In Which I Hit the Dusty Trail

Sundown, Indian Creek seen from bridge on Boyson Trail.

On this day, my wife and I have been married for 37 years. It’s almost scary to me that a person born the day that we said “I do” would today likely have children in middle school, but there it is.

She fixed French toast for breakfast and we went to Red Lobster for lunch. We went to a school and listened to a grandchild recite some poems and then came home and took naps. It’s been a good day.

When I got up from the nap, my wife was still asleep. We had discussed whether I would go on an afternoon bicycle ride, and she encouraged me to go. I’m not expert on marriage, but I believe one key to one that lasts is respecting each other as separate people, and my wife is a treasure partly because she usually says “go” when the question is whether I should ride.

From MapMyRide on my phone.

She gets some time to herself that way, too, so it’s a win-win.

I decided today to ride the mountain bike. During Tuesday’s ride, my feet got rather uncomfortably cold—my bike shoes are not exactly insulated. I wanted to ride with boots today. I could have done so with any of my bicycles—the ones with clips have two-sided pedals that allow for riding with regular shoes, too.

But for today’s ride, I was toying with the idea of riding down the Lindale Trail to the Boyson Trail. That limestone trail is a bit rutted right now, given recent mushy conditions. I thought it would be cold enough today that the trail would be frozen and hard—it was—but also a bit too rough for the road bike or the hybrid bike.

And so I wheeled the Fancy Beast out of my garage around 3:30 this afternoon. And, when I got to the trail, it was indeed good to have the wide mountain bike tyres. It was another cool winter ride, but the insulated boots did keep me more comfortable.

The ride was a bit shorter today, but it was still pleasant. Day 2 of Christmas break. On Day 3, I’ll cycle to campus to get some work done—maybe using the road bike, since it should be warmer tomorrow. That way all three bikes get used this week.

Two more views from this afternoon's ride--trail (above) creek (below).