8.8 Mile Ride at the Corning Preserve
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since the last time I was on one of my bikes... it should get a little easier to get in more riding as the days get longer, daylight savings time kicks in (hurray!) and the weather warms up a bit. A week and a half ago I took some money from my 2008 tax refund and bought a new mountain bike - another department store bike, but this time a hardtail. As much as I love the fully suspended bike Ann gave my for my birthday in either 2003 or 2004, it has a number of drawbacks, including the fact the the rear suspension just isn't stiff enough and I lose a certain amount of energy to it bobbing up and down as I ride. I had originally planned to get this bike to use in the National Duathlon Off Road race at the end of April, but even after cancelling my plans to attend the races in Richmond I decided to pick it up anyway, never realizing that I'd end up wanting to use it in a race this coming weekend - the Pineland Farms Winter Triathlon! So over the last few days I've scrambled to install a couple of upgrades on it - pedals, toe clips, seat, and so on - so that I could take it out for a test ride tonight and see what needs adjusting before I leave Saturday morning.
Overall I had a good ride - my legs grumbled a bit about pushing a bike at 10-14 mph after little riding this winter, but the Corning Preserve is short enough that they couldn't grumble for long. The bike handles well... I need to make a few minor adjustments but even without them it would be rideable for the 6 miles I'm planning to do on Saturday.
On the way back I passed a small herd of deer grazing along the path - 7 or 8 of them, when I used to see three or four. It was getting too dark for me to get a good photo of them, unfortunately. The ducks, crows, and gulls were all out on the ice on the river as I rode back into the parking area under 787. Didn't get any pictures on the way out, because I was racing sunset and didn't want to delay... but I did get some nice shots of the railroad bridge and the river when I got back.
With luck I'll have time Friday to make the adjustments to the bike... and hopefully Sunday I'll remember not to push the 6 miles too hard, since I'll still have 5 miles of XC skiing to do to finish the race, and that's definitely my weakest event.
JMH
