with your bike (try a slightly wider seat with gel or memory foam, and check out one with the relief cutout in the center).  And fourth - riding your bike on the pavement is different than riding a mountain bike on singletrack (i.e. dirt trails).  On pavement you pretty much stay seated, not changing position but instead cranking out the miles.  But when you're riding on singletrack you're far more dynamic in your position - moving forward or backward, and often standing out of the seat.  Riding like this is way easier on your rear end than pavement riding.  So do not despair if you get sore at first, this can be dealt with.

And you can start picking up the skills you'll need to get on dirt while riding around your neighborhood.  Practice getting out of the saddle - standing up while coasting, and then while pedaling.  When you're comfortable doing this try riding with your weight shifted back, so that you're butt is hanging off the back of the seat a bit.  This is the technique you'll use to keep from going forward over the bars when descending steep bits of trail.  You can try riding off curbs while out of the seat to start getting the feel for what a small drop feels like.  Once you can do that, try riding up a curb at a slow rate of speed - approach while out of the seat, pre-load your front shock by quickly shifting your weight forward, and then pull back up on the bars as the shock bounces back and unweight your front wheel so that it can get up and over the curb.  Check out Youtube - there are many, many videos on there that can help new riders develop specific skills, where you can see it done right, in slow motion, over and over again.

Your first ride on singletrack - an incredible experience for most.  Try to find out where the beginner level trails are in your area - do not try to start on something advanced and technical, because that takes a good deal of skills you aren't likely to have.  Instead look for trails with not many hills, and not huge amounts of rocks or roots.  And don't try to do a ten mile trail the first time out - it's probably going to be way harder than you thought, and a couple of miles may be more than enough.  If you can get an experienced rider to go with you that's probably a good idea.  They can point out areas that are going to require specific skills or help guide you away from more hazardous features.  Watch how they deal with riding over roots and shifting to get up sudden hills, and remember to try and practice that when riding around your neighborhood or on your next singletrack ride.

Once you get that bare minimum of skills needed to make it at least partway around your local trail, what do you do to be able to ride like a pro?  Watching videos can give you some ideas, but the only way to get good is to spend time in the saddle.  Try to ride a couple of times a week if you can, or get out and build leg and cardio vascular strength with pavement rides until you can get back on the dirt.  Nothing makes a better rider like getting in three riding sessions a week for a summer.  You won't believe the difference at the end of a couple of months.

Good luck to all the aspiring mountain bikers out there.  It's a great way to get fit, lose weight, and spend time in the great outdoors.

At Long Last - Spring!

The snow seems to be gone for the season.  Temperatures are trending up, and the nights are no longer below freezing.

The spring peepers are out and singing, birds are building nests, and daffodils are beginning to bloom.  All this can only mean one thing, and that is that spring has finally arrived.

This winter wasn't as bad as last by any means, but we did have over 70 continuous days of snow cover - and that's a bit of a test.  Either way I'm glad that it has finally passed by and that the seasons of getting outside are back with us.

My efforts at improving my fitness have been going pretty well.  Kenny and I are in the 9th week of our weightlifting workouts, and have been able to keep up a fairly consistent schedule of three workouts a week.  I have skipped a couple of Sunday workouts, but when I have there's been a bike ride or trail work to take it's place.  Kenny, being full of the vigor of youth, is definitely showing signs of development in his shoulders, upper arms and upper body.  Even my past-prime self is slowly firming up and showing some improvement.  It's been a long time since I was involved in a weightlifting program, and it's just as little fun as I remember.

I've been doing very well with my calorie intake as well.  Forcing myself to enter everything I eat on the Mapmyride nutrition counter has been a huge help.  So far in over two months I haven't exceeded my daily allowance of 2300 calories, plus any calories burned via exercise.  According to the calorie deficit that I'm counting over the last 9 weeks I should definitely be burning off some fat, but I'm avoiding the scale until next month some time.

Despite the wet weather I've managed to get in a couple of mountain bike rides since snowmelt. The most notable was last month when there was a spike in temps corresponding to a week without rain.  Kenny was out camping for the weekend with the Boy Scouts, Diana was in Columbus visiting her sister - and I was unsupervised for the day.  So I headed down to Bavington and rode my favorite section down there.  The trails were almost all dry, with only two places where sitting water caused me to get off and walk.  It was one of the first real mtb rides of the year, and I was fairly satisfied with my riding and stamina.

On the trail at Bavington.

After finishing up at Bavington I took to the road for a couple of hours and ended up just across the West Virginia state line at Cooper's Rock State Forest.  I'd done a bit of research on this place, and thought that some of the trails open to mountain bikes and marked 'easy' would be a good, low stress way to end up my day's adventure.  Little did I know that the park wasn't open yet, so I had to park outside the gates and ride the hilly road up to where the trails started.  Once there I rode a couple of miles that definitely were NOT easy, but had spectacular scenery and views.

At Cooper's Rock State Forest, looking down 1400 feet at the Cheat River.

On the Rock City Trail at Cooper's Rock S.F.

Since that time it's rained pretty regularly, leaving all the trails around way too soft for riding.  So I've been getting out on different rail trail and road rides, just trying to get in a few miles here and there.

Getting ready to hit the trail in an early spring blizzard

Sufferfest on icy Little Beaver Creek Greenway before the snow melted.

At the edge of the wildlife preserve north of town. Note bald eagle nest in trees above steel pole.

Snapping turtle crossing on Little Beaver Creek Greenway.

On Sandy Creek Trail, PA overlooking Pine Run.

Repairing a broken chain on Western Reserve Greenway Trail in Ashtabula County.

Earlier this week I packed my kayak and bike on the car, dropped Kenny off at school, and headed east to paddle some whitewater in Pennsylvania.  There had been significant rain for two days, and I hoped that I could find someplace to paddle without too much hassle.  I got lucky on my first try, as Bear Creek (between Parker and Bruin, PA) was at a low but fun level.

Looking upstream on Bear Creek from the put-in bridge.

It had been something like 7 years since I paddled this creek, but I had high hopes that it would provide an interesting morning.  The run starts off slow, but before long some bigger rapids show up.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was still able to make the technical moves required on this class II creek, but I wasn't so overconfident from a couple of good moves to take unnecessary chances.  So I ended up walking around a couple of the harder rapids, which was just fine with me.

After the 3.5 mile kayak run I stashed the boat in the woods and hike back upstream on the old rail grade above the creek, climbing about 400 feet on the way back to the trailhead by the road.  There I changed out of my wet gear and picked up my bike from it's hiding place for the road ride back to the car.  It turned out great - about 2.5 hours of physical exertion and I still had time to get in nearly a half day of work!

And the good news is that it rained another 2 inches over in that area last night!  I'm set up to head out early in the morning tomorrow to try my look again on the creeks over there.  This time I'm hoping to get on Deer Creek, and I think that I might bring along the GoPro and try to get some whitewater footage.  If it turns out I'll be sure to link to it here on my next post!

Old house in Salem, OH.  Love those chimneys!

Carry On

Sure enough, it DID snow after my last post.  We had actual accumulation of snow on one day, plus some stray snowflakes a couple of days later.  But now that we're in May, I feel it may be safe to declare that winter is actually gone for a couple of months, and we can get back to the business of spring.

Good thing too.  Seems like people around here were getting slightly squirrely from over-exposure to winter conditions.  Lots of people kind of had a wild look in their eyes, like they were pretty close to either doing something crazy or heading south in search of a more hospitable climate.  After being lulled into complacency by several years of mild winters with comforting mid-winter thaws, this year was like being slowly crushed to death by an indifferent glacier.

And so I've really been enjoying getting out.  The weather has been warm enough that its mostly been enjoyable to get out and ride.  That means getting used to not packing extra layers of clothes to bring along - just in case.  And it also means that I've ridden a couple of times with in shorts and t-shirt, which feels amazingly free after wearing three layers for the last five months.  But we have had enough rain coming at regular intervals to keep the mountain bike trails pretty soft for the most part.

I did get to head out to Quail Hollow State Park, near Hartville, Ohio, for a ride a couple of weeks ago.  My brother Matt and I have been getting out on the weekends and we took a trip hoping that the trail would be dry enough to ride.  We found out that much of the trail was in good condition, but there were some new wet areas that had been damaged by too much traffic while wet.  One major surprise was that the boardwalk across the meadow is now a boardwalk across a marsh.  This area had always been susceptible to moisture, and had turned to mud under use - which was why the boardwalk was installed in the first place.  But after the wet weather it looks like it might be morphing into a small wetland area.

Matt on the boardwalk at Quail Hollow.

So the trail wasn't in perfect shape, but at this point in the season we were happy just to be able to ride on dirt singletrack.  A couple of laps were enough of an early season ride to leave us smiling for the drive home.  And it's a good thing that we did get out and ride then, because the timing of the rain since then has kept the trails too soft for riding.

The paved trails have been fine though - they're like that as long as they're not covered in snow! I got in another night ride out on the Little Beaver Creek Greenway, which is quickly becoming my favorite paved trail.  I got to the trail a little while before sunset, so I quickly got on the trail without mounting the lights.

The Leetonia trailhead.

The weather was warm enough for a pleasant ride as the sun started to set.  As I passed through the Franklin Square area the evening light turned copper colored, giving the trailside scenery a warm tone.

The route 558 trailhead at Franklin Square.

By the time I'd passed the Teegarden Covered bridge sunset was over and dusk began to dim my surroundings.  It was beautiful riding alongside the creek and hearing the soft sound of moving water.  By now I had the trail pretty much to myself, and I took a short break to relax and enjoy the dusk at one of the trailside benches.  It was still early enough in the season that I wasn't being attacked by mosquitoes, so it was a nice opportunity to rest and listen to the spring peepers.

Dusk by the creek.

By the time I made it to the outskirts of Lisbon and made my turn around it was starting to get really dark.  Since my night vision seems to work pretty well and there was no one else on the trail I continued on for a while.  Eventually I stopped at a trailside bench and hooked up my lights.  For this trip I used two lights, more than I really needed.  It only took a few minutes to get everything hooked up, despite the fact that I had to jury rig one of the battery pack mountings with an emergency bandana.

Lights ready to go!

Once I got back on the trail it was easy going for the last couple of miles.  My lights provided a huge amount of illumination that picked out everything ahead of me - even the woozy opossum that wandered onto the trail as I approached and raced ahead of me for a short spell.

Plenty of light!

Besides riding at Little Beaver Creek Greenway there were several rides on my local trail, the Western Reserve Greenway.  Besides riding the local section I made a couple of trips onto the Ashtabula County section, up around Orwell.  The trail is just as nice up there, though it doesn't seem to get as many people using it. 

Approaching Orwell, with the trailhead by the blue building.

Once you get north of Orwell the trail gets pretty quiet, and it's easy to spin out the miles in peace.  Along the way I saw that someone with property along the trail had set up a maple sap collection system for making maple syrup.  Clear tubing tapped into each tree and ran downhill, collecting sap from other trees as it made its way to a plastic barrel.  I also saw a new kind of rule breaker (to me) on the trail.

Horses are only allowed on the grass verge of the trail, not the pavement.

 After riding over 200 miles last month I thought I'd try to beat the total for this month, but it didn't happen.  So on the last day of the month I looked at my monthly mileage and saw that I was less than five miles below the 200 mile mark.  It seemed like a shame to not at least try to get to that milestone.  Despite the rain I gathered my gear and headed out to the Western Reserve Greenway to put in some miles.

This time there were no other cars at the trailhead - apparently no one else was eager to get out in the driving rain for a nice bracing ride.  After putting on my rain shell I headed north into the wind and rain.  At first I was more or less miserable, but as my metabolism warmed up I started to enjoy the ride, and once the rain began to lessen I was glad to be out.

The trail was empty of people as I headed up towards Bristolville.  Motion in the trees to my right caught my attention and I watched as a sopping wet Barred Owl flew out of the woods and crossed the trail only 25 feet in front of me.  It was so close that I could see the wet feathers stuck to his hooked beak.  Then just another hundred yards down the trail a rabbit darted across the trail.  Of course rabbits run around the trail area all the time, especially in the evenings, but this one caught my attention.  It looked like it was carrying something in its mouth, and I kind of doubted that it was food, so I quickly braked and u-turned to where it had darted under a bush.  After a moment I could see it in the brush, sitting stock still to avoid detection.  And in its mouth was a tiny baby bunny, all curled up smaller than a ping pong ball.  Mama rabbit held her ground for just a moment, then bounded further into the woods, vanishing into the shadows beneath some tree roots.

That kind of made my day.  It's always nice to see nature carrying on the way its supposed to.  And I finished the month with 205 miles.

Morning sunlight on spring fields.

Looketh Over There

Time has passed, and according to the calendar on the wall spring has sprung.  By now we're almost 3 weeks past the end of winter and we're finally starting to get some weather that is somewhat spring-like.

But we've regularly had temps down into the 30's at night, and when I was out last weekend there were stray snowflakes drifting down out of the sky with the thermometer reading 36 degrees.

The oldest trick in the book - call it spring and it's going to snow.  Older than books even.  And I'm not convinced yet that we're not going to have this oh-so-funny prank pulled on us this year.  I still look out the window when I get up in the morning with a sneaking suspicion that everything is going to be covered with a layer of white.  It will definitely be a while before I believe winter is gone this year.

That's fresh snow on the Western Reserve Greenway on March 25.

As the seasons start to change I start looking forward to changes in the things I can do outdoors.  We've had a temporary pause in our trail building efforts, since the area we're working in has a tendency to hold water in the spring.  But I think I'll be heading out that way this weekend to see if the dirt is starting to firm up yet.  It doesn't have to be dry enough to ride - just dry enough that we don't sink in the water and mud up to our shins.

Another one of the things in flux this time of year is the bicycling destinations.  During the winter its more likely that I'll be riding on pavement - rail trails or the road.  And as the weather warms and dries it allows me to get off the pavement and get back to riding singletrack in the woods.  This change is starting to happen now, but most of the trails are still not ready for bicycle traffic.

But with the snow pack starting to diminish in March I was lucky to be able to get in quite a bit of pavement riding - my total for the month was just over 230 miles.  That meant a bunch of rides on the Western Reserve Greenway, and also quite a few rides on the Little Beaver Creek Greenway.

Open trail on the Western Reserve Greenway.

Little Beaver Creek Greenway, and the creek with some water in it.

Active rail line next to the LBCG trail brings commerce from Youngstown.

Another rail trail, one that I checked out in March for the first time, is the Stavich Trail.  It runs parallel to the Mahoning River from Lowellville to New Castle, PA.  This is another great ride - one that has curves and hills - and even some lumpy pavement on the Lowellville segment.  It joins the other transportation arteries in the valley as it heads into Pennsylvania.

From the left - road, Stavich bike trail, railroad, gravel maintenance road, and Mahoning River.

The trail is another that parallels an active rail line for a part of the way.  In the two hours I rode there were 6 trains - but they go by fairly quickly and the trail quickly quiets again, with only the birds and wind for company.  And there does seem to be quite a bit of wildlife out this spring - they must be as anxious for a good meal as I am for a good ride!  Since the beginning of March while riding I've seen dozens of turkeys, a whole bunch of deer, beaver, opossum, trumpeter swans, and about a million squirrels.

I've also taken the bike to work so that I could try to get over to Mill Creek Park and get in a little bit of a ride during lunch.  Turns out that it takes just over 15 minutes to get there, so I'm limited to less than a half hour of riding.  But I just discovered that if I head out parallel to the river that I can get to the Stavich Trail parking area in exactly 10 minutes, so I can get in 40 minutes of riding during lunch.  So I'll be doing that on nice days this year for sure!

East Cohasset bike road in Mill Creek Park, Youngstown.

Last Saturday I took advantage of the recent rains and headed east into Pennsylvania with my kayak and bike for an adventure at East Sandy Creek.  I always enjoy the drive into the Allegheny valley and choose a back road route for the best scenery possible.

My car with boat and bike, parked at Kennerdell overlook above the Allegheny River.

After verifying that East Sandy Creek was at a level that I'd be able to paddle I stashed the kayak in the woods and headed back west to the Belmar trailhead for the Sandy Creek Trail.  I left the car there and got the bike ready for the ride back upstream.  The first notable feature is the old railroad bridge, high above the river, that was renovated for the trail.

Sandy Creek Trail bridge at Belmar.

View of the Allegheny Trail bridge over the mouth of East Sandy Creek.

The trail is always an enjoyable ride, with a mix of rocks, woods, and creek that keeps the scenery interesting.  The builders incorporated five old railroad bridges in the lower run, each with views into the creek valley.

Sandy Creek Trail scenery.

East Sandy Creek from one of the trail bridges.

The trail also goes through a .3 mile long tunnel that has been rehabbed in the last couple of years.  Now it's a fairly easy passage through the dark - before it was a wet mess, complete with piles of bricks that had fallen from the roof.

The west portal for the tunnel on the Sandy Creek Trail.

A little further upstream and I got to the area where I'd hidden my kayak.  I hauled the bike in and started the change from biking gear to boating gear.

Leaving the bike, and getting ready to get in the boat.

On the bank, ready to put-in.

The creek was a little bit high from the rain.  East Sandy Creek is one of those creeks that has a fairly narrow range of water levels for paddling.  If it's too low you're in for a miserable day of scraping over rocks in search of a deeper channel.  And if it's too high the rapids start to wash out and the fun level drops appreciably.  But it was the first paddling trip of the year, and I was satisfied with what I got.  My camera stayed in the dry bag for the entire paddling portion of the run, so there are no shots from the creek, other than at the put-in and take-out.

At the take-out. The creek runs into the Allegheny River just out of frame to the left.

After finishing the run the third part of the East Sandy triathlon begins - the long carry from the creek back to the Belmar trailhead.  It's about 3/4 mile and includes the climb from the Allegheny Trail up to Sandy Creek Trail.  Seems like I'd forgotten just how little fun this part really is...

Looking up at the Sandy Creek Trail bridge, from the Allegheny Trail.

'The Cardiac Climb' - time to carry the kayak up the 66 stairs.

Taking a break on the carry back across the high bridge.

It was a great trip and I had a good time, though it took most of the day and left me feeling way more tired than I expected.  Still, I had plenty of energy the next day when my brother suggested we take our mountain bikes down to the trails at Bavington, Pennsylvania and see if they were dry enough to ride.  I was glad to take the chance, and was pretty sure that there would be at least some sections of rideable trail.  When we got there we found that the trails were almost all dry enough to ride, though there was considerable trail damage from some inconsiderate equestrians.

Matt at Bavington.

This was the first non-snow mountain biking of the year and it was SWEET to get out and spin some miles on the dirt.  All the rail trail riding had my legs feeling good, and my breathing was up to the challenge.  The Bavington trails are a great destination for riders who are looking for an intermediate trail without the crowds.

Quality singletrack!

The upcoming weekend looks like nice weather, but Sunday is Kenny's Boy Scout fundraising dinner, so there will be extra demands on the schedule.  But I hope to get out at least one day and get in either a mountain bike ride, a long rail trail ride, or a kayak trip. 

If it doesn't snow that is.

The natives are restless.

Give Me Patience

Each of the four seasons is theoretically 1/4 of the year and should therefore last three months.  This year we've got more than our share of winter, something that is probably pretty obvious to anyone living in the Northeast.  It started being winter sometime in November, even though the calendar says that winter doesn't start till after the middle of December.  So we've had half of November, all of December, January and February - and now it's March and I'm still looking out my window at snow.

Lord, give me patience.

Patience to wait out the days as the temps slowly start to warm and the snow shrinks and finally vanishes.  Patience to wait out the 'mud season' so that the trails will be firm enough to ride.  Patience to wait until the conditions are finally just right for a great mountain bike ride, or whitewater kayak run, or maybe even a backpacking trip.  Just take a deep breath and relax - that time is definitely coming soon.

But I've been trying to get out and do what I can to get some fresh air and exercise.  I've been doing quite a bit of trail work this winter, cutting new corridor to finish up the phase 3 trail at North Road Nature Preserve.  Last summer we built a section of trail through the mature woods that line the creek.  This is a beautiful area, and pretty easy to make trails through, as the canopy keeps the undergrowth down to a reasonable level. 



Flagging a new section of trail in the more mature woods.

 

But in the fall I started working in an area with a much younger woods, and another area of dense scrub.  This stuff is HARD to build trail through - I call it 'the most work for the least return'.  Thankfully the distance through this scrub is not that long on this loop, so a couple more work days should at least let me cut the corridor all the way through.  Then as the weather improves and the ground eventually dries up we'll be able to start getting the stumps out and filling in the low spots.  We hope to finish this trail loop by early summer, and spend the rest of the year improving the existing trails and possibly adding a new trail extension.  Even though these are beginner level trails, it is absolutely a GREAT thing to have a mountain bike trail less than five miles from my house.

I headed out a couple of weeks ago to try and get in a ride on the rural roads in northern Trumbull County.  The roads were clear of snow, but any place that I was legally allowed to park was still covered with 8" of soft snow.  So that pretty much ended that days riding before it even started.  But by last weekend there had been a few days where the temps got above freezing, so the snow cover had lessened, and I had hopes that I could park in one of the rail trail parking lots and get in a road ride from there.  It was still mostly snow covered, but clear enough that my little car could get in and out without too much trouble.

Oakfield parking area, Western Reserve Greenway.

It's pretty easy to make a route up there that follows roads with almost no traffic.  I think I usually see an average of one car every 10 minutes (and mistrustful me, I usually pull off the road to let them pass).  There are some interesting old dead ends in the area, too.   Here's one I followed till it reached the edge of the wildlife area:

Don't shoot swans.

The road surface wasn't exactly easy to ride on, but if I wanted easy I could always sit on the couch drinking beer.

Some of the dead ends get very little traffic this time of year, so the snow is easier to ride than on the road above.

Very quiet back here.

And sometimes you can find a bike accessible route on roads that haven't seen car traffic in years and years.

Bridge closed - except to stubborn bicyclists.

Occasionally these dead ends require a bit of hike a bike - especially in the areas with unbroken snow - but its all good.

Hike a bike territory.

But I always end up back on the pavement, heading back into farm country. 

Smooth riding!

I have Friday after lunch open for riding again this week.  And with temps forecast to climb today and tomorrow I'm hoping that this chest cold that developed yesterday gives me enough wind to still get out and ride.  If not - patience...