19 May 2011

For no apparent purpose

Ride #75
Wednesday, May 19th

12.5 miles around Folsom

The 'cycle was still in the back of the car this morning; I had to take the car for an oil change, so I decided to leave the trike in there and go for a ride after the car was finished.
I argued with myself all the way from the shop to my eventual parking spot. "Where do I want to ride today?" "Not there, but why?" "Maybe here." "Well, I don't know, you decide." "No, you decide."

I ended up at the old same spot of the Raley's shopping center: proximity to bike path, restrooms, and food for after the ride. Although I had decided to stick the Raley's to Glenn Rd. route onto the Nimbus lake loop, I changed my mind AGAIN and decided to have no purpose for the ride.

That whole no purpose thing only lasted about 4 miles, then I decided - "Hey, I can pedal over to Bicycle Planet and maybe pick up some replacement brake pads." So I turned on my Cherry Bomb rear blinky and headed out into traffic.

Folsom has great bicycle infrastructure: in addition to bike paths they also have bike lanes. And many of the right turn lanes are separated from the bike lane by a nice chunk of concrete. So I enjoyed the bike lanes on Oak Ave. and Iron Point. The traffic was light and well behaved.

I found a couple interesting things along the way:

Yes, I'm part pack-rat and part scavenger.

Alas, Bicycle Planet was out of Avid BB7 brake pads (they are quite popular) so I picked up a medium-bright red blinky for the back of my bike. It is easier, I've been told, for overtaking vehicles to figure out how fast the overtaking is when there are TWO red lights to look at. I shall hang on to the Serfas seat stay light as a loaner.

I contemplated trying on helmets, but I was pretty sweaty and thought that might not be very nice for the next shopper.

I pedaled back, dodging traffic down Prairie City Rd. and then back on to the bike paths.

Somewhere along the way, I stared down this lovely creature.

And startled our state bird, again.

Hopefully no rain this weekend. I've got to get the rest of my miles for May is Bike Month!


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