New Route, sort of...
The Ride: Lake Loop, 2 laps
Miles: 22.0
Time: 1:28
Ave. Speed: 14.6 mph
Weather: Sunny and hot, 89, Wind 5-10 mph
2018 Season Outdoor Miles: 412.7
The Story
What's old is new again.
I combined bits of two different routes today to create what I will call the Lake Loop ride, since a good 75% of it is along a body of water.
Basically this is just like my neighborhood crit, only instead of 10 laps that are each just under two miles, this is an 11-mile loop. It incorporates both a piece of the neighborhood crit course and the first portion of the old GTO route.
On a hot, sunny day you can't beat the view of cool, refreshing water while riding.
This is from the Riverside Park area of the ride.
I like this expanded concept of my neighborhood crit course because even at it's farthest point from my house I am only five miles away, not much to ask of a motorist to take me home should I need to hitch a ride due to a mechanical.
Interesting story from today's ride...
As I neared the turnaround point of the second lap a lady rode past me in the other direction. As I was turning around at a little pond area (more water on the route) the thought occurred to me that there was a chance that was blog reader and cyclist, PhilCast listener Sue D.
It DID kind of look like her, but what were the chances?
Still, now that she was out in front of me I decided to push it in an effort to catch her if I could.
I did.
As we approached a four-way stop I rolled up alongside and said hi, knowing at the time that this wasn't her. How did I know that?
She's coming back from an early-season crash when she broke her wrist. My plan was to (I know this is going to sound like a dirty old man) 'check her out from behind to look for a cast. I saw no cast, so I figured it wasn't her.
I said hi and took the point after that intersection. Once you commit to doing that I have always figured you better ride hard and stay out in front, which is what I did from that point on, never to see her again.
After I finished the ride the thought came to me that maybe her cast is off by now. Maybe that WAS her. She wouldn't have recognized me in my gear. Maybe it was her and she had no idea that was me.
Or maybe it was just some stranger enjoying a nice hot summer-like day on her bike wondering who this guy who bothered her was?!!!
Sue D. was that you???