Memorial Day Ride

Reservoir No. 3 looking North from the Red Trail (on the dam).

Today (Memorial Day) I tried something a bit different in order to expand my bicycle riding: I used my new bike rack to take my bike to a nearby park (~7 miles). Now this is not entirely new to me but it is something that I have not done for years, so it was a step forward to regaining my cycling skills. Today's ride, while not long, also involved some "off-road" cycling (sort of).

I rode for about an hour. The weather was wonderful: sunny (as you can see from the above picture) and in the 80s, no breeze (headwinds). Total mileage was an unimpressive 9 miles but I was going for something new rather than distance. I don't remember when was the last time I rode at this park.

Arriving late morning meant the paths had a lot of walkers: singles and couples, families with strollers, scooters, a few other bikes. The paved paths have a marked bicycle lane at the right. Still need to watch out for children wandering into the lane as well as walkers with ear pods or headphones that detach them from the reality of the surroundings.

Turtle at the side of the Red Loop path (apparently
pondering if it was worth trying to cross).

I started out on the Red Loop (~3.4 miles posted). Bike lanes are marked so that travel is clockwise. From the parking lot start, therefore, the first half of the Red Loop is essentially uphill. There were a few challenging steep sections that my gear shifting did not meet well and I was left spinning the pedals furiously in order to inch up the incline. I think I did the Red Loop twice before daring the Yellow Loop (~2 miles posted).

My original plan was to do the Red Loop, then the Yellow, and back to the Red. I assumed the Yellow Loop also had a paved path but that was because I did not look at the map carefully. Although the map shows the Yellow Loop as an unpaved path, it really was generally hard gravel (but not all hard, there was enough loose gravel to make it interesting). 

Perhaps if I had studied the map more closely I might have realized that a substantial portion of the Yellow Loop was uphill. However, I kept pedaling and made it without stopping or getting off the bike. One walker, approaching me from the opposite direction, encouraged me to "keep going." That helped and I did. The climb seemed forever and I could barely breathe by the time I reached the top. I'm not half the man I used to be (but I'm working on improving). After the Yellow Loop, I was basically done for the day. 

Overall, it was a good time on the bike. I will go back so I can work on shifting gears and climbing. I may also do the Yellow Loop again. In looking at the map more closely, I noticed other paved roads that may be suitable for riding longer distances. Something to explore in the future.

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Written Tues 31 May 2022. 🌞

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Helmet hair.