Murals

Our evening ride visited six walls in Richmond where work on murals has been started for our "Festival of Murals." It was exciting to see the progress and to know that more art work will soon adorn walls in our community.

We rode 18.1 miles at an average speed of 12.3 mph. Another great ride with good fellowship.

The Palladium-Item ran these words in an article recently:
"Nine artists have been selected to paint murals for this summer's Festival of Murals in Wayne County. In Richmond, six walls have been selected and matched with the following artists:

•Damon Reed of Chicago at Pete's Corner Cafe, 168 Fort Wayne Ave.;

•Diana Toschlog of Richmond at the Parker Company Building, 923 N. E St.;

•Justin Montavon of West College Corner at Bertie's Music Bar, 1129 E. Main St.;

•Joe Thompson of Center at Richmond Civic Theatre, 1003 E. Main St.;

•Amy Rheinhardt-Jackson of Indianapolis at Firehouse Restaurant, North D and Eighth streets;

•Mark Gardner of Centerville at Paust Printers, 14 N. 10th St.

•Amy Mitchell of Eaton, Ohio, will paint a mural on the Logston Building, also known as Grandview Pharmacy in Hagerstown; Carly Mattingly of Cambridge City will paint on the National Road Antique Mall in Cambridge City; and Pamela Bliss will paint on the US Bank building in Cambridge City."

What? Wet weather.

We determined to ride for an hour even with the threat of rain. At 12.6 miles, with an average speed of 13.9 mph, we didn't quite make our goal. Someone coming out of the church, before we began, said that it is sometimes more enjoyable to ride in the rain.

Attitudes toward bicycle riding in the rain are probably as numerous as riders. Many parts of the world, and some parts of our country, take rain in stride. If the local climate is wet, there is really no choice but to ride in rain. There are certainly many tools that a bicyclist can use to make rain more tolerable, if not enjoyable.

It is important to stay warm. Rain jackets and pants can hold moisture in so that the rider gets wet from a different direction. Some of the more sophisticated products "breath" and let body moisture out. A good quality rain jacket is probably the minimum that a bicycle rider in the rain needs. My experience is that the rider will be wet at some point in the rainy expedition. Keeping warm prevents the body from entering hypothermia. There are booties and shoe covers by the handful to choose from. An, "if all else fails" solution is to use empty bread sacks between socks and shoes. This won't necessarily keep you dry, but it will help stay warm. It becomes more important to be aware of drivers when it is raining since many don't expect to see bicyclists.

No Hills

Tuesday, June 1, 2010. This evenings ride was with three riders and we covered 18.4 miles at a pace of 12.9 mph. It was a sunshine evening with very little wind. One of the riders commented that the time for the ride wasn't a problem as long as we didn't get into hills.

We are fortunate to be able to find relatively flat routes or choose to head for the hills. Continental glaciation, in our geologic past, left moraines that Richmond is just on the edge of. We can choose to ride the out wash plains, which are flat. Going another direction puts us into the piles of earth the glaciers left behind, which we call hills. Tonight's ride was mostly flat and everyone was satisfied.

There is always time to talk while we ride. Fellowship is an important part of each weekly ride. Our pace is peaceful enough that everyone can keep up and rigorous enough that our heart rates are up.

We Wind Again

May is supposed to have flowers brought by April showers. There are still threats of thunderstorms in May. In fact, there are storms, and showers, and frosty mornings, and just about as much weather as a bicyclist would want. I suspect the threat of thunderstorms kept some of our riders from coming out tonight.


Only two intrepid riders fought the west / southwest wind. Our average speed was 11.7 miles per hour and the distance was 14.7 miles. In spite of the wind we had an enjoyable ride with pleasant conversation. The invasive wild honeysuckle was blooming at its best. The air along the trail was thick enough with their perfume that it was almost chewable. Another invasive, cressleaf groundsel (senecio glabellus), was filling fields with its yellow blooms. A lot of people mistake this plant for wild mustard. It has only been in this area since about 1988.

Wind will continue to blow in our lives and on our bicycle rides. I still feel we are winners when we brave the wind and complete our goals. We wind again is an appropriate statement for the completed effort. May many of our winds be from behind.

Delicious

A cool evening and lots of spring tasks reduced our number to two. We had a very enjoyable ride into a north wind. It isn't very often that the wind blows from the north, so we got to ride roads we seldom travel. Spring trees still bloomed and the views we shared from glacial deposited hill tops were gorgeous. Topping the beauty of the trees was an aroma so strong it was palatable. The lilacs were at their peak and the odor was delicious. It was almost as if we occasionally rode into an invisible cloud of perfume. The sweet smell was nearly enough to knock one off of the bike.

Our average speed was a lesurely 10.8 miles per hour and the trip only 15.7 miles. I found a nickel and picked it up. The treasure of a few cents was an small reminder to me that opportunities come to us and we can find them. Each bicycle ride is an opportunity, and I was thankful to be blessed liveing in a country where they can be taken advantage of. We also met several people on the Cardinal Trail who one of our riders knew. These were reminders that relationships are important and should be nurtured. I'm already looking forward to the next ride.

Colorful Clouds

The colorful clouds of Tuesday's ride were the blooming redbud trees. They appeared as wisps of purplish-pink floating in the forest. The Cardinal Trail portion of the ride included sections that were Redbud tunnels.

It really was a beautiful ride. There were wild flowers to behold as we rode by, multiple species of blooming trees, and birds. We came upon a green headed mallard duck and were treated to a splashing take off. Clumps of Trillium pointed their triangular blossoms to the sky. Sprinklings of small white blooms dusted the forest floors adjacent to the road. Even Phlox flowers flowed over walls in town. It was an enjoyable ride.

Five riders participated and our distance was 18.5 miles. A first time this year rider joined us and we changed the pace to include everyone. The average speed for this ride was 10.9 miles per hour. I'm always grateful for a safe ride and everyone seemed in good spirits when it was over. A good start to another year.

Drafting

Had an interesting experience on Sunday's ride. The wind was from the southwest and I was riding south. This put the wind mostly on my right side. From the corner of my eye I detected a motion. Glancing over, I saw a bumble bee coming toward me from behind and to my left. The big bee approached to within about two feet, then dropped back and farther to my left. It's next maneuver was to speed up and come back to within the two foot distance. To my amazement, the bumble bee was drafting along beside me. It was my first bee peloton! We continued for a few hundred feet with the same relative positions. I decided to see if the drafting insect's behavior was just my imagination, so I quickly slowed. The bee flew right across the road, in front of me, and continued on its original southwesterly direction.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but it was fun to imagine I was leading the bumble bee breakaway. The opportunity to observe a flight just a few feet away was delightful. When they crawl around on a flower, bees are easy to see. Their flight is usually erratic and zig-zagging. To see one relatively still while it was flying was a treat. Sure would have been great to know where it was going.