In Which an Unrecorded Ride Includes Under the Bridge

Grandson, last Saturday in September, ready to ride to park about 3 miles from my house.

Paging Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I had been a bit under the weather this week. A virus, I think, but, thankfully, not THAT virus, according to two tests during the week. Luckily, sometimes a cold is just a cold.

I had a headache and sore throat. I was also unusually tired. Anyway, I drove to work one day, an unusual move for me, and called in sick on Thursday, a day that featured three naps. By Friday, I was feeling a bit better, but drove to work. Twice in one week is a lot of van driving for this bicycle commuter, sans snow, anyway.

But by the time I came home Friday afternoon, I was anxious for a ride. A quick rain moved through about 4, but it was over shortly after 5, and it seemed like more rain was unlikely.

The ground was so dry that I thought the limestone part of the Lindale and Boyson trails would not be mushy, as the little rain that fell would quickly be soaked up by the dry earth. As it turned out, that part of my gamble was absolutely correct.

I was riding my mountain bike—just in case—and didn’t’ have my bike computer, because, apparently, I left it on last time I used it and fried the battery. No matter, a ride is a ride, recorded or not. I started out, and headed up C Avenue. Although I had checked the weather radar, I could not help but note that my eyes were seeing rather darkish looking clouds headed my way. I rode the Lindale Trail to the Milwaukee Road Bridge, and started to feel some sprinkles.

Riding on C Avenue towards Lindale Trail. Sky looking a bit cloudy.

I headed down the hill beside the bridge, and the rain started to pick up a bit, so I paused under the bridge. The trail was quiet. Sometimes I feel like my only partner, sometimes I feel I’m all alone.

 

Well, this isn’t any city of angels, and the rain didn’t last long. After maybe a five-minute light rain, the reality portrayed by the weather radar more closely matched the reality I was experiencing. I was able to ride on, doing the whole Boyson Trail plus the side trail, a ride that maybe was around 6 miles or so.

Whatever. It felt good to feel good enough for even a short, if slightly damp, ride.

Me, selfie, under the Milwaukee Road Bridge. The Fancy Beast parked in the background.

Here and below, The Fancy Beast, my mountain bike, under the bridge.

Saw a stag and a doe, not at the same place, near trail on Friday ride, above and below.

 

It was the end of a mixed week. Last Saturday, I had used the Tag-A-Long seat with Clarence, my hybrid bike, to ride to a park in Hiawatha with my grandson. We met my wife and other grandchildren at a park, and I ended up riding home with a granddaughter. Today, this Saturday, my wife and I used her bike and Clarence again to take the grandson to a school playground for a hour of fun on a fine, partly cloudy fall afternoon.

Earlier last Saturday, my wife and I, who have been doing regular walks as part of a one-month challenge (we tend to do little things for month-long increments, like one month without desert or one month not eating out, etc., September was the month of at least five walks more than a mile each week), went on a longish hike. We walked to the end of the Lindale Trail, and then walked thorough Marion to see what the trail and bridge construction looks like from the other side. Some views from that walk:

Here and below, end of Lindale Trail.

East end of new trail construction, heading back west towards bridge area.

Seeing the construction from the other side of the bridge area after a long hike.

Another view, looking across 7th Avenue in Marion at Lindale Trail near Milwaukee Road Bridge.

Rides down the Grant Wood Trail and through Marion will, I'm sure, be more frequent when this project is done. It's exciting to see this new bike-hike trail taking shape.

Summer heat is hanging on in this part of North America, but nights are cooling off. We’re very dry, and we can use some more sprinkles, even if they force me to shelter under a bridge and endure hours of RHCP ear worm as a result.

At least I like that song. Not as much as I like the rides, though.