SLOW, COLD BIKE RIDE

Someone in our cycling group this morning commented that today's bike ride was the coldest ride so far this year. I quickly reminded him of our summers, where you can actually cook an egg on the sidewalks. He responded by telling me that he was still cold. Oh well, more often than not, the porridge is too hot or too cold, seldom just right.

Anyway, after meeting up with Ed, Sandy, Greg, Stephen and Bernie at the car park, we headed smack dab into the chilling north wind until we reached our initial destination, Einstein’s Bagel and Coffee Shop. And in spite of the coolness of the morning (53F at the start), we still gathered around an outdoor table. Shame on us should we ever decide to sit inside, where the temperature and humidity is electronically controlled.

Much to my surprise, and everyone else’s, we took a new route back to the car park. I think Stephen thought he knew where he was going, but after riding down a couple of dead end streets, we were convinced that he was as lost as we were.

All ended well, because we eventually found our way out of the gated community that we breached by speedily riding in on the sidewalk. Picture six elderly retired gentlemen on road bikes exiting past the gate guard with big smiles on their faces because they got away with breaching his area of responsibility.

And what a relief it was, when shortly afterwards we rode into Vista View Park where we promptly learned that the rest room door was unlocked. What a relief it was, indeed.

After leaving my cycling mates at the car park, I rode an additional nine miles in CB Smith County Park and around our regional shopping mall. With literally hundreds of cars entering and exiting the mall area each hour, riding around the mall can be quite challenging. A cyclist must be very humble and yielding in order to survive both physically and mentally. Funny, I never knew I possessed those two attributes.

Maybe I was just lucky!

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1181502

http://app.strava.com/activities/44514471

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/284622492