Night ride....

This bike makes me smile....
Sunset over the Cedar....

Cedar Falls at night....

I came home from work this evening and told Judy I was going to ride the Surly for awhile. I took off at about 6, knowing it would be dark by 7 and that I'd be gone until at least 8. With 34 x 17 gearing, I can't make the Surly roll as fast as the cx bike or the road bike but I can make my thighs burn like no other! I love my Surly!!!!

I headed down behind the Cattle Congress Fairgrounds and across the river on the Sans Souci bridge then decided I'd take the brand new bike trail through Exchange Park and see where it goes. Well, now I know that it ends at Mullan Avenue. It is going to be connected to the new Riverwalk that they are building downtown. You'll be able to go all the way to Evansdale on a paved bike path when it's done. Sweet!

I crossed the river on the Mullan bridge and came back to Sans Souci on River Road then crossed again and headed out to George Wyth along the top of the dike. Came up behind Deerslayer and his family when I neared Krieg's Crossing, which is where they exited the trail for home and I continued on the trail to Gateway and points beyond. I have to say that it looked like Rob was slacking on the tandem and Mia was doing all the work..... :)

I rolled through Gateway and then out around Big Woods Lake and headed back home by the golf course and up Grand. Yes, the sewage treatment plant is ripe tonight. Super ripe. That place is, in my opinion, a lawsuit waiting to happen. Just sayin'.

I was a bit surprised to see the number of people out in the parks tonight either walking or riding bikes. I only met one that had lights on it. It was pretty dark until the moon came up then I was able to ride without a headlight. It is a beautiful night! Almost got 2 pedestrians on the trail just before you come out onto the road near Big Woods. I think I scared the crap out of them. OOPS!

I think there are 6 more cx races before Jingle Cross. Sooooo much fun! I'm planning to do all of them. We'll see. Judy has actually been looking them up on the internet and letting me know when and where they are. She's really starting to take a more active interest in it since Jackal, Brother of Jackal, and I are all racing this year. Well, that's something of a misnomer. The boys are racing, I'm mostly just riding to finish. That's good enough for me at this point.

That's pretty much all for now. We're going to The Queen of Cross' birthday party tomorrow. That'll be fun. Might try to get up to the scout camp in the a.m. to check out Flat Tire Festival for awhile. It's gonna be a busy day!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!