Off the beaten track

Fall is coming to the lakes too. This still looks a lot like summer but I notice a subtle change in the shades of green, just a tiny bit more towards the yellow end of the adjacent to yellow green which I guess makes it closer to the red end of the spectrum(ROYGBIV).

I received a report earlier today about the relative lack of security at this intersection.

I ride through there a lot so I rode over there again today to check it out. My intention was to declare that this is a nice suburban neighborhood well on its way to growing new trees to replace the ones lost 40 years or so ago to Dutch Elm.

Then I noticed that the house immediately to my left as I took the photo (not visible on frame) is the home of the dog that I ran over a couple of seasons ago.

Ran over with my bicycle.

So I guess I agree, that isn't a very secure intersection.

I rode nearer to the Fair than I had been earlier so far this Fair year. I got close enough to be reminded that the Fair is a pedestrian event, lots and lots of people walking.

Most will know that I consider pedestrians to be a more likely danger to a bicycle than a car. True, a collision with a car would cause more damage but a collision with a pedestrian is much, much more likely.

I rode away.

Which meant that again today I rode some stuff that I haven't been on for a while. I used to ride through Reservoir Woods all the time when my long ride was 15 to 20 miles. I haven't been through this tunnel for years.

I had pretty much scrubbed that hill from my memory banks. I remembered that it was steep and that it had lots of turns that disguised the steepness. I fixed that today by reopening the subdirectory where information about that climb is stored.

That hill is hard.

There is a short ramp up to that tunnel, then after the tunnel a right and then a left and the start of the real hill. It keeps bending to the left with a couple of false flats but always more uphill around every little bend. Then a steeper section and past the deck over the ravine that marks the halfway mark of the climb.

Geez, I thought to myself, I can't still be only halfway up this thing, can I?

Next comes a steeper section then a bend around to the right and there it is, the longest section and by far the steepest, at the top. The cherry on the top is that even after beating that last section the trail still continues uphill, albeit gradually at the end.

I won't forget.

There used to be a huge old concrete reservoir up there. They tore it out a couple of years ago. This is my first look at the quite a bit smaller tank that is up there now.

I noticed that steel has taken the lead as the frame material on which the most miles have been ridden to this point in the season. More on that later.