Today It Was Not Too HOT To Have Myself A Fine Mountain Biking Time In Gateway Park With A Giant Turtle

With the temperature predicted to hit a high of 105 with possibly a record breaking high of one degree more and with the humidity causing the air to feel 5 degrees HOTTER, I thought going on a bike ride sounded like a good idea.

Over an hour in the pool, starting at the crack of dawn, really does not give as good an endorphin boost as one might hope it would.

Even though the outer world is a little HOT, the Gateway Park mountain bike trails are mostly under the cover of big shading trees, thus making for a not too HOT time.

Til one stops to get oneself some hydration.

The last time I pedaled the Gateway Park mountain bike trails I noticed that at a point where the trail sign pointed right, bike tire tracks continued left.

And so today I ignored the sign pointing right and went left to discover new trail has been punched through the underbrush to get around an area of trail which had been damaged by the flooding remnants of Hurricane Hermine, rendering what remained of the old trail to be a bit treacherous, with not enough treachery to make hiking the damaged trail dangerous, but with enough treachery to render biking it an invite to take a flying leap off the side of a cliff  into a green river.

In the picture above those are my handlebars looking at the damaged trail which runs along side the top of a cliff with the Trinity River flowing slowly below. The new bypass trail is to the right of my handlebars.

Looking over the edge of the cliff I saw a HUGE turtle floating on the surface, with its head stuck out of the water. I was able to make one snap of the camera before the turtle dived.

Speaking of critters floating in the Trinity River,  I believe tomorrow, Thursday, August 8, marks the end of this year's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Music Extravaganzas.

The extremely HOT temperature and the extremely inviting crystal clear water of the Trinity River should make for a possibly record breaking crowd tomorrow, floating around a non-existent island, listening to music emanating from a non-existent pavilion.

With beer.