Fall is the Prettiest Time to Ride

Fall is a sad time for bike riding because it means the season is coming to an end, at least for me.  I don't ride in the winter.  I'm not nuts.  But fall is also the prettiest time to ride as the leaves turn colors and scatter all over the trails.  So tonight I wanted to go where they would be out and at their best.  We are, after all, nearing peak colors for fall.  So I headed out for a nature reserve several miles from home.

By the time I get off work, get home, get changed, get out on my bike, and ride the six or seven miles to the reserve its starting to get a little dark.  Especially today because it was cloudy and overcast.  There was quite a bit of rain near by but we were far enough away that we just got the clouds.  But that meant it got dark a little quicker.

The trails in the reserve are a mix of soft bark and boardwalk.  No crushed granite.  That means that the going is a little slower when you're not on a stretch of boardwalk.

But it makes for some pretty nice scenery.

This was the first time I've made it to the reserve this season, at least on my bike.  I had forgotten just how beautiful the place is.

And the colors were really nice.  The pictures don't do them justice.

The whole reserve has a rustic look to it.  And they decorate here and there with wooden rails.  Very nice.

You look off the trail either way, to the left or right, and its really gorgeous.

Found one small boardwalk trail not suitable for biking, although I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some enterprising bicyclist had tried it at some time or another.  Some of them are crazy like that.  Not me.

Another nice thing about the reserve is that its full of deer.  And they were out and all over the place tonight.  I must have seen 30 or 40 of them wandering around.  Saw lots of people out walking through the reserve, too.

I like the reserve.  Its a real nice place to ride.  It was a good ride tonight.  Fifteen miles even.  Not bad at all to my way of thinking.  For me at least.