The Sun Came Up

And dried up all the rain and the teensy weensy biker went on the trail again.

Well, not so teensy. An eight of a ton is not teensy.

Still, the day turned out much better than my earlier blog post could have suggested. Before noon, it wasn’t really raining but was too damp for riding, and Audrey gave me a ride to my office.

Where I worked until close to 3, and it was slowly getting less cloudy and more beautiful out. So, mid-afternoon I gave in to temptation and hit the trail.

I’ve been thinking of doing the Sac and Fox again, but not as wet as it is right now—probably part of the trail is flooded, since I get Indian Creek is a bit high right now. So the Cedar River Trail it was.

Rode all the way to Ely, then turned north and rode to the end of the pavement. I considered going further, as I was tempted to aim for 55 miles today, but a few yards on the mushy trail convinced me that 45 would be manly enough.

As I rode, I met a recently retired MMU professor, Dr. Will. He passed me going the other way, and when I had ridden back as far as Cedar Lake, was ready to pass me again. That’s right, retired professors pass me. Still, endurance and miles are the goals, not speed, so I’ll be content.

I hope sometime next week to do the first 60-mile ride. But for a day that started damp and cool, some warm late afternoon sunshine was a nice chance, and even if I got a bit damp passing through some puddles (yes, I will lube my chain before tomorrow’s ride), it was definitely worth it.

Photos show the kinds of day it was. The trail near Quaker Oats is kind of interesting, an idyllic polluted lake next to hissing steam lines, blooming green trees with a backdrop of 20th century monuments to man’s ability to process grain. Nice sky, too.

And a few photos from the Ely end, just to show I was there. I hope they put a drinking fountain in the park…bikers would like it.

Finally, a few flower photos from today’s ride are on my other blog.