I’ve been leaving my car at the Ridges and riding in to work this week.  Today was the third day in a row.  It’s a quick 1-1.5 mile ride in, depending on which way I go.  And I have found that I can actually get back to the Ridges to pick up my kids at preschool faster on bike than by car.  Taking the bike path and roundabout tunnel gets me there a lot quicker than waiting in traffic in my car and it’s a lot more fun. It’s not a hardcore commute by any means, but I have a good time doing it and it gets me on the bike for a few minutes.

Here’s the route:

Find more Bike Ride in Athens, OH

Like yesterday, we met at Athens Bicycle, climbed Rock Riffle, and turned right onto Longview Heights. This morning we stayed on Longview, and took Mulligan down to Richland, then back to the car via a trip through campus and a roll down Court Street. About 7.5 miles in 45 minutes, but our major success was making it out in the early cold two mornings in a row. Here is the route

This was also my first ride with the Geoman Gear Magicshine light. The light really lit up the road very well and I we were both able to see very well. I’ll post some more info about the light later, but thus far I’m happy with it and feel safe riding with it on the Athens back roads in the dark.

I didn’t clock the ride with my odometer or phone, but eyeballing where we turned around on Map My Ride put us around 7 miles or so.

The details:

8.14 miles
34:32
500 calories burned
14.1 mph average speed

With 50 (ish) weather, the boys and I took the opportunity to meet Mac and E for a Sunday ride out to Eclipse. The kids had a great time, though the got a bit chilly in the shady parts of the bike path. My boys each wore long sleeve shirts and sweat shirts, and could have used full-fingered gloves. While Scalia said it was 48 degrees, Mac and I estimated an 8-10 degree drop in the shade. So next time we should bring an extra layer. Carter seemed cozy in the trailer and even managed a nap on the way back.

Clay lost his chain about 3 miles from the car. I need to remember to pack a crescent wrench for his wheel, as the Crank Brothers multitool wasn’t made for servicing a fixed wheel. Fortunately I was able to massage the chain back on and we made it back to the car without any other problems.

I also found I’m a bit out of practice putting together the bike train, as it took me 20 minutes to assemble the rig. It will get easier with more practice, though by summer, Cole should be riding on his own. That should shorten the rig to just a trailer.

When we got home, we refueled with this:

Temperature was around 37 degrees with full sun.  I was chilly in the wind when starting out, but otherwise comfortable when I got warmed up.  Wore a long sleeve underjersey, a regular jersey, full finger mountain bike gloves (summer weight), shorts, tights, wool socks.  Round trip about 7.5 miles (5.5 miles pavement and 2 miles dirt).

My buddy and me

Looking down Ervin Road

Had about an hour, weather was nice, and my wife said “go for a ride.”. So I did.

Rode a warmup lap around the neighborhood loop, then down 50 to Ervin. Turned around at Radford, and rode back to mentally prepare for the climb up Stagecoach. Stagecoach hurt pretty bad, but I managed to muscle over it. Took me a really long time to return to normal breathing. Some folks on Stagecoach have gotten some new dogs since the last time I rode. They came to the road to greet me, but fortunately I had caught my breath enough to give em the old “get back on the porch this is my road” yell. Rode back down 50, with another hurt-so-good climb up Wonder Hills Drive. I arrived at my house out of breath, and a bit disappointed that I didn’t even clear 10 miles. I was tempted to ride two laps around the neighborhood to get the mileage over 10, but figured I had done enough for the day. Considering I have not ridden since August, making it over those two hills were huge victories. I also took the Jamis instead of the Schwinn, which has a 28 versus the Schwinn’s 32.

Early start at Peden

The route:

a tunnel of moss on Sunnyside Road

The route: