Pushing the Pedals

Not in the shade yet. 5/20/23 dwm

The recumbent came out of the garage yesterday for its first real ride of the year.

The day I cleaned it and pumped the tires I also rode it on the drive in front of our place but that doesn't count.  This was a real ride and a plan to more than double the mileage of the ride on the 10-speed.

I chose one of my favorite trips, taking trails across the city to McFarland and back.  It turned out to be a good choice for a wholly unsuspected reason (more on that later).

My bike performed ably for its first trip of the season.  It was chilly enough I was happy to still have the trusty pair of garden gloves in my bike pack.  They kept my hands warm until the sun started heating things up.

Judging the trail traffic, there were a lot more bikes than runners or walkers.  I saw several packs of riders (3 or more bikes), the last group had stopped to take a group picture.

The intersection of McCoy and MM changed.

 It was an intersection that got my attention. Last year crews rebuilt the Capital City State trail where it crosses County MM, a north-south road that connect Madison to Oregon, where it stops McCoy Road from going farther east.

 Last year, and for many years before, the east bound trailed curved right at the corner (left side of photo).  Now it stops for a right-turn lane, then crosses the lane to a traffic island where you cross Cty MM.  I'll agree it's safer crossing with a light than the previous way which didn't even have a stop sign for fast traffic but it will take me a while to feel comfortable using it.

You couldn't get a better day to ride.  As the chill faded the deep blue sky offered a brilliant backdrop for the last few trees which hadn't yet put on all their leaves.  Somewhat predictably, what I thought was a head-wind as I neared the turn-around in McFarland was actually more of a tailwind because the return trip was more difficult.

A stretch of the Cap City trail near Baxter Park.

There is a short stretch of the Capital City trail that uses Glacial Valley Road instead of its own path.  As long as I've been riding this trail, I was always appreciative of one particular home owner with a heart for bikes.

On real warm days, there would be an ice chest sitting on the curb filled with bottled water and sport drinks for anyone that needed to hydrate.

I didn't see a cooler, instead there were cars lined up on either side of the road and a moving truck at the end of the driveway.  On my return trip, I stopped and asked two of the helpers if they were connected to the person who owned the home.  They told me she was moving and they were part of a large group of helpers.

I shared my appreciation for the act and the person, who I'd chatted with a couple times when I stopped to refill the bottle on my bike.  They hadn't heard but said it sounded like their friend.

From there were just 8 miles left, including a pass of a large pond that had several dozen egrets on the water and roosting in trees.  My phone camera didn't capture a usable photo, so I can only tell you about the brilliantly white birds against the background of the blue water and green trees.  It was spectacular.

That's two rides in the books, this one hit 35 miles and an average a shade under 15 miles per hour.