My First Bike Ride In Over A Year Went Well For The Most Part

That is my newly restored two-wheeled personal locomotion device laying on the ground.

No, it is not laying on the ground due to a malfunction.

I stopped to take a picture. To take a picture I have to remove my sunglasses. If I don't I can not see the camera screen.

About 8, or maybe 9, miles later I realized I had left my sunglasses on the ground. Unlike the Tandy Hills Easter Sunday lost sunglasses incident, I found them today upon my return to the spot where I left them.

I estimate I quit riding my bike sometime last July, or maybe August. I attempted to get the wheel fixed in October, at Panther City Bikes. Or whatever it is called. I had a worse impression about that place than I did/do about Bicycles, Inc., so I did not get my wheel fixed there.

There are not as many bike shops to choose from in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone than in areas that have a lot more bike riders. At least I'm assuming that is the cause of the bike shop shortage.

I am glad I found Colonel's Bicycle Shop.

Getting back in the saddle, after more than a year of not pedaling, went surprisingly well. I was surprised at how solid the bike now feels with its fixed wheel. I quickly realized I put up with that wobbly wheel way too long.

I was zipping along at around 20 mph, with the help of wind behind me, breaking the speed limit by 10 mph. Came to the first up and down, zipped down and up. It was feeling good.

I forgot to mention, my return to bike riding took place at Village Creek Natural Historic Area, then left the VCNHA trail to continue on on the Bob Findlay Linear Park trail.

Which is where the picture was taken. It's in Interlochen. An area with a lot of canals. Betty Jo Bouvier asked me how it manages to be so green here, so I took a green picture for Betty Jo.

Soon after that, at mile 6 or 7, I thought of Betty Jo again. I started off feeling real comfortable on the saddle. I'd forgotten that prior to my bike's long period of rest I'd put a comfy new bike seat on it. But, by mile 6 or 7, not so comfy. I think my seating area has lost some of its padding over the past year. Which is why I thought of Betty Jo, thinking riding a bike might be a bit more comfortable if I had a more ample derriere.

I had multiple issues with squirrels acting squirrely today. Four times the little beasts darted out in front of my front wheel, almost causing a crash each time.

Around mile 10, on my way back to my van, before I realized I'd left my sunglasses behind, I stopped to drink some water. I leaned over to get the water bottle and then had a real dizzy sensation, in a way that felt good. It was at that point I realized that biking is way more exercise, aerobically speaking, than the hill hiking I've been doing for the past year.

By the time I recovered the sunglasses and made it back to my van, I'd covered 13.646 miles. Not the longest bike ride I've gone on. But, it seemed long enough for the first bike ride in over a year. As soon as I stopped and got off the bike, without the motion caused Wind Chill, I switched into heavy duty sweating mode. I'd forgotten this part of bike riding when it's HOT.

So, that was the fun part of today. The un-fun part of today was totally unrelated to riding a bike. If I feel like re-living that in blog form, I may do that later.

Windy Texas Bike Riding With Snakes, Lizards & Wildflowers

I'm having me a day that's having me feeling like a tired worn out old man. I woke up way too early. My bedroom window was open, by morning it had gotten cold, as in the 60s. A bird started up some siren, alarm clock type warbling, well before the sun came up. I assume it was a bird.

So that warbling bird got me up early. I then got on the computer where one thing after another sucked my mental energy while trying to figure out annoying website and blog issues.

Around noon I had had enough of straining my easily strained brain. I needed some fresh air and sunshine. The closest available source is Village Creek Natural Historic Area. Or Historic Natural Area. I never remember which way that goes. Neither way makes a lot of sense. Is it a natural historic area? Or an historic natural area? It's perplexing.

It was being very windy around noon. With the wind pushing me, it was very easy to pedal over 20 mph. That was fun. Heading back into the wind I was lucky to go 10 mph. That also was fun. I pedaled about 11 miles before I had had enough.

Of all the Texas wildflowers I think the pink primrose ones are my favorite. Maybe because they last the longest, as in the bluebonnets seem to be long gone, but these pink things just keep blooming along. And they were the first Texas wildflower I ever saw, coming in from the west, just east of Amarillo, they started appearing. There were several big patches of the pink wildflowers waving in the breeze at Village Creek today.

I saw some wildlife, while pedaling today. Two snakes and a big lizard. The snakes weren't moving too fast, due to it not being all that warm, with them being cold-blooded little monsters. The lizard did move fast. Aren't they cold-blooded, too?

That's been my day today in Texas. Tomorrow will be better. It always is. Sometimes.