Morning Stats
Distance: 16.00 miles
Time: 01:25:00
Terrain: Road: Rolling
Bike: Fuji Sandblaster SX XC Mtn
Club: 2010 TerraTrike Car-Free Challenge
Weather Conditions: 7:30 – 9a – 68F, sunny, nice air. Chipmunk index of 4. Beaver index of 1.
Morning Ride
That’s right, I said beaver index of 1. I saw a BEAVER! Isn’t that cool? At least, I think it was a beaver. I looked up beaver online, and while the one I saw didn’t look much like some of pics I saw, he did look like this one. When I went by, I first thought I had seen a cat, but it was too low to the ground to be a cat, so I circled back and got off my bike and then he put his head up to see what I was doing, and it was then that I could clearly see his beaverness.
After he was assured that I wasn’t going to mess with him, he went about his business and dug a hole under an old rotten stump, and went in. And that was that.
I owe my beaver sighting to the fact that I decided to keep the ride nice and easy this morning. I blasted through the off-road part, but on the paved areas, I took my hands off the bars, sat back, and just cruised.
Evening Stats
Distance: 9.00 miles
Time: 00:40:00
Terrain: Road: Rolling
Bike: Fuji Sandblaster SX XC Mtn
Club: 2010 TerraTrike Car-Free Challenge
Weather Conditions: 5:30P – 80F, sunny. Chipmunk index of 0.
Evening Ride
I got an invite from my wife to go have dinner at Chilis with her, her co-workers, and some of her clients, and then go see Little Shop of Horrors in Torrington. So I mapped the route to the Chilis in Simsbury, which only turned out to be 9 miles away, and part of it was on a trail I’d never been on before: The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. It was very nice, but pretty crowded. I’ll have to return to spend some more time on the big bridge overlooking the Farmington River.
From the trail, I got on Brickyard Rd., which is one of the worst roads for biking I’ve ever been on – comparable to Rt. 177 which I avoid at all costs. Luckily, people weren’t driving like they couldn’t see me. They probably have a lot of cyclists on that road, but the shoulder was literally painted on the edge of where the road met the ground at times. The nice thing about Brickyard Rd. was that it offered a fair amount of hill climbs that didn’t completely slow me down … good for training.
Incidentally, Chilis is not a good place for vegetarians … very little selection. The production of Little Shop of Horrors was awesome! It was put on by the art department of one of the schools. They did a bang up job and got a standing ovation.
In case you were wondering, I got a ride back to my car. I offered to bike it, but it was kind of on her way to work.