I Like to Ride my Bicycle, I Like to Ride my Bike . . .

After years and years of not having been on a bike I finally got back on one this summer and have been riding regularly ever since.  I have tried to get out for a ride at least two or three times a week. I think the last time I rode with any regularity was back when I was in college.  I would have Brombeere haul me and my bike up to campus in the morning.  Then I would go to my classes, doing as much homework between classes as I could.  Then, after my last class of the day, I would ride home.  It was always a downhill ride since the campus was up on the bench and our house was down off the foothill a mile or two.  Then we graduated, moved to California, got real tight in our budget and ended up selling our bikes.  I really haven't ridden much since then.

Me and Marvin

So this summer, as my health had improved to the point that I could, I began borrowing Schwarzbeere's bike and riding.  After a few weeks, and after having decided this was something I could sustain, I found a used bike that was in real good condition and at a price I could afford and bought it.  It is a highly customized bike.  The guy I bought it from works at the bike shop I always go to.  He told me he had upgraded nearly everything on it.  It is only a 14 speed but it still does just fine for me.  It even has a custom paint job - I don't even know what brand of bike it is.  I can't find anywhere on it that says what kind it is.  But it has the word "Marvin" painted on it so that's what I call it.  I bought a few things to make some changes to the seat and pedals and had Stachelbeere help me put it all on.  When we were done he said everything we had done was a downgrade, which was true.  But I'm not what you'd call a serious biker, out to go on the hundred mile rides.  I just want to tool around town getting some exercise and enjoying the scenery.

The community I live is very bike friendly and has a real nice system or bike trails all over the place around and through it.  A lot of the roads around town have bike lanes and nearly every corner has a ramp so you can ride on the sidewalk when the traffic is too heavy to be in the street. There is an official biking trail system that has nearly 30 miles of trails mapped and marked.  I suppose its not really fair to call it a bike trail system because its for walking, jogging, hiking, rollerblading, rollerskating, and biking.  In the winter I've seen cross country skiers on it. Much of it is designated areas of the city streets, with painted markings on the road and signs along the way to help you know where the path goes.  Some of it is asphalt trails.  And much of it is crushed granite pathway. I find that a little harder to ride on and find myself going a little slower but the prettiest portions of the trail are the crushed granite portions.

Brombeere is a school teacher and it was right at the end of the school year when I began riding.  That is her busiest time of year and things get pretty intense for her as she brings the school year to a close, what with all the year-end activities they do and with grades to compile and record, budget to plan and her classroom to close up for the summer.  But as soon as all that was over and the school year ended she began to go with me on rides. That was nice.  She's in better shape than me, too.  So I had spent the first few weeks building up how far I could go but when she started riding with me she had no trouble at all hoping right into it right at what the pace that had taken me weeks to work up to.  That was nice, too.  Its nice to have someone to ride with.

 

I think one of my favorite parts of the trail system to ride on is the portion that goes over by the river that runs through town.  Its quiet and I occasionally see wildlife.  To the point that I have begun taking my camera with me on rides pretty often.  I have yet to get any good pictures of anything - they hear me coming and usually run off before I can get stopped and get a picture. But I've seen deer, turkey and a host of smaller vermin.  The other day when I was out it seemed like every chipmunk and ground squirrel in the county was also out. That's also something that I usually only see on the granite trails.  Not so much in town on the streets.  Some of the trails go through areas that are fairly remote, for the city anyway, and you tend to see the wildlife more. There is, however, one small portion of the trail that goes behind a senior residence hall and the residents come out and feed the ducks since its on the river and there are plenty of ducks there.  The ducks know the drill and hang out nearby all the time.

At one point I even entered in a bike-a-thon hosted by one of the local youth clubs.  They had several length rides to choose from. There was a 62 mile course, a 30 mile course, a 13 mile course and the "family ride", which was just four miles.  That's the one I rode in.  But I rode my bike six miles to get to the starting line. I usually don't ride with a helmet - I have yet to find one I could stand to have on me.  Trust me, I've been looking.  Since you had to have a helmet to be in the ride I borrowed Brombeere's and it worked okay enough for the day.  And even though they gave everybody that participated a shirt I didn't wear it in the ride.  But it was still fun.  Lots of families and little kids. I was nearly the last one to start - there were so many little kids in the pack at the starting line that I held back, not wanting to get in anyone's way.  By the time I got back to the finish line the pack had spread out quite a bit and I had worked my way up to nearly the middle.  That was fine with me, it wasn't a competition. It was a fun ride. 

Sometimes when I'm out riding my route takes me across train tracks.  Most of the railroad crossings I run into very seldom have any trains on them.  Two, however, usually do.  In the center of our fair community is a train yard, pretty much cutting the town in half.  There are a number of streets that have either an underpass or an overpass so that traffic doesn't get hung up by trains but those involve hills, going either up or down over or under the tracks. The two crossings immediately on the east and west ends of the train yard have no bridges over or under them.  I'm enough of a wimp that I try to avoid those but for those two crossings that is unavoidable.  Well, if you're going to avoid the underpasses, anyway.  But train traffic in our part of the state in recent years has significantly increased and because the trains are pretty much not subject to local jurisdiction, they block the crossings frequently and do it at their own will and pleasure.  Enough so that in some communities it has become a significant problem that the law enforcement and legal communities are still hashing out.  The trains leaving the train yard usually aren't so bad, they're leaving and at the most will block a crossing without stopping, gradually picking up speed as they go.  They block the crossing for only as long as it takes the train to go by.  Its the trains coming into the yard that can sit across the crossing for what seems like forever.  Its like they have to make room as the train comes in so it will come in, stop, back up a little ways, stop, go forward again, stop again and so on for 20 - 30 minutes or more.  There was one day where if the train had pulled forward another 40 or 50 yards I could have gotten around.  But it didn't.  That same day my route took me across a crossing twice, once right at the edge of the train yard and again, about a mile to the west, on the other side of the river.  Sure enough, I caught a train at both crossings.  At the one crossing I go through to get to the downtown area if I get impatient I can just go around by going to an underpass that's a block over and not to much of an incline.  At the other crossing, however, to go around involves riding a mile or two.  I have yet to attempt that way.  We'll see what happens some day when I finally do.

Another 40 or 50 yards and I could have gotten by.

School has started up again and Brombeere can't go out as often any more.  So we both go when she can and I go without her when she can't.  I enjoy being out, even if the day is hot and humid.  That just means I come back all sweaty and hot. Its nicer when the days are a little cooler.  Its nice when there isn't much wind. Once or twice I've been caught in the rain because I didn't make it "back to the barn" quite fast enough. Sometimes I've been able to hear the thunder as the storm is approaching. But in any case, its still a lot of fun. My rides usually are running at between nine to twelve miles.  My cruising speed is usually between eight to ten miles an hour. There's a bike club here in town that bills itself as easy paced, more for the social than physical enjoyment.  They have monthly rides of about 13 miles where they go see various things around town on little tours they put together.  They also have dessert rides where they meet, go on a short three mile or so ride and then come back to the starting place for a dessert at a local shop.  They also have pot-luck rides where they meet at a pre-designated place, ride a few miles to a nearby park and have a pot-luck dinner and then ride back to where they started. Everybody brings something they can carry on a bike. Not too ambitious, just enough to be fun. They're active during the summer and then shut down for the winter. I follow their blog and know their schedule but Brombeere hasn't been able to go this summer and I'm too much of an introvert to go alone.  But maybe next summer.

In addition to the wildlife, one of the things I like about being out on my bike are the smells I often pass. Often you can smell freshly cut grass, or somebody's cookout, some times you can smell the propane they're using, sometimes the charcoal, and sometimes you can smell what they're cooking.  Sometimes you can smell the trees (when I'm on the trails that go through the wooded areas), or other vegetation back in on the wooded trails, sometimes, especially lately, people's fireplace fires on the days that are a little cooler. And sometimes when there's a storm in the air you can faintly smell the coming rain.  Its a good workout for me.  And its so very nice to be out on my bike.  I'm going to miss it when the weather gets to where I can't go out any more.