Night Time in The Park - New Trail!

Tonight I decided to squeeze a bike ride in before it got totally dark. Since last Saturday, I haven't been riding my bike because we were missing the correct air chuck attachment to our air compressor. I did try (half heartedly) to pump up the bike tires manually, but bah..I didn't spend much time on it.

Anyhoo...my husband bought a new one last night and aired my tires up for me tonight. So I headed out on the usual route: off to Bob Woodruff park for maybe a 4 or 5 mile ride.

According to weather.com, the temperature was 94 degrees when I left. However, I can tell you that since the sun was mostly down, it didn't really feel that hot. Which was great! (Maybe I am just used to the Texas heat now - I have been driving around in a vehicle without A/C for a few months now, and it hasn't been that bad, although temps have been in the high 90s to low 100s.)

I didn't have a regular bottle water handy, so just grabbed an Ozark one that was kicking around in the fridge. Halfway down the street it started to fall out. Sheesh! The bottle was not big enough to stay in the bottle holder, so I ended up holding it in my left hand the whole ride.

The nice thing about where I start my ride in the park is that there are few people walking on the path. Sure, there will be a few from time to time, as well as other cyclists, but never large crowds. Unfortunately the same can not be said of the bike/walking path in the middle of the park with where the pond - er, excuse me - "lake" is. I don't begrudge people walking or riding bikes around the park, or fishing, or what have you. But it was more crowded than I expected tonight, with whole little families spread across the path, some with little ones, and some (both adults and children) couldn't walk in a straight line. Oh - and the family that MUST take up the whole path and stand around and talk for 10 minutes, not moving out of any one's way - despite the fact that the city has installed quite a few new benches around the lake for people to sit and relax.

There were at least three specific families tonight that have no idea how close they came to getting run down by this fat chick on a bike tonight. I would politely call ahead "On your left!" or "Excuse me coming up on your left!" but in many cases they wouldn't move out of the way, or would JUMP out of the way like there was no fair warning and I think (though I couldn't be sure as I was listening to classical music while riding) there were a few choice words directed at me in 2 or 3 different languages. (I love TX - you get so much culture!)

I only spun around the lake once - I had wanted to venture off on the bike path I rarely take that goes to the other side of the park, but there was a middle aged couple standing right in the middle of the path where it goes in that direction letting their dog do its business. Glad you have your little plastic bag and everything - but seriously - do we need that much space to watch a dog take a dump on the grass???? Really??? I didn't even bother trying to go down there, and was tired of cutting across the grass so just went the usual route towards where the houses are allowed to ride in the park.

So I pass the play ground (three small children could have made great handlebar ornaments on the way by, but I controlled my urge and rode by them on the grass), and then all the picnic tables (they have so many more it seems) and finally I was past be past most of the walkers. The few people I came across in this part of the park are the serious walkers and runners, and will not only get the hell out of the way, but nod and even say hello. These are my kind of people.

I was nearing the bridge that connects Spring Creek and Parker and noticed that the new path bridge to Oak Point park is FINALLY open! I forgot about the fact they had the official opening today. So I veered off down there to see what it was like.

Let me say it is great to have more bike path in ad wooded/grassy area where you cannot even SEE a street for a bit. VERY NICE. I like riding on the bike trails in the actual woods as well, but it is too dark for me to venture on dirt paths this late at night. After passing over the initial little bridge, there is another one not too far off and then you go under a bridge. I just love being in nature - but having something fast enough to ride away if nature comes after me. (Those squirrels are down right mean in TX! Oh - and we do have coyotes in the park, though I have only seen two the past 5 years.)

Okay - so after 9PM is probably not a good time of day to go exploring a new bike path, especially one that lacks street lights. As I got closer to where I would have to ride under the bridge, I could see out the other side - so I thought - "Oh this cannot be too bad". Yeah...then I got closer...and under it...and you could not see an inch in front of you UNDER the bridge. I didn't ride that fast; even though I knew it was a new bike path and would most likely be smooth, I was worried about hitting a pot hole or rock and going flying off into the darkness. SCARY!

I made it through, and then continued for about another hundred yards or so, where there was a fork in the paths - one to the left went closer to Spring Creek that going past CCCCD I believe and the other to the right - I believe it ended up on where Parker and Los Rios intersect. (I didn't ride all the way up there - but could see an intersection from where I turned around.)

I turned around, and started my way home. This time under the bridge I rode like a bat out of hell - it is probably the fastest 50 feet I have ever ridden hahah.

One thing that I noticed tonight (besides all the bugs hitting my tshirt and dying) was the huge temp difference between certain areas of the park. It felt like I was riding through pockets of cool area when I got to the horse section, and then it went up again near the creek, and then down again once I cross the new section. I bet the difference in degrees was at least 5!

Tonight I was at least smart enough to put on padded bike shorts under my regular shorts. It took my two days to recover from my short ride last weekend because I didn't wear them. Since it was dark out, I committed a girly faux pas and didn't bother to shave my legs. I am not going to be going so fast that it would cut down my speed haha, but also I would be going fast enough that people wouldn't notice. (Well - except for my Olympian Sprint under the Dark Bridge coming back home; the stubble on my legs may have actually slowed me down on this part of the ride, I was going so fast.) And if they did...honestly, I don't think I care. After all, when a fat chick goes riding, she really cannot care how she looks to other people, or she would never go, now would she?

Although I stopped a few times to rest up, I was actually on the bike riding for 38.50 minutes. I am not sure the distance I covered, since I cannot access the new trail map yet, and the Gmap pedometer site doesn't seem to be working properly. (User error, perhaps?)

However far I rode, it was fun, and some much needed exercise. AND I noticed that I wasn't huffing and puffing as much as even last week. I attribute that to the fact that I quit smoking exactly two weeks ago.