Fall's Fall

October 20Th was a delightful day. High sixties for temperature and plenty of sunshine. A few of the riders rode 9-10 miles before our regular start time. Four riders started at the 5:30 pm time and completed 16 miles at 11.8 mph average. I only found one penny and had to catch up with the group after going back to pick it up. Just like life; we often depart from the group when an opportunity is seized.

Participants were kind enough to agree on my destination of "Blue Clay Falls," south or Richmond. I give thanks to my fellow riders for going where I wanted.

My goal is to obtain four seasons of photographs of Blue Clay Falls, and a Fall picture is not in my collection yet.

Our ride was nearly one and one half hours in length. The sun was down when we returned to the church. Since the time changes on November 1st we will only have one more week of daylight to ride. I look forward to some riders next week for the last weekday ride of the season.

No Fair

October 13, 2009. Last week was rainy and no one rode. 52 degrees F and overcast this week discouraged most of our riders. With no fair weather friends I was the only rider. It felt like early in the season when I was alone. Only 12.3 miles at a leisurely 12.8 mph average was my evening ride.


There was an interesting character who made the ride quite an experience. I first saw him, far ahead, after I made a turn onto the road he was on. As the distance between us diminished I could see a fishing pole stuck out the back of his bicycle. His winter coat, with the fur collar, was also evident. Several cars coming from behind made passing impossible for a few minutes. Then, as I began to go around, I announced, "There are lots of things passing you tonight." An instant and angry reply stated definitely that he did not care. A few more gruff statements and his final words were, "...I like to bicycle. "

I completed about the middle third of my ride and returned past where I thought he would be fishing. Sure enough, he was by the lake. I stopped to apologize for making him angry with my statement about passing. I assured him it was just an attempt to be friendly.

Almost right away he began to talk about his bicycle and I got the whole tour. It had a console full of switches for turning various lights on and off. There were fog lights, tail lights, head lights and more. It took two small twelve volt batteries to operate all of his accessories. I noticed, and mentioned, that he even had a light on his head. That launched him into stories about how unsafe this road was for bicycles, and how the light could get him back to town.

The light strapped to his head was going to help him in another way. He told me he was, "...going to catch one of those big catfish!" What an uncomplicated life this man had for the evening. He enjoyed his bicycle ride to the, "...old fishing hole," and his remaining tasks were to catch a fish, and get home safely. I thought I was doing well just to enjoy the bicycle ride. It probably did us both good to have a few minutes of conversation and recognize each other for what we considered important that evening. I don't think he was angry when I left.