Walnut Canyon

There are some days when you just have to say "You know what, I'm gonna do *insert action here*." and throw it in the face of everything you have to do but don't want to do. Because let's face it. Everything you need to do isn't going to go anywhere. That, and I wanted to see what was left of the trees changing colors.

So I went on a ride this afternoon. It started as a run to Fisher Point.. but when I got there, I felt like I was just warming up.. so I went up an "equestrian bypass" which is a trail that goes up to the canyon rim over Fisher Point, and then runs along the rim of Walnut Canyon for something like 6 miles. I'd never been on that trail, and it was lots of fun. I even rescued a couple horses that untied themselves while their owners were off hiking.

I would have kept on going when the trail crossed a forest road that lead back into town, but I had only put two bottles of Sobe in the Camelbak, and I was running low at that point. Maybe next weekend.

Mileage: 26.4 miles

Deer and Rollers

Another post about yesterday, but it has today in it too!

Yesterday I met up with TC when she got off work, and we rode around Buffalo Park since she had never been there, and I'd never actually ridden on the trail there. Fairly uneventful, it was a nice leisurely ride on the two mile loop.

But, on the way back to her apartment, we were riding on the urban trail across McMillan Mesa, and we spotted some deer. We counted six total, three of which were fawns. I managed to get a couple pictures with my camera before it got too dark. My camera does not do so well with low light.

And today, TC brought over a set of bicycle rollers for me to use, since they're too loud for her to use in her apartment. They're interesting for sure, but not too bad. Balance is tricky. It'll be a good way for me to keep doing long rides when the weather keeps me inside.

Mileage: ~30 miles. I wasn't paying attention.

Wind and loads

So, this was supposed to be yesterday's post, but hey, I didn't get home til ~10:30, and I didn't feel like writing, just sleeping.

Two of my bikes are very easy to recognize as "mine," as I built cargo racks for them. Yesterday was the first time I put any sort of load on the one on my road bike, Spork. I put a crate on the back, and after dropping off a printer at a friend's house, went to the store and filled up the crate.

Total, it weighed close to 30 pounds... which is more than the bike itself weighs, and it presented an interesting problem. With all the weight behind the rear wheel, the front of the bike was lighter than usual. Combined with how high the weight was, it made for a very twitchy ride home.

Later on in the day, I went to meet up with my sister at the office where she works. I almost didn't because of the wind. I don't like riding in wind, at all, because most of my experience with wind has been on a mountain bike, which isn't the best for aerodynamics. But, I went anyways, again on Spork, and braved the 40mph gusts. And you know what? It wasn't that bad.

The road bike puts me in a position where I'm leaning forward on the bike, with an option to lean even further if I move my hands from the top of the bars into the drops. That position meant I got blown around a lot less than on a mountain bike. Which in turn meant I enjoyed the entire ride, which was longer than I expected.

Mileage: 22