Another Season of Bikey Fun

This year's bike season began earlier than normal because of a few warms days that dried out the roads and warmed the air enough to get out on our bikes.  So we did!

While the roads and sidewalks were dry, there was still plenty of snow all around.    

It wasn't a long ride but it was the earliest I'd ever been out since I began riding bikes a few years ago. But it was good to get out. That was in late February.

Of course, it was still early and the temperature plunged back down to seasonal so it was nearly a  month before it was warm enough to get out again.  But it did, and so even though it was had been a  while, we eventually did get out again.  Spring was well under way and it was getting pretty nice by this time.

Because we'd gone out west, to be with Heidlebeere as she was sealed to her husband, we didn't get out again for almost another month. That was a very worthwhile diversion. 

Good riding days were getting to be more often so I was able to get out more often.  That was nice.

We had a very wet June, it rained so often that I didn't get out a single time during June.  But July began and it didn't rain as often and I was able to get out again. Then, unexpectedly, Brombeere began talking about getting me a recumbent bike.  I had talked off and on about getting one but had pretty much given up on the idea but now that Brombeere was talking it up, I wasn't about to argue about it so we ended up getting one.  I had already done a lot of research on what kind I would want so it was just a matter of going out and acting on it.  And so in July I ended up getting a recumbent.

As the season was getting on, I began to roam farther and wider on my bike, particularly since the recumbent made things easier when going on longer rides.  There were some areas around town that I hadn't been to for a while.  The last two years I hadn't gotten out as often as before, as much as I had wanted.  Even though the doctors had told me it would take a year to get over my injuries from the accident I was in a couple of years ago, I think it was taking me a little longer than that.  But I was determined to get out more than I had last year.  In July we also replaced Brombeere's bike with a much better bike, one that she found much easier to ride.

And so the summer continued on.  We got out more often, sometimes we got out together, sometimes I went out my myself.

But, in any case, it was good to be out.  And it was good not to come back from rides with aching shoulders, a benefit of the recumbent.  

As in years past, we managed to get in a couple of rides with kids and grandkids, that is always a fun part of the summer.  We got to go for a ride with both Erdbeere and Blaubeere.  I like doing that.  

Pretty soon fall arrived and the colors began changing, that's my favorite time to be out on the bike. The colorful leaves and the long shadows happening earlier in the day, yeah, that's my favorite.

The downside is that it also brings the end of the biking season.  But this year was the third warmest October on record around here so I was able to get out more often and later in the month than the last several years. That was a nice thing. 

I try to have a few special rides I like to get in each season.  We got out on a ride with Blaubeere's oldest, which was a ride from my bucket list, that was the ride to Terrell Island. Another ride I was able to do this year was get out to a county park that is about 11 miles away.  I have ridden out that way before, even got closer than I realized a couple of years ago, but never made it all the way there.  The challenge with going there is that it's an "out-and-ack" ride, which turns the 11 miles into at least 22 miles.  This year I did it, got to the park and back, a ride that ended up being 24.13 miles round trip.  When I got back I discovered that I  had missed my longest ride ever by just .06 of a mile so, of course, I had to try again. I planned out a ride that I hoped would beat the old record and took off.  When I got back I discovered I had easily beat it, a 30.67 mile ride.  That was nice.  

I had also wanted to get more miles in this year than last year.  I'm pleased to say I did that.  Last year's total was just 123.6 miles. This year I more than doubled that.  In fact, I was just short of tripling last year's miles.  My first two years back on a bike were over 450 miles each and I didn't exceed either of those years, but I got fairly close.  Maybe next year.

In the past my biking season has pretty much matched Daylight Savings Time, beginning when it started and ending when it went back to standard time in the fall.  We managed to get out early this year, and I thought that maybe now that I had retired I would be able to extend my biking season a little longer.  But it doesn't look like that is going to be the case, at least not this year.  In looking at the extended forecast, it looks like it's going to be either too cold, too windy, or both to get out any more this year; I suspect the season is pretty much over.  But that's okay, it was a fun season, lots of good times out on the bike this summer.  I like that.  And there's always next year to try again.