I’m back from my Sunday morning bicycle ride. I did 24 miles this morning, with an average speed not worth mentioning. But that’s what happens, I guess, when you haven’t been on the bike for 3 weeks.

Also, it was really quite windy, and I find that usually, even though I have a tailwind for part of the ride, I can’t make up the speed during the tailwind portion that I lose during the headwind.

Still, it was a pretty morning; crisp and clear, chilly but not icy. There was no frost on the ground, but I was definitely glad for my gloves and jacket.

I can’t think of anything of particular note from this ride, other than the amusement I always feel when riding past a field of cows or horses and they stop eating and watch me ride past. Yes, that does happen. I usually try to to greet them when they do this, “Morning, Cow! Morning, Horse!” And then I just keep going.

Technorati Tags: bicycling, Cycling, ride, route

Views from the Greenway, originally uploaded by BasicB.

Instead of taking my usual Sunday ride along the roads of Guilford County, I decided to ride the fixie over to the greenway. There are portions of that I still hadn’t explored. So I picked it up where it crosses East Fork Road, which is the picture included here.

The path to the right leads to the Piedmont Environmental Center. It is only about a mile and a quarter of so from this point, and that’s the portion I hadn’t explored before.

I discovered that while that’s a lovely bit of walkway it isn’t ideal for bicycling. There are a couple places where you have to dismount and navigate obstacles, like stairs. Although it would probably be okay to start from that end at the center. I guess since I started sort of in the middle I had to deal with the stairs twice in short order and it made for lots of stops and starts. Plus I stopped a couple times to snap photos.

The path to the left leads generally northward towards Gibson Park, and is the path I rode home from work on a few weeks ago that I blogged about.

So, I took the right hand first, and went to the end/beginning at the Environmental Center, and then I turned around and retraced the path and kept going to the left.

Once I got going I covered the miles pretty quickly after that, and followed it through to Piedmont Parkway. I debated continuing onwards, but decided to leave that for another day. Instead I took Piedmont Parkway back home.

All in all it was 15.6 miles of riding and exploring. The pace was slower than I would usually do, but that’s what happens when you are surveying new routes. I think I want to remember this is a good way to get in some variety in my riding. Something different from just pounding the miles on the road.

Also, it isn’t too far to a little viewing station they’ve got setup along the path where I could take a book and a beverage and hang out and read when the weather is nice.

There are a couple more photos on flickr. Click the one included in this post to jump over there and check out the others.

So, I did get to the greenway, but not on my bike. I went out and grabbed a cup of Chai at Starbucks with the plan of reading my book there, but the place was packed. So I took my bevy over to the park and walked the greenway to a little overlook with a bench and settled in to read a couple chapters. It was a perfect spot. The weather was cool in the shade, but in the sun I was absolutely comfortable.

Later, I did go home and get on the fixie and took a ride around the neighborhood. I only rode a little over 5 miles, but it was nice to get the blood flowing. All in all I had a nice afternoon outside.

I did finish the book I was reading, Death with Interruptions, and I’ll have to post at least some brief comments soon. I’m still absorbing a little bit.

Technorati Tags: Books, reading, ride

I passed on the ride this morning in favor of staying in bed. I think I’ll take the fixie out this afternoon. I’ve been wanting to try a rider longer than my commute on that bike. Maybe I’ll ride over to the greenway and give that a try.

Right now I’m watching the latest Tekzilla and drinking coffee and goofing on the interwebs.

Technorati Tags: fixie, lager, ride, sleep

The ride this morning was nice, but difficult. The weather was a little crisp, I think about 58 or 59 degrees when I began, but I was mostly prepared for that. The problem turned out to be, and this always works this way, that about the halfway point I changed directions into a very strong headwind. It kicked my butt pretty much immediately, and I slowed to a crawl.

A side effect of the wind is that it chilled my legs. I wasn’t uncomfortable, but I felt that whenever I hit a hill that I needed to stand to climb my legs were not warmed up. Like I had just gotten out of bed, not like I’d been riding for an hour already.

So, I just settled down and did my ride as comfortably as possible. The final distance was 32 miles with an average speed of 16 mph.

Technorati Tags: bicycle, Cycling, ride, route, weather