Chain link fence

Ride #49
Monday, February 28th
16.5 miles on the Folsom South Canal

B'bye February!

I like the South Canal but it has issues. It is flat, flat flat flat, (which actually gets a little boring at times) except for some short rises that cross various other things crossing the canal. Clear, ain't I? But anyway the mini hills give a nice view of the canal.

And starting at the Nimbus end means crossing lots of streets and and out-of-service railroad track and some more streets. Then there is the White Rock Road crossing, which right now is mostly a detour on busy streets. Not good for a crowd of beginner bikers!

I've been trying to figure out how to avoid White Rock Road, so today I started just off of North Mather Rd., which made for a very nice ride.

 Brand new smooooooooooooth asphalt bike paths through neighborhoods half ticky-tacky boxes and half vacant fields with developers' signs fading in the sun. I think this will make a good group ride, as long as it is not howling wind or sweltering summer sun.

I saw some more waterbirds perched this time on a pipe crossing the canal,

and also tried (and failed) to get a shot of some entertaining black and white water birds. I need to brush up on my bird identification: black and white birds, maybe slightly smaller than a duck, while floating around they have black topsides and a white hull (a little nautical there). Then when they take off their wings are black with a wide white band. They also make a sort of squeaky sound as they try to get up to speed on the water. I'm sure they can fly, but they seem to prefer to flap along just on the surface of the water, then settle down when they are far enough from my disturbing self.

As you might notice on the map, I took a little detour up Zinfandel (I have no idea what I was thinking about, guess I was just enjoying the sunshine). BUT on the way back I spotted a bike path unlisted on maps so went exploring. A great day for a ride. Supposed to start raining again later this week so this might be all I do for a while.