The morning was hectic for both my cycling neighbor and I, so having the afternoon set aside for some quality "bike ride time" was just the ticket for us to enjoy 22 miles of pedaling, unwinding, and conversation.
I had a particular set of roads I wanted to string together in a perfect pearl necklace of lovely vistas via flat gravel and paved roads. My neighbor, with her newly fixed front wheel (from a flat yesterday) was happy to tag along and preview the route with me. Before we left her house she had showed me the astounding reason for the flat - the bike shop had taped the offending miscreant to the repair receipt to show her what they had pulled from the innertube. It was the tinest of thorns. Practically invisible. So small and so thin you practically needed a microscope to see it. That was amazing in itself to have actually punctured a thick rubber mountain bike tire AND the innertube.
I would have laughed and declared the thorn a joke had I not been their victim myself a few months back when both my LaFree's tires, front and back, were abruptly and utterly flattened on one ride by these dastardly little monsters. I went on to have my bike shop install nonpuncturing innertubes in the LaFree and have been flat-free ever since. We could only surmise the thorns came from thistle bound in hay rolls, and surmised those thorns found their way onto the road when the hay rolls dropped random bits of hay while being transported.
But nothing was going to mar our afternoon today, and the ride was enjoyed immensely. The route was near perfection for a group of ebikers coming out to ride this week - the scenery is approaching spectacular with the autumn colors taking hold of the countryside, and mountain views are breathtakingly gorgeous as far as the eye can see.
Lately we have been experiencing an overabundance of cyclists on our roads. Today while running the morning errands both hubby and I were overwhelmed by the large number of cyclists within a 10 mile radius of our farm. I'm not talking just one or two bikers, but packs with riders numbering in the upper teens to mid 20s. Those are pre-pandemic group numbers that were rarely seen outside of the big organized charity rides. Now, with the charity rides all having been cancelled, more individually organized groups are filling up the vacuum, and those groups have been traveling to ride out in our western rural area to escape the overcrowding bike trails and car infested roads in the more eastern, more populated sections of our county. Saturday morning can be a ridiculous with all the cyclists on the roads, both paved and gravel.
By the afternoon, however, the groups have come and gone back home, and the roads are back to peaceful with only the over abundant bike tire marks pressed into the dust on the gravel roads to show what a zoo it had been that morning with bicycles everywhere.
My neighbor and I had the roads to ourselves, enjoying stops here and there to check out the semi-wildflowers, hilariously inventive Halloween decorations, and, of course, to admire the views.
Still warm enough for lightweight gloves and t-shirts, although we both slipped our jackets on midway through the ride as the clouds increased, robbing the sun of any presence in the sky and, by default, cooling the air.
Rain is expected tomorrow. Quite a lot from what I hear. The ground is a bit parched, and the roads a mite dusty, so some rain will be welcomed.
Ah, that's your afternoon when it is early morning here. What a timing!
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