Winter hours

Probably no one will believe this, but this is not a deliberate attempt to steal an idea. Really. I was on my way out of the garage for today's ride and stopped for this photo before I even got on the bicycle.This is interesting to me because that is a perspective we never get on the religious symbol at the top of the pyramid shaped church nearby. Something about the late in the season low sun angle and brighter than expected sun light caused the sunlight to reflect directly back to me and made the cross stand out in a way I have never seen before.

It was warm enough, five or so degrees above the average high, as already noted, the sun was out, breezes were fairly light and from the NE. I headed north.

That archery deer hunt is going on at the usual turnaround for the north ride so I improvised. I rode on the multi-use path leading from Highway 96 south into the wetland park area between Snail and Grass Lakes. I personally think it is more a part of Snail than Grass, but I don't actually know, maybe it has its own identity. If I were still employed I could check the Protected Waters Inventory. I do know that this swamp is part of Snail Lake Regional Park. I don't ride paths very often because of the extremely dangerous conditions one usually finds there (pedestrians and roller bladers). Today the walking the dog and jogging traffic was pretty low and reasonably attentive. Here is a view from one of the benches along the east side of the swamp looking across at a two bench viewing area on the northwest side. It looks like pretty good deer habitat to me but apparently the area is too small to support a hunt. I know it is large enough to support a deer population, I have seen them there at least a few times.Shortly after resuming riding I met a truck coming the other way on the path. Yup, the pedestrians were totally reasonable but there was a county worker out doing something or another which involved driving his pickup around the swamp on the six foot wide path. Actually, it wasn't too bad, he was alert to the presence of others and moved as far to the side as a pickup can move on a six foot path to let me pass.

I rode down through Grass Lake on the dirt path through that part of the park, making one of my very, very rare forays off the pavement on my road bike. Up to this point in the ride I had not yet seen another bicyclist (Monday is my new favorite day). The first one I saw was a road bike coming towards me just having come off the dirt portion of Grass Lake. OK then, thus reassured I continued on.

When I rode past County Cycles yesterday I noticed that they were closed. I assumed this was because they have begun winter business hours. As I rode past today I pulled into the parking lot to see if I could confirm this.Winter business hours, closed on Sunday, out riding when it isn't too cold. Nice new America's bike in the window, they sell a lot of Treks.

If the bike shop says winter hours, I guess it is winter hours. The season must be very near to being over.

But I got in a ride again today. The first picture with this post was taken before I got on my bicycle before leaving the garage. These two were taken after I got off my bicycle before putting the bicycle back into the garage.

I have tried to get this picture a few times and on the 18th time that this display appeared on my odometer I have finally been successful.There is a slight discrepancy between the two odometer displays. I didn't ride another inch, just clicked the cyclocomputer over to the next display.Prepare for the possibility of a deluge. If conditions allow more riding, the likely result is more mileage posts, lots more mileage posts.