Planning is overrated

Ride #7, 14 September 2010. 5.4 miles? Yes, there is a question mark on the distance. I had planned to do a reverse of September 10's route. Well, I got confused, turned around, and just plain misplaced. So I'm not actually sure exactly where I rode this morning. I do know I went up and down a couple of sections of trail twice or maybe three times. I crossed Parkway probably more often then I had planned to (and I rode on Parkway as well - which I had not planned to do at all). I would normally rely on my nifty cyclocomputer to tell me how far I went but I kind of forgot to reset it until I had already gone a little ways. (I had been racking up invisible miles by playing around with my gears in the garage yesterday). I did have a map, but I had a great deal of difficulty figuring out how to get from where I was to where I was trying to go.

Anyway!

I had a lovely ride. I saw a jackrabbit bounding through a field (their ears are so long they look fake) and some smaller birds alongside the trail. One pair of cyclists in screaming yellow jackets and a lot of walkers enjoying the cool sunny weather. Part of the area where I was so (ok I can say it) lost was near an elementary school so I saw lots of parents walking their kids to school. At the end of my ride, I spent some time chatting with a older gentleman: he was just setting out for a ride on his super upright Trek mountain bike. We confessed to each other our need for speed, lamented the problems of aging knees, and shared favorite rides on the Folsom trails.

One of the features I love about the Folsom bike trails are the wooden bridges. Many trails intersect Willow and Humbug creek, so bridges are necessary.

Cycles moving at speed make quite a rumble, and three wheels rumble quite a bit more then two. Or maybe it is just that I'm closer to the noise than on my old Trek bicycle. (Yes, those are my toes in the bottom of the frame. Many recumbent trail pictures feature toes).

And to the left there is as close as you are going to come for a while seeing me on my trike. Maybe I should make shadow puppets next time.
Although it is easy to stop or even slow down and take pictures while on a trike, I find that I just want to keep cycling on and see what is around the next corner, to watch for jackrabbits without the bother of fishing out the camera, to wave to passersby unencumbered by even a small digital point and shoot.

Next ride scheduled on Thursday! (we'll see if I can make it around the route backwards. Hrm.)