Indeed, I have been conspicuously absent from writing this blog as much because of laziness as because it's been really nice outside. In fact, as of this writing, we haven't been out once - but twice. Considering that, at this time of year, the weather can be cold, soggy, windy and just plain miserable, the fact that we can still keep our windows open for a good chunk of the evening is a bonus.
Yes, I know it's forecast to change. Change is inevitable so I should just take advantage of the beautiful weather while we have it. It's supposed to be a very chilly +10C for a high this Saturday...October 1st...but that's to be expected.
Anyway...
We actually went out and did the greenbelt run. Adam took his mountain bike as his 2006 Catrike Speed sits too low to the ground to even try and negotiate the grassy, gravel festooned pathway. My 2009 Catrike Trail, on the other hand, had no trouble travelling along.
The route we took was identical to the one we took last February when we decided to go skiing in the very-new greenbelt pathway. This time, however, the pathway has been developed further...all the way to the corner of Ramsayville Road and just shy of highway 417. As the day was nothing less than absolutely perfect, we decided to pack a picnic lunch and make a morning of it.
From our house to the end of the pathway it's about 15 kilometres, so a round trip would be the distance equivalent to the usual Alcatel-Lucent-Sunday-Bike-Day-Thingy. Yet it wasn't just distance that would have to be considered but the fact that we weren't travelling on asphalted pathways. From the starting point, just off Albion Road, the pathway consists mostly of grasses and other native foliage. That's not to say no one cuts the damnable stuff, just that it provides enough drag to make the going a little on the slow side. Of course, about 800 metres (it felt like 80 kilometres) into the pathway and everything changes to stone dust which isn't as grim as it may sound. My tires got a good grip on the stony surface and I had no trouble at all whatsoever negotiating any turns or making it up the many small hills that characterize this trail system. Of course, Adam had less than no problems making it along on his bicycle but he has the advantage of being much stronger than I could ever hope to be. Plus, he's done this trip a few times already and so knows the pathway itself.
The trip was a wonderful one on a picture perfect day. I was out there with the man I love with all my heart and soul and life was just as glorious as it could ever be...until we found ourselves back on Albion Road heading back.
There, we traded the drag of the thickets of grass, weeds and other detritus for the frost-heave festooned butt numbing but asphalted Albion Road. Once back on paved (?) road, neither of us had any problems building up speed. Luckily there weren't too many other vehicles on the road either so having to share the already narrow strip with a bunch of likely harried drivers speeding along in massive dump trucks wasn't too grim. It did take some "slalom" maneuvers to avoid some of the nastier cracks, ruts and other spine battering splits in the road but as we were both pedalling very quickly, it didn't take us too long to get off Albion and back onto some of the quieter streets close to home.
My trip odometer malfunctioned at some point during the venture. Adam fixed it (loose magnet) but it did result in an incorrect total trip. Adam assures me that the round trip was 30 kilometres even though my trip odometer read 22.8km. "Take the credit," he shrugged...so I did.
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