as the line blurs: Fall

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Biking

We spent yesterday on the Hart-Montegue Trail, part of the Rails to Trails System. Here we are all ready to go. You can see that, in the rush to get out of the house Friday, we forgot our bike helmets!

You can also see that the weather was, well, less than perfect! When we started, it was misty and damp, with a forecast that called for rainshowers in the afternoon. We decided we had come here to ride, and ride we would, even if only for a little while. We could always turn back, right?

How many guys does it take to change a flat tire? Fotunately, Dave had brought a spare tube!

The trees are just beginning to turn. Most of the trees along the trail seemed to be oaks, so they will turn later. But there were some really pretty ones! This is actually the only one I got a picture of, if you can believe it! When you're on a 40+ mile bike ride with others, stopping to photograph trees is frowned upon!

Here we all are in front of the tree, except for I was taking the picture:

On this trip, I had another first for my life. I got a bug in my eye. I don't mean the kind that flies at your eye and you blink just in time. I mean the type that lands in the little place under the lower lid. It was a gnat sort of a thing and very uncomfortable! All I could think was Bug in my eye!!! Get it out!!! Get it out!!! I popped my contact out as fast as I could, not caring that I had no glasses with me. Then Dad gently removed the bug with a kleenex. Too bad I had no saline at all. What to do with the contact? Back in the eye with no solution, hoping that tears will wash away all the grime.

We rode all the way to Hart, which is 21 miles. The rain had held off so far, and we were thankful for that. We had a late lunch at a little bar & grill there, and I can tell you, we were pretty hungry! I thought I would feel a little revived after lunch. Key word there would be "a little." It began to rain on us, though not too terribly hard. On we rode, and I found myself really dragging, consistently at the back of the pack. Watching the others ahead of me grow tinier and tinier until they faded from view, while I pedaled and pedaled and inched forward.

I often thought to myself about "the code" (what if one should fall behind. . .) and I thought "Hang the code!!! They're more like guidelines anyway!!!" (Anyhow, Dad rode with me, and the others waited for me to catch up at regular intervals.)

We did stop for ice cream about half way back at the Country Dairy. But then it was back on the bikes, and all I could think of was "hot baths at Harfang tonight!" which being translated, means, hot bath in jacuzi coming up soon! When we arrived at the hotel, most of the group went another little bit, so they could say they went 50 instead of 47, but personally, I was beyond caring at that point! 47 sounds like a grand achievement to me!