A nice ride despite the pain and disappointment

The winter seems to have run on longer than usual.  Days of teens and 20’s followed by rain and ice. When we got a taste of spring at the end of February and the temperatures reached in the low 40’s, we pulled out the winter cycling clothes, aired up the tires and hit the Madison County Transit Trails.  (https://www.facebook.com/MCTtrails/)

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We were surprised to see real signs of spring to come as we rode along.  Some of the honeysuckle was just starting to get a touch of green.  The soft maple trees at the Watershed Nature Center lake next to the trail were showing the beginnings of red leaf buds. (http://www.watershednaturecenter.org/ ) And some flower bulbs were starting to poke green shoots through the covering of last year’s fallen leaves.

A major windstorm the Friday before brought down some of the older trees along the wooded sections of the trail.  This happens every winter and spring.  By Monday morning there were crews out from the MCT organization with chainsaws clearing the blow downs.  I am always impressed with how well the trails are maintained.  The Princess and I have ridden other bike trails around the country.  None have been better than the 130 miles of mostly paved trails that we have right outside of our home base.

The last time we rode was in January.  Unfortunately, a month between rides is too long to get the old body moving comfortably on the bike.  As we rode past the conservation area, maybe 12 miles in, we found a somewhat steady pace.  Steady but slow.  I checked my odometer frequently, it appears that the battery needs to be charged. I couldn’t have been moving that slow. The Princess observed that this was a very nice ride despite the pain (knees and butt) and disappointment (level of spring fitness).  I had to agree, it was a very nice ride.

Dennis