Casey mixed loop

I'm blogging about this ride a solid week later b/c of the computer glitch, err, total malfunction. Last Monday 'Z' had camp in Casey Co., the joint we usually visit during 'family camp' on Labor Day. Because it's such a ripe area of serious rural riding, I made arrangements for me to take 'Z' to camp and then to take an epic ride out in the middle of nowhere, "texture" included. Some out there think blogging is narcissistic and a waste of time, but I've been inspired by others out there to do something different, whether it be "mixed rides" or a S24O. I haven't done the 2nd yet, but I'm looking for ways to do the first. Casey Co., because it's so rural, still has some unpaved roads, and bychance they're centered around long climbs to the tops of the knobs in the area. Really, I had spent alot of time trying to find the right combo of road and route. given my fitness, time and ability to not get myself in trouble. I decided on one that was 49 miles, but one that had flexibility to change the route around a bit.




I started at Middelsburg Elementary school and headed north to Patsy Riffe Ridge Rd. This became part of the most momentous first 5 miles I've ridden in a while. 2 miles away from my departure I faced a super steep climb. I was on the LHT, so I had lots of low gears to explore, but the road was quite narrow and right in the first steep switchback I heard a car behind me, a red mini-SUV that I would encounter multiple times again. I moved aside the best I could so they could pull through and I completely lost momentum and ended up stopped on the side, on the steepest section possible. I tried to get going but couldn't, so in the first 2 miles I was already walking up a hill. Bummer! The route I chose had several more climbs, so I hoped it didn't forecast my efforts for the rest of the day. I remounted part of the ways up the hill when I could and then heard distant thunder rumblings, but the skies were neutrally gray, so I didn't think anything more of it, "hey, summer humidity, right?". A mile further I felt the first big raindrops, so I stopped and made sure I was watertight. I had my camera, wallet and old-school GPS, none of which I wanted soaked. I proceeded another mile, mile 4, when the heavens opened, and I mean opened wide with great fury. I stopped next to a cemetary, a very isolated cemetary, and put on my rain cape and hat. The red SUV passed me again at this point. I shoved off into the rain and got soaked, feetfullofwater soaked. The rain was further enhanced by the opportunity of descending off Patsy Riffe Rd., which was a super-steep descent down twists, turns and lots of gravel on the road. Frankly, it scared me to death. At the bottom I saw the red SUV waiting, perhaps knowing I was falling off the 'knob', giving me some space. By the time I reached my next turn at the end of 5 miles, I had stopped either 3 or 4 times and had walked partially up a hill. I hoped it would improve.

The next portion of my route took me towards the more isolated areas, and I saw the red SUV again, and again in what I presumed to be their driveway. They waved and I waved back, bringing our brief but humorous relationship to and end. The bucolic scenary on this ridge couldn't have been better. At the end of this road I found this most excellent sign informing me of things to come. Needlesstosay, I descended.

This put me going north on Upper Brush Creek Rd. As is the case, I'm sure, in many rural areas, road signs are often absent, and sometimes road names on local signage and those on googlemaps or yahoomaps disagree, as was the case @ Beech Bottom, where the signs were virtually non-existent. For that reason I prefer to use a map instead of just a cue sheet, especially in the KY boonies. This portion of the route was one of my favorites. It followed up the creek into the hills, so on my left I had occassional views of an attractive creek, but to my right I had the cliffside of the local knobs. Occasionally I encountered a bridge, this one is state of semi-repair.


These "cliffsides" were covered with wild hydrangea, something I've never seen before. As a gardener with 4-5 hydrangeas in various parts of the yard, I really enoyed seeing them in their natural setting.


Occasionally, the terrain opened up to a diversifed blend (oxymoronic?) of wildflowers and grasses needing to be cut. I have no pic of this b/c of some rain, but there were great fields of white Queen Anne's Lace, purple wild phlox, yellow Black Eyed Susan, and brown and green grasses of all heights. My favorite gardening scene is of this native blend of flora, and I wish I had tried to get one pic, but it wouldn't have done it justice. Sometimes I encountered fauna instead of flora.


At the north end of Upper Brush Creek my route became more interesting. I alluded to some map mysteries a few weeks back about a magical road- either Slate Hill Church by some or B. Russell on others. This was to be my cut-through, but also my first batch of "mixed terrain", the reason for which I brought the LHT. I had no real clue if we were talking quaint, refined gravel or rock fit for a 4x4. I turned left on Slate Hill Church Rd. to find that the road was going to be very rocky and difficult. And right off the road it went straight uphill, one fit for the burro and not for me. But I was ready for some "adventure". A few yards up the hill I found a sinister sign.

Beginning of Slate Hill Church Rd. Seems benign enough.

Up the hill into the darkness. With the stones and pitch, I couldn't have ridden this.


Once I saw this, I REALLY couldn't have ridden this. I turned around.

That made the decision quite simple, to bypass my cut-through and going a little further north to link up to Long Hollow Rd. My mystery was solved when I found the back portion of Slate Hill on LH Rd. I was pleased to solve the map mystery. These "Shooting Preserve" signs continued up Long Hollow as well. I guess they like shooting guns.



It would've worked as a cut-through. It would've been adventurous, clambering over the rocks and fighting my way down deserted, dark and scary "roads". But it also would've been stupid and I certainly didn't have the guts for it. Long Hollow was as it sounds, a hollow between knobs.

I love pics of ruins for some reason. I'm fascinated by the history and by the notion of a seemingly functional dweeling that just goes to waste.

My maps told me that at some point the road was going up and going gravel, so I just made steady progress until that happened. And it did. The road conditions here weren't too terribly bad. The climb was quite steep, but the gravel of fine quality and very ridable. I did walk one little portion, but otherwise made it all the way up into a very desolate, or at least isolated area. There weren't any houses nor real sign of human life save the road and a bit of clearing. I think this area is often used for timber. And again, road signs were non-existent, so I used the map to find the appropriate turn onto Shuck's Creek.

Long Hollow Rd.

Mixed terrain begins

Climb with "texture", oh and really steep too.

After a quick downhill I casually descended down Shuck's Creek, the legs all the while tiring out. The combo of hills and rain had sapped my energy a bit more than I had planned. I stopped underneath an unfinished construction of some sort, ate a Clifbar, drank some water and plotted my return. I was a little too tired to loop south to Liberty, so I cut my losses and headed towards my starting point, taking Smith Road instead of returning via my previous route. This proved to be an excellent choice. Smith Road ended up having another steep, "textured" climband 3771 had some of the nicest ridge-top scenary of the ride. This route did have me on the busy 127 for a mile or so, but my return proved safe and without traffic difficulties. When I pulled in I was bushed and soggy, but it was a great day and an excellent adventure deep in the middle of nowhere. I assumed this area wasn't often visited, but at the end I noticed 'Dan Henrys' on the road past Middlesburg. I guess somebody else found Casey Co. to be fun to ride in as well.

Looking down the cut-through atop Shuck's Creek.

Where the texture ends at the top of the Smith Road climb.

I've always liked this old-fashioned bank in Middlesburg. It just seems to be from a passed era.

rides

Tues 7/8 3m w/ 'L'
Wed 7/9 26m in parks
Thur 7/10 15m w/ los Sprawls in the a.m.
Fri 7/11 20m mtbike ride in Cherokee
Sat 7/12 6.5m w/ 'L' and mom to Farmers' Market, through neighborhood and to Breadworks
Mon 7/14 5.5m w/ boys cruising the 'hood and behind the zoo
3m to Mom's and a beverage run

Lou/Frankfort

Date: July 5 Sat
Mileage: 60 (Bleriot)
July mileage: 152
Year to date: 1136

The plan all worked out very well. We have friends in Lexington we haven't seen in a long time, too long, so we were to visit them Saturday. We weren't going until the afternoon and there were no Sat a.m. plans either, like soccer or tball, so a ride ensued. I copied a portion of my Lou/Lex ride I did many years ago, and added a rural twist to give me a 60-miler from Louisville to Frankfort. I left earlier in the morning and the fam picked me up in Frankfort on the way, just off the interstate at Starbucks. It all worked out really well and I give the ride a solid 'A'.

Bleriot, with rain jacket affixed to Nelson Longflap and Kleen Kanteen extra bottle in side pocket. I stopped here at this church to put on the rain jacket only 6m from home.

Foggy, misty, rainy. You can barely see the "bike lane" sign in this, and a crappy bike lane it is. I rode to the right, where the pavement was cleaner.

Leaving in the a.m. I was confronted with coolish temps- 63F- and lots of fog. Fog quickly begat drizzle, which quickly begat rain. I stopped 6m in to put on my rain jacket, one of those horrendous polypro clear jackets, you know, the shower curtains. I also pulled out the RBW cap for rain purposes too. The first 10 miles was mostly getting through Louisville, but once you hit Rehl Rd. just outside J'town, the ride became a purely rural ride of the best kind. This route also follows the old "farm" ride.

At corner of 148 and Clark Station Rd. I'm sure other places have epic vistas, but central KY is awfully pretty to bike in.

My parents owned a ranchette in Shelby Co. outside the 'Ville. I rode this house-to-farm route several times when they had it. It's 26m or so, and back in the day I made the trip in well under 2hr. Now,.... They divorced and it was sold, but what a piece of heaven: 36 acres, nice house, fields, tractor rides, hiking, biking, mom's garden, solitude, parties, holidays. This place had it all.

Entrance with no improvements, except additional "No Trespassing" signs. I always had problems with this thick gravel, but I was riding 25c tires back then.

At around mile 26 I passed by the gate of the farm. The terrain along this route is pretty indicative of much of my area of the Bluegrass. It's just constant little dips and rollers and creek downhills and uphills. To conserve energy and maintain form I made sure to spin up the hills. It was strange, the setup. Because the fam was scheduled to pick me up at a certain time, I had to manage my time, pace and form differently than normal. I've often bitched, moaned and complained on this blog that I'm a 1-2hr cyclist, much to my dismay. I rarely pop off longer rural rides even though I would like to more. So, I didn't know what kind of form or pace I would have. I didn't like being "under the gun" until I arrived at my store stop. I knew at that point that I was making good time and not taxed. If I need to speed up, I could've, but I didn't.

Creek near 'farm', accessible from the rear corner of the property

The twisty roads around my drink stop in Waddy also displayed some really strange rural art. I saw 7 or 8 of these weird pieces. I really don't have any clue what they are, but it was sort of fun to see them.

Miles 40ish-55ish were my favorite for the new terrain and generally qualities of the ride. The skies cleared up. The roads were very empty, curvy, twisty, shaded, not too steep. I just rolled along. At first I was surprised to see such a (gaudy) manse on S. Benson Rd. in the middle of nowhere, but I then encountered other estates and deduced that, hey, it's near the capital and that lobbyist and road contractor $$ has to go somewhere.


Once I neared Frankfort Evergreen Rd. was a bit busy. I turned on to Lawrenceburg Rd., which is the old road that 127 now replaces. I expected this to be pretty busy, being near civilization and the interstate, but this 2-3 mile stretch was again devoid of traffic and very scenic. The last 2m was along a very busy 127 into fast food alley. I stayed on the shoulder and hoped for no flats. I also had to negotiate the every present death trap of the interstate interchange. These are diabolical, but I didn't hit too much traffic and pulled though. Per plans, I found the Starbucks and obliged myself one of their free tables outside. I listed to the iPod and read a little of of the Best of World Cafe, a compendium of interviews from that excellent NPR music show. And to finish the day, we had a great visit with out good friends.

My own Freedom

Date: July 4 Fri
Mileage: 34 (Trek400)
July mileage: 92
Year to date: 1076

What a great morning for a comfortable bike ride. With the holiday, the streets and roads were quite empty and this gave me the opportunity to do a loop I rarely try now. The LBC Tuesday night ride for many years left Cherokee, rode out Rudy Ln., then out River Rd. to Prospect and back. Now, not only does the club forgo this ride, but the ever-helpful KyBikeRides doesn't eve have a cue sheet for it. Prospect is one of those suburb/exurb areas that has become unbikable. River Rd., a KY Scenic Byway , is merely a long, straight, flat commuter road between the McMansions of Prospect and downtown. Instead of taking KY42 to the Watterson or 71, they just fill a "scenic byway" with lots of pissy SUVs, with an occasional redneck thrown in for good measure.

The holiday gave me the freedom to do this ride this morning. Now that I think, 'Lance' and I spent a month or 2 doing this route (plus extension) back in '99, so in 10 years it's gone from a prime cycling route to a meta-highway. It rained quite a bit overnight and was still piddling this morning, so I dragged the Trek out for a soaking. The last time I tried the Trek heinous sounds came from the pedal/bb area, so before I left I took off and regreased the pedal axles. It didn't seem to help too much until about 3 miles in when I noticed the noise had gone, so I guess it worked. With the rain, I also had the good fortune to give my new RBW cycling cap a workout, underneath the helmet mind you.

RBW guy, not me. I'm fatter. But my cap is orange.

My route out was straightforward: Seneca/RudyLn./LimeKiln/Prospect. Now that I had a good hour of "cycling" in, I decided I would goof around a little on the return. I have a work friend who lives in Prospect; her husband is a dry-waller, so I assume the construction boom of the '90s/'00s helped them to buy a house with a big lot in "Valhalla", as I call the area when I speak to her. She's a good sport, but flaming Republicans tend to stick out in educational fields. Remember, we're public servants who enjoy the largesse of the welfare state. Enough of that. I rode by her house and then through a table-top flat subdivision that is named for the farm it engulfed. Gotta love it. After that, I passed through Hays-Kennedy park to get to Garvin Brown Nature Preserve. There aren't good web resources for this little preserve, but it's formerly a farm that's right on the river. I've had notions of doing a stealth camping trip there, but at the entrance gate off the city park there is an obvious sign "No Camping" and being a public servant I sort of follow laws sometimes. We'll see. Here is a series of someone else's pics in fall.

Although the morning weather was probably considered inclement by many, I found that the 70F rainy day provided a spectacular opportunity to see the river at the Preserve. It's right at the end of what I believe is called 6 Mile Island, which I just found out is a state nature preserve. It's at a point in the river when you begin to leave some of the industry behind, so you can get very natural views of a great river. From there I came home. A great day, and a great day of freedom to ride without being accosted. Is that such an unreasonable request?

Nats

Date: July 3 Thurs
Mileage: 5.5(9.2.5.)
July mileage: 58.5
Year to date: 1042.5

The boys and I took a little neighborhood ramble through Seneca Gds to Cherokee para see part of the Masters Nats. We saw a tandem race, one that was sort of confusing b/c there were man/man, woman/woman and man/woman. (I could make comments here, but it's a family blog). The groups were dispersed across the course, so I never knew who was in front, but we were perched on a hill I often ride in Cherokee, so it was nice to see real cyclists climb for a change. After a brief bit of viewing we took on a short section of a mtbike trail, all downhill. I'm pretty sure it was the first time they've been on a "real" trail. They had a good enough time that we'll have to go again. I was on the fixie with 30c tires, so that made for an interesting way down. I had a confrontation with a kid/young man/asshole on the way home. He cut the corner at a stop sign. I yelled. He yelled back. I yelled more and used some colorful language offering him the opportunity to "dialogue". I'm a pretty non-violent guy, but when assholes threaten my kids' safety, I'm ready to bar brawl with the best of them. I should have remained calm and gotten his plate; that would've been the best thing to do to set an example for the boys. Live and learn.

Ride/Commute

Date: July2 Wed
Mileage: 17.5 (CC)
8 (9.2.5.)
July mileage: 53
Year to date: 1037

Took a ride with los Sprawls again this morning, fortunately at a more reasonable pace. I found out today that R did some racing in his youth, as D has done more recently. D, in addition to doing the 30m club ride last night, did a 40m training ride with a group yesterday morning at 5.30, ending with a 20+mph pace. That's really damn fast. Today was nice and calm and worth getting up for.

Just now I took a ride over to the sleep doctor's office for a follow-up. My numbers look good using the CPAP machine. I'm getting more and better sleep, something which should positively affect the rest of my health. Something he told me today was that when a person gets poor sleep, their metabolism slows, which in turn affects people's weight and calorie consumption. That's about as bad a Catch-22 as I've heard.

LBC Ass-kicking!

Date: July1 Tues
Mileage: 27 (RB-1)
July mileage: 27
Year to date: 1011 (that's what Excel says, so that's what I'm going with)

I was brutalized on the club ride tonight- the proverbial "Tuesday Night Worlds". Los Sprawls gave the invite. Instead of doing their morning ride they were doing the evening one. This is probably the single largest ride of the week for the club. In fact, it got so big a year or 2 ago that the racy set split off into their own gig; they actually took the "Worlds" mantle with them, but the usual club ride is still quite fast, at least for me. D and R usually take things a bit slower in the mornings, but tonight they wanted to mix it up, so we charged along an aggressive pace until I popped off. I told D that when I was ready to 'pop', I was going to do just that, and did. I got 19m in before I just had to pull of and shorten the trip home. And during those 19m, I constantly rode wheels too. It was fun, though, and good to do every now and then. Although my avg when I pulled was only 16.4, that's deceptive b/c the route is from St. Matthews, through the parks, and downtown, so it's one of constantly start and stops. It seemed like every time I look at my computer I was doing 18-23mph, but the start/stop disrupts the rhythm. It certainly felt fast.

The gear observation of the evening is that I might just be ready to part with the RB-1. I never ride it, and tonight reaffirmed why. It's a racing bike, and I don't race. It's position is quite flung over and forward, quite low. The seat sucks balls. The rear cluster is tiny and the chainrings don't help with a 53/40. After seeing days of 1.75" contis, 30c Grand Bois, or 32 Paselas, the 23c contis on the Bridgestone look a little silly with my big ass teetering on them. I'm sure I could doctor it up and make something useful, but why mess up it's true nature, that of a classic steel racing bike? I'm curious what it might bring in and on the iBob market. I'm not really doing it for the $$; I just have enough bikes and this one needs a rider that it deserves, not some butterball of commuterdom.

Long Hollow Road

I'm absolutely wasting my time on the computer, but at the same time I found an amazing resource, at least one to use to explore very desolate, outoftheway KY roads. I've been planning a 'mixed-terrain' ride out of Casey Co. when I take Z to camp next week. I've had some trouble b/c the KY state maps don't agree with googlemaps or yahoomaps. The state map shows Slate Hill road as ending before reaching Long Hollow Rd. I need that as the cut through. While beating around state gov't sites I find this interactive map, much like googlemaps, but one that includes so much more territory than googlemaps. I don't know about your homestead, but googlemaps (and yahoomaps) don't include such detail of rural KY areas. This map does. On this enhanced map below, you can see Slate Hill Rd. ending not too many yards before reaching the other. I also seem some dirt/gravel paths that may connect. Will I get mowed down by a 12-gauge? Will I be attached by vicious dogs? Can I make the connection? Aside from this one spot, these rides are in the 40m range, and include 'mixed terrain' and some nasty steep knobs climbs. I may like the mystery of the map more than the suffering of the ride, but the pics afterwards would be fun, wouldn't they?

The aftermath

Date: June 30 Mon
Mileage: 17 (Bleriot)
June mileage: 379
Year to date: 977

got in some quick miles this a.m. before the crew got going. 'L' and the good wife are going to Holiday World today, which leaves me and le dauphin here all alone. it's actually a pretty cold day to be doing water parks- 63F and overcast right now. I wore the Tevas today on the ride and the toes got a little cold here and there. the parks are now festooned with closure signs; the Masters Nationals will be here this weekend, as they were a few years ago. last time i only caught a couple minutes of the road race, but this time i'll take more in. today i got a grin out of a roadie on golf course hill. one passed me to the right, the other to the left (poor form if you ask me). they were in the big ring standing and grinding out the climb. i dropped a sprocket and caught up to them for a while. they had a little talk and semi-sprinted up the rest of the climb. i hope their pride is satisfied.

I was going to provide some links to commentaries of Spain's big win yesterday. Instead I'll just mention Grant Wahl's b/c his entries are always quality. Outside of that, I think I'll just use my time more productively.

Date: June 28 Sat
Mileage: 18 (CC)
June mileage: 355
Year to date: 953

• slow and easy
• burbling water in Beargrass in Cherokee. Except for the smell, the sound was intoxicating
• seeing former students jogging and having a chat. She was running 4 miles to play soccer. The rest were mostly former Manual students. One just got back from Barcelona, another from Madrid, and the first from Venezuela with boyfriend. Pretty amazing, if you ask me.
• steady, metronomic cadence on climbs, with a 25yd sprint up the last hill for good measure
• a little one in a stroller yelling "doggie!"
• a yard party with a ring of chairs and a mound of Bud Light cans in the middle. On the return, the chairs seemed to be facing the house, as thought they were going to put up a screen for a yard movie. or who knows what with all the beer cans
  

Muck

Date: June 27 Fri
Mileage: 36 (LHT)
June mileage: 337
Year to date: 935

Got out early to do the Riverwalk Loop. Feeling lethargic, fat and glum, so no better way to beat the blues that plod through a ride, and I do mean plod in a good way. I meandered through St. Matthews and found a good little hidden trail, one that took me right into Crescent Hill golf course and right through a patch of poison ivy. Yes, I already have a batch of that to deal with. After that, to the Riverwalk. What I didn't anticipate was, first the mud and second the downed branches. We had some quickie storms, but they obviously hit the West End much harder than where we will. They were large, impassable branches down many, many sticks. I kept going, though, because I just needed to. While going around another impassable branch (on the paved path that is) I ran into an even bigger vine of poison ivy. Then I hit the mud. I kept on going. I stopped several times to clear the brake arms and wheels, but I kept on going. The mud was a very viscous, thick river goo that would be perfect for building an adobe hut. Eventually I cleared the Riverwalk and headed back to total a slow 3-hr+ 36m ride. I'm not riding too fast right now, but the 5lbs of mud clogging the brake arms and wheels didn't help. I did it though, and it was what I needed.

Very dirty front wheel, and this is much cleaner than it was mid-ride.

Unhappy brake arms

Fashion statement. Left foot has poison ivy breakout, so I'm trying to protect the shoes.

Ouch!

Date: June 18 Wed
Mileage: 21 (C'Check)
June mileage: 295
Year to date: 893

Went on a morning ride with 'BB', the first of the summer. She had some stuff to do, so we were out at 7a.m. Ugghh, that's early when you don't want to be up that early. It was surprisingly chilly this morning, I would say around 60F. After temps in the 90s not long ago, I was cold, having no gloves or sleeves. I should've grabbed the arm warmers, but I was rushed. 'BB' and I had an uneventful ride, doing the Indian Hills loop. She had been up for a good while with heartburn so we went pretty slow, uncomfortably so at times. Just 2 weeks ago, though, she did local MS ride and did 80 the 1st day and 50 the 2nd. That's better than any mileage I've pulled off, so hats off to her for a great accomplishment.

My ride turned very eventful after I dropped her off. I was close to home when BAM!, out of nowhere I felt that dreadful buzz in my helmet. A flying beast entered the vent and stung me on the head. I had been first stung several summers ago (I have no clue if I had the blog or not) the same exact way, but I subsequently went to the emergency care center for some big-time anti-inflammatories and other stuff. It was a potentially dangerous situation b/c my breathing was compromised. This time, today, I was fortunately quite close to home. I put it in a very low gear and crawled the remainder. Last time I kept pushing hard home and wondered whether the extra work rate spread the poison/venom through the system more than normal. Once home, I dug out my epi-pen. This is the first time using it. A lesson learned. Imagine if I had been out in the boondocks with no access to it. That might be the end of a nice summer...

Be wise. Be prepared.

Riverwalk South

Date: June 16 Mon
Mileage: 4 (C'Check)
June mileage: 221
Year to date: 819

Date: June 17 Tues
Mileage: 53 (Bleriot)
June mileage: 274
Year to date: 872

My route today was very similar to an after-work epic I pulled off last November near by bday. I had business to do at school, so I rode the 7 miles there on the Bleriot. After pushing paper,I headed out, going through the West End and taking the newer southern portion of the Riverwalk. The section along Campground Rd. was shit, full of rocks, glass and metal. It's the same old, same old, wherein the 'gubment' spends on the initial infrastructure, but doesn't do the follow through. I wouldn't be surprised if there were many flats along this section. The aroma was particularly ripe along Rubbertown. I wouldn't be surprised there weren't high cancer rates in the area.

I'm tired. I'm going to finish tomorrow. These pics are from the 2nd portion of the ride, well, the middle portion of the ride, after the first portion, but before the 3rd portion when I got tired and stopped taking pics.

Bleriot at end of useless trail. The path forks left, going towards some type of scenic overlook. Instead, it just randomly ends in this cul-de-sac littered with glass. If I were a redneck I would drink here. If I were a rapist I would...

Mystery road going into the Milltown electrical plant. Is this where they carry the bodies?

I took a pic of this in November, but I still like this bridge.

Mill Creek, which looks nice from afar but damn scary up close.

Farnsley-Moorman backside. This is better than the front IMHO.

Side facing river. Needs some shrubs.

A view sitting in a vine-draped bench in the garden, overlooking the garden and the Bleriot in the distance leaning against an old windmill, and next to an old water pump. This has it all.

Farnsley-Moorman front yard overlooking river.

This appears to be some type of dock or overlook, but now it looks post-apocalyptic. Someone didn't look at their flood charts before putting $$ into this. It very much reminds me of Planet of the Apes, when Charlton Heston sees the Statue of Liberty along the coast.

Bike Jog

Date: June 11 Wed
Mileage: 7 (Bleriot)
2 (LHT)
June mileage: 167
Year to date: 765

'Z' had a soccer scrimmage at E.P. 'Tom' Sawyer State Park, so I took the Bleriot to try out one of the many club routes that leave from that location. Instead, I had completely dead legs and didn't even exit Anchorage. I did get to chit chat briefly with a parent of my former team captain tennis player, so that was nice. Otherwise, ughh. 'Tom' Sawyer is a pretty nice park actually. I think there are some suitable 'slealth' camping spots, but it would be a shitty location to get to on a bike. Alas, maybe to ride another day.

I added another 2mile errand up to Krogers for shallots; I had to look them up online to see what they actually were. and then to the booze joint for a bottle of inexpensive while, pinot grigio in this case.

Indian Hills

Date: June 10 Tues
Mileage: 26 (Crosscheck)
June mileage: 158
Year to date: 756

I'm a little bushed. I took the CC out for a hill ride along the river. I rode up Mockingbird Valley, Indian Hills Trail, Arrowhead and the more benign Westwind. The legs felt pretty good, but my again my back and hands aren't accustomed nor happy to the rigors of the lower position. The next ride will entail the ultra-comfy Bleriot. I wanted to do a "big" ride today, but instead beat around doing nothing and then then watched Spain kick Russia's @#$ 4-1, courtesy of a pretty amazing David Villa hat trick. Now I'm even happier I bought 'L' a Valencia jersey last summer with Villa's name of it. As much as the score is exciting, they have no defense and Sergio Ramos won't stay in position. I predict they get out of group nicely and then fall on their faces vs. one of the more disciplined teams.

los Sprawls

Date: June 9 Mon
Mileage: 19 (Crosscheck)
June mileage: 133
Year to date: 731

For the first time since, I assume, last summer, I went on an early morning ride with los Sprawls, that strapping pair of cardio goons. It's a near perfect situation for me b/c the rides are a little uncomfortable- a bit too fast- but I can get some speedwork in. And if I were to just die, they would be nice enough to let me follow wheels or just slow down for me. We did the river out-and-back. This route has almost not hills whatsoever, but on the mini-hills we found I punched it so I didn't get left behind. After they peeled off I extended by Bowman field and across those flat couple miles on old Gardiner Ln., giving me an early morning 19m (finished by 8.20).

CC Ride

Date: June 6 Friday
Mileage: 19 (Crosscheck)
June mileage: 97
Year to date: 679

Took the Crosscheck w/Paselas out for a pleasant morning ride. A couple quick observations are:

• the Paselas rode great. They cornered very smoothly and were quite comfy. To wit, I think the 32c is spot on as well, beefy but not too (like my tractor tire Contis)
• haven't been on a "standard" road bike config in a while. My CC, b/c it's a rather small frame, has a seat that is substantially higher than the bars. I don't know about "substantially", but it's much more like a racing road bike you would buy a la le Lancey Trek or something of that ilk. I found it much less than comfortable. Between the LHT, the Bleriot, the C'dale and an occasional fixie ride, they're all built up with high bars and that's the way I strongly prefer them at this stage. I guess if I decide to ever race 'cross again, and I don't know that I would or wouldn't, it would be good to keep the low bar, but it's tempting to getting something a little higher. Well, the stem at least b/c the steerer tube isn't magically growing.
• The Heat is rising. I rode pretty hard this morning, especially trying to hit the hills in the parks. I'm so lazy anymore; I find the flattest route and poke along, but I need to build some better cycling fitness if I'm to extend my mileage, so I actually "trained" a bit today. After a hard session I sort of got tired, and then realized I was really hot and that I had cottonmouth from a lack of water. Summer in the 'Ville has arrived and to Lakeside we will go.
• I've been meaning to discuss smells lately, b/c the aforementioned heat has brought them out: honeysuckle, ginko (eww!), composting detritus, other flowing stuff I can't recognize. The heat boils these into a stewy mix.
  

Peace to all beings and good roads for my cycling companyeros.

Tires

Date: June 5 Thursday
Mileage: 14 (LHT)
June mileage: 78
Year to date: 660

Yet another 1-hour ride, this time in the company of a work friend, 'Alberto'. He is one of the most unconditioned-yet-seemingly fit people I know. He looks fit, but he huffs and puffs and looks near death almost every pedal stroke he strains to achieve. It's not nice to downplay 'Alberto's' efforts. He recently bought a Marin 'Kentfield', which seems like an awfully preposterous name to me, at least as it goes for a middleoftheroad hybrid/city bike. God, I sounds pissy don't I? Am I am not in a bad mood. I appreciate 'Alberto's' efforts. We rode via Cherokee and the Beargrass Trail down to the water front. On the return trip we stopped by the BikeDepot on Market. He had actually bought his Marin from them, and I've been on a search for tire options. Right now I'm a bit unsettled with my selection on the LHT, but more so I want an option for the Crosscheck. The LHT now is shod with Conti Contact Security tires. This is a hulking tire at 900g, which is heavier than the comparable Schwalbe Marathon Plus or even the Big Apple. I'm no weight weenie, but if I have a claim of "how secure" a tire is, and it's heavy as hell, then I want the tire to back up its reputation, and so far the Contis have not. I had a 2nd flat- and that within 6 months or so, both flats coming from tiny pieces of glass. If they were hulking nails or chunks of metal, then you chalk it up to "those are the breaks", but itsy-bitsy glass should flatten an uber-tire. That said, I'm not changing LHT tires until I get more wear out of these, unless more flat creep in.

The Crosscheck is a different issue. Right now it's completely stripped down and is carrying my Ritchey 'cross towns, I believe the Speedmax. With the LHT set up as the work horse, and the Bleriot the sunny day dandy, the Crosscheck right now isn't getting the miles it deserves, so I've been brooding over tire options. Brands coming to mind are Conti again (a brand I've generally had good luck with until my last 2 commuting tires- a big deal), Panaracer, everybody's new fav Schwalbe, or I guess I could even go with a Rivbike tire. I've been leaning Schwalbe Marathon, for instance, but it seems that availability is a bit tricky. I do like to frequent my LBS, but they mostly have Contis and none of those options are particularly inspiring. B/c the CC can take a wide range of tire, I was thinking something in the 30-37 range. I have a couple other bikes with narrower tires, but I like the heft. Why, b/c I'm hefty and I've had fewer wheel true issues in the past few years. In fact, I have no wheel true issues. Plus, so much of my riding is urban these days that I just have come to appreciate the extra volume. This all brings me back to the BikeDepot. Since we were there just goofing I decided to take a look at their offerings. Most were unacceptable, but out of nowhere he pulls up a pair of Pasela 32cs. I've consistently seen nice things about the Paselas on the various boards, and I could get 2 for the price of 1 Schwalbe or Rivbike tire. An option at my fav LBS could've been a Conti Gatorskin, but the largest is 28C and I wanted to go a bit beefier. We'll see how it works out, but I think it'll be a great option for summer and early fall. If I need to go offroad I can use the C'dale, and if I get the 'cross jones in the fall, I'll just trade out. I've said before on this blog that the CC is a great option- the LHT being a moose, the Bleriot a dandy.

Me, Mr. Mundane

Date: June 2 Monday
Mileage: 30 (LHT)
June mileage: 50
Year to date: 632

Date: June 3 Tuesday
Mileage: 14 (LHT)
June mileage: 64
Year to date: 646

My riding the last couple days has been decidedly mundane compared to more ambitious efforts, ones which I will expound later. Both Monday and Tuesday my riding took me no further than the usual urban routes that my commuting has comprised nigh these many years. So far I'm doing pretty nicely with my summer goal- doing as many locals sans auto as possible. This goal included my baseball/ice cream trip from Saturday, and yesterday's roam-around. Monday the boys and I had a day of doing almost nothing to speak of in the morning. Their time with their grandfather ('pawpaw') on Sat/Sun yielded them 2 wastes of time: Mario Galaxy (Wii) and Need for Speed Carbon (PS2). A parental failing I've suffered is the one that has allowed my fine children to play lots of video games. I know, in my heart, that wasting copious amounts of time playing this garbage isn't good for the overall being, but damn they're fun to waste time with. In my past I've played a fair amount of finite list of titles, Zelda-Windwaker, the various gamecube Metroids, Island Adventure from the old super Nintendo platform. Those hours playing could've been spent saving Africa from hunger, right? Alas, on a rainy day, or during a late, late night, it's awfully fun escapism.

I digress.

Monday's ride took place after our evening meal. I felt the instantaneous need to hit the road, so away I went on the LHT. I felt pretty good too, so I went west. Granted, creeping dusk and nighttime wasn't optimal, but I feel comfortable on that route. I made good time westward, but on the return I just ran out of gas. Having left at 9ish, I ended up having the good wife- and my mother whom she had called- worried. I pulled in about 11.30. Oops.

Tuesday brought me another post-supper, post-meal ride. 'L' had baseball practice, so I rode the 2m to there. From there, I rode the rest of the way from the Highlands, up Baxter, and across to Crescent Hill to Clifton's Pizza. After a salad, some cheese sticks and a slice or so I was father full, but the road awaited and I crawled, and I mean at a 7-10mph crawl, crawled home on the LHT to finish up a 14m round-trip errand commute. I have to pull some big mileage coming up here, but errand miles are good miles, especially at $4.00/gallon.

Free is good

Date: May 31 Sat
Mileage: 20 (Bleriot)
May mileage: ??
Year to date: 598

Today's miles were beautiful free miles, found miles, without insistence of training or of necessity. I'm hot and sweaty and hacking hairballs or something, but I wouldn't trade today's miles for just about any others. My plan, there is always a plan, was to get out and do a couple hours this morning. 'L' awoke a little earlier than expected and mutually we decided to go to the farmers' market via 2-wheels. 'L' is so much more game to take these jaunts than his lazy older brother. He was downright enthusiastic. I took the 9.2.5. fixie to use its veggie-appropriate basket. I knew it would be a good day when we hit our first hill, a steep little pitch going from Trevilian in front of Lakeside up to near Kroger. 'L' hit is hard and kept plugging away, making the "summit" just a half wheel ahead of me, grinding my best on the fixie. Good for him and a great way to start the morning. We took a look at the farmers market, which was at its social best while not fully stocked with yet-to-ripen veggies. We picked a locally-produced havarti cheese, one of the boys' favorites, some salad greens and a quart of strawberries. The fresas are all very much in season, so that seemed the best option. The family loves them. I'm a little more ambivalent for some unknown reason. On the way home we stopped at Breadworks: scone for 'L', coffee for me, scone for 'Z' and danish for good wife. I also ran in next door to the hardware to grab some gutter drain covers. Now that some of our drainage goes underground I want to keep the pipes clean.

The second ride was also 'L' related, and also quite serendipitous. He was playing baseball about 2m from the house, so I took the LHT again. My dad and my half-brother arrived part ways through the game from Detroit, so we all decided on ice cream after the game, only that meant they were in the car and I on the bike. They gave me a bit of a head start and I time trialed it to Diary Kastle. If watermelons, tomatoes and thunderstorms are summer, then the DK is more so. Cheap, soft serve ice cream, homey atmosphere. Americana at its best. From the helado stop I then wandered north through Germantown and had intended to circle through the parks and home. Instead, I ran into the morning coffee guy from Sunergos. We had a very amiable chat, one that wasn't too different on bikes than what we have at 6.45 in the a.m. We both agreed that the bike is the way to liberate the day. After turning up towards Lexington Road I eyed another chap on the sidewalk . From the back it looked like a church softball friend, and once I approached my observation proved correct! I then rode with him a bit on his way to the bank. He doesn't ride much, but $4.00 is changing his mind. For years he has been almost chastising me to be careful; he's a bit paranoid about cycling on the road. After my 2nd serendipitous one-the-bike conversation I headed home, almost giddy at a superb day of urban errand cycling.