Yesterday’s ride
Who knew I’d be riding dressed for July on the last Sunday of November? (See: Is it November yet?)
I’d planned a nice ride to check out the new section of the Riverway trail and the new bike bridge across the river, up north towards Charlotte and the lake. And a stop for a steak sandwich at LDR Charpit, just steps away from the beach.
Last night, when it looked like we might be riding a threesome, I took some time to clean and fix things. ‘Tude had said she’d spent hours cleaning her Hummer, and John had remarked on how clean my bike was when we rode in October.
I stripped the bike and gave it a thorough scrubbing.I even removed the fenders and remounted them with zip-ties instead of using the removable rubber straps. Then I got them all readjusted and looking better than before.
Next, I attacked my rear dérailleur with a screwdriver and the Park Tools Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair. It had been slowly drifting out of adjustment. The chain was noisy on the cogs and shifting had becoming annoying. Upshifts came with a frame-shaking ka-CHUNG and downshifts had to be coaxed.
To my complete amazement, I got it adjusted pretty good. It’s completely silent again while pedaling. Shifting is much improved, except, that it takes two clicks of the shifter now when changing shift directions. (Fortunately, my rear shifter works for either eight or nine-speed dérailleurs, so I’ve always had an extra click available at one end.) I can’t figure out what I did to make it do that, so I’ll pick up some coffees and visit Peter at Towner’s some morning this week.
In the morning, it turned out that neither ride partner I’d called could make it. Instead, I went communing with old friends—the Riverway and the Canalway.
Heading out, there was more of a headwind than I expected. My legs also felt weaker and more sore than I expected. I haven’t ridden on a Sunday in long while. I wonder if it has anything to do with two fulls days working at the library. Both days this past week, on my breaks I had to put my feet up in hopes of draining some edema. In any event, I decided a slow and easy ride was better than no ride at all. I dialed it back and just cruised along.
In the early afternoon, there weren’t many peds along the Riverway. Later in the day, they seemed to swarm all over the section of Canalway from the park to Winton.
Cyclists, however, ruled the day. I haven’t run across so many cyclists since the summer. Singles, couples, families—some with trailers, others with Trail-a-Bikes, it was cyclists everywhere. Every single one of us had a big smile on, and even the roadies smiled and waved back.
I never passed anyone, and only got passed when I was stopped. There didn’t seem to be any competitiveness or training fever going on. It was like everyone was just, “Damn! What a bonus day! This might be the last day to ride for months.” Then they decided to enjoy it rather than work it.
I kinda enjoyed standing on the pedals to get a better view down into the canal. While I didn’t see any dead bodies or cars, there was a lot of debris accumulation, particularly near the bridges.
In the Rochester Cut, I also found a genuine, accept no imitations faultline. It was one of those times when I truly wished I had a camera. There’s a vertical crack in rock face, and the rocks on either side bend up to it. It was really pronounced.
Later, on the other side of the river I came upon the section they were dredging all summer. They used a floating vacuum dredge which sucks all the sediment off the bottom. It was neat seeing the pattern made as they moved the hose around. From the looks of things, they have a long way to go too. There’s still plenty of mud in that section.
Anyway, I forgot toeat a little something at my usual rest stop at Long Pond Rd. I paid for it just a few miles later. I felt a low blood-sugar event coming on about a mile before the railroad bridge. Barely making it to the top, I stopped again and ate a couple of bars.
There was a photographer down on the tracks, so I figured a train would show up at any moment. Sure enough, a freighter came out of the west shortly after. The engineer waved back. I’d been joined on the bridge by a guy riding a Kona. Nice looking rig, if you’re into mountain bike. We shot the breeze for a while, while easily a dozen riders went by.
Feeling better, I pushed off down the other side of the bridge. What a difference! I felt good, I felt fast, and I felt really capable after that. That one little snack turned the ride right around. I wasn’t necessarily hammering, but I was considerably above average, and not a thing bothered me for the whole rest of the ride.
It was as if all the hills became flat, all the turns tighter and faster, and traffic just parted before me. I have to say it was the best time I’ve had on the bike in a good long while. Even after I’d left the path to come home, everything just clicked. Without really trying, I sprinted away from traffic at the light at I-490, cranked along at a pace where cars just eased by, and at intersections, cars that could have easily made, waited for me to pass. I waved to them all, and they waved back too.
Riding down Park Ave, I was suprised to find all of the cafés hadn’t bothered to put their tables outside. I supposed once you put them away for the season, a week or tow of good weather isn’t worth it to put them back out. Spin Caffé [sic] is next to a bakery. Riding past it I thought how nice a loaf of fresh, homemade bread would be. So I stopped at the next bakery (See: Just shocking) and ate half the loaf when I got home.
