Dry, Warm Birthday Rides

Bike tires near Warde Hall rack, with mine in foreground.
Don't know why it's so, but I'm glad to see more bikes at MMU.

On Wednesday, just because I wanted to, I took the trail home.  I ended up going through Harding Middle School, because it’s the fastest route from the trail to my home, but I felt a bit odd since there were still some activities going on.

I don’t want to be the creepy old man biking through practice.

New this school year:  All the cool kids have lunch boxes that were on clearance at Target.
Not only is it so cool, but note how the strap makes it snap on the back rack perfect.  Nice.

So, today, when I turned 54, what did I do?  Yup.  The trail, because I like the trail, but Harding Middle School because I had left MMU after 5 and wanted to get home.  And, there were several groups or teams out doing whatever while that creepy old biker passed through.

Oh well.

Anyway, the first 54 years on the planet have been good.  The most recent one featured many fun biking moments:

• Pulling into Clinton on RAGBRAI, seeing the old home, eating at Rastrelli’s, noting how much the maple my dad planted has grown.

• Riding north on new pavement of the Cedar Valley trail.  I have not had time to really go the “end” of it, maybe this Labor Day weekend.

•  The Raccoon River ride.  I’ll have to try to fit it in again next year.

• Riding some mornings on the new parts of the Boyson Road trail, where there’s a nice woodsy area leading to a new bridge and I often see deer and other critters.

Anyway, even if it’s warm and dry again, and it’s sad to see some trees that could not make it through this tough year, “hot” in late August is not the baking heat of July.  It’s getting dark earlier and there are signs of a chill in the air.

Flowers along the trail.  How nice.

Fall is coming, and with it cools temperatures and even better biking weather.  May the next year of my life include plenty of two-wheeled fun!

Butterfly flower in front when I got home. The later afternoon light was too tempting.

Tree eater shows up outside my window, munching on rogue mulberry.  He did not appreciate the paparazzi, and left right after I took the photo.