While visiting my folks in Chattanooga, Tennessee this week, my dad and I took two rides on Monday and Tuesday. Both times we rode the path at the Chattanooga Riverpark. While it’s not a very strenuous route at all, it was very good to get out and enjoy some quality time on the bike.

Clay and I had a great opportunity to get a ride in this morning. 22 miles on the bike path with the trail-a-bike.

Chris, me, and Mac

Today I had a great Father’s Day ride. I left my house at 6:30 and rode 50 to Radford, then down 56 to meet up with Chris and Mac. Together we rode up 682 to Connett, then down to Poston and up to 691, then back to town via the bike path. I then rode home up Dairy Barn Lane and up and up North Blackburn. I felt fairly good throughout the entire ride, even if I had a fairly hard time keeping up with Chris (he’s spend considerable time on his indoor trainer). On the way home, I was very pleased to make it up North Blackburn and Wonder Hills, especially after riding 30+ miles at a pretty good clip. Total mileage was around 35.75, with about 2.5 hours ride time. I’m pretty sure this was the longest ride of the year. I’ve had a lot of professional, personal, and family commitments that have kept me away from the bike, but man, that ride has me psyched to ride a lot more. Now to just find the time without upsetting my work/home/life/family balance.

Here is the route of the ride :

While not your typical Sunday ride, I did manage to squeeze in 8 miles and 40 minutes on the bike.  This makes for three rides in the past four days.  Happy Redneck, I am.

Today I took my son to the dentist. He’s four and it was his second trip to the dentist. As a reward for doing a good job, I took him on a ride on the bike path, just him and me. We rode to Eclipse from Peden, shared a Snickers and a bag of M&Ms, then rode back. He had a blast. On the way back, the wind hit us hard coming back into town. The last 1.5 mile was into a wicked headwind. My son said “Daddy, the wind isn’t letting my legs work”. My legs were barely working as well. After yesterday’s ride, my legs were feeling it.  It was a good feeling and it’s great to be back on the bike.

about 10 miles

about 45 minutes of ride time