Sunday Mountain Biking With The Kids At River Legacy Park

It is taking some getting used to to get in the pool with the air temperature being warmer than the water. This is making the water feel cold, unlike going swimming in the middle of winter. I'm sure I'll adjust.

It has been a windy, cloudy Sunday here in North Texas. I went to River Legacy Park to pedal the mountain bike trail around noon.

There were a lot of people doing the same thing today. I tell you, this trail is getting way too popular. That's a good thing. I saw no wildlife today, except for humans. I saw one family of mountain bikers. You don't see that all that often. I wish I'd grown up in a family of mountain bikers. But that would have been impossible, because mountain bikes had not been invented when I was growing up. I did have a cool bike though. I think it was called a Sears Stratoliner. It had 2 speeds which you switched by back pedaling fast, but not hitting the brake. Very high tech.

I went two times around for a total of about 11.5 miles. At about the 9.5 mark it started to rain. I had to plot my escape strategy if the rain went into Texas Downpour mode. I figured I was about 1.5 miles from a paved trail. In Texas there are areas where if rain meets dirt it makes this incredibly sticky glue-like mud. That is the sort of dirt that is at River Legacy. Walking on it can quickly add 5 inches to your height. Which quickly turns me into potential NBA material.

The new section of trail, which I first pedaled only days ago, has now been ridden enough that it's been smoothed over and you can now pedal fast on it. I like the new section. I did not like it when I first pedaled it, mostly due to, I suppose, the need for it to get broken in.

So, that's been my exciting day. Oh, I forgot to mention, the second picture is of the new section of trail. It was so dark in there the flash went off.

To those who have never been to Texas, does it being so green surprise you? I remember before I moved here, I went to see the X-Files Movie, I think that's actually what it was called, in Seattle. The party with whom I went to the movie was not approving of the move to Texas. When the X-Files Movie started it was in a suburb of Dallas, with the Dallas skyline in the background. It was all brown and desert-looking. I leaned over to my fellow movie watcher and said it's not really like that, it's really green with a lot of trees. She said, yeah, sure.

Four months after I moved here the party in question came for a visit. It was April when that visit occurred, so it would have been very green, but I do not recollect bringing up the X-Files Movie moment of skepticism about the greenery of Texas.