Around town

Last Thursday I wasn't feeling too good, but still ran my errands around town, plus a little extra, on my bike. Got 3.5 miles when I didn't expect any.

Lake Memphremagog

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, and I finally got it done. Left my house and headed up the Lake Road, until I could go no further. That's when I got to the Canadian border on the west side of Lake Memphremagog. Turned around, went past my house and up the bike path in the other direction until I could go almost no further on the east side of Lake Memphremagog. About a 28 mile ride. ROUTE MAP

The end of the road on the west side (those are Canadian trees):
Then the road near the end of the east side (it's not quite as dramatic):

Eagle Point

Rode with someone else for the 1st time - it was a good ride! John & I headed out on the bike path to Beebe and took a left way out onto Eagle Point. We went past some big old stone columns where I didn't think there were any more camps, but there were still more. I started to get nervous about the border, but we turned around at the private sign anyhow. It was a good day for a ride; not muggy or too hot. I always wondered how riding with someone else would be, and it was good!

Lake Road (again)

Well, I really like riding the Lake Road. Hopefully they finish paving the other road soon, so cars aren't detoured onto it. Stopped for a few minutes and watched a deer in the field that was watching me.

I think I'm going to go for a long ride soon- from the Canadian border on one side of Memphremagog to the Canadian border on the other side of Memphremagog.

Applied WD40 to the spokes, and it seemed to help with the weird noises I was getting from the wheels. Surprisingly, I remember to tighten the handlebars, too. Couldn't remove the allen wrench, though, so it's still there.

Lake Road

Riding on the Lake Road in the morning is so nice. Very quiet with some ups and downs and always a nice view of the lake. This morning the beginning of the road wasn't as quiet as usual, because there was traffic detoured on to it, but it got better. I didn't do the Farrant St. leg of the route, instead I went onto the dirt road at the end of the Lake Road almost to Canada. Near the end there was a nice little flock of turkeys, too. Very nice ride.

I have a few problems with my bike now, though. The spokes (I think) make weird noises, especially at first, and the crank is moving a little, inside of the frame if that makes any sense. Also, on this last ride, my handlebars starting moving up and down! That one I can fix really easily. I just hope I remember before riding again.

POTATOES

Today my ride was almost identical to yesterday's ride, except I stopped at Price Chopper for potatoes instead of the Dollar Store. I meant to mention yesterday, headwinds SUCK. My bike definitely has a few problems now. At least one tire isn't quite round anymore, and the pedals are doing something weird, but it's not really the pedals; it's something inside the frame. Are there ball bearings in there? It's probably not good.... For now, it still works though.

Toothpaste Run

14-1/2 mile toothpaste run. No gas, and the toothpaste only cost $1 - that's the way to get toothpaste. The only break I took was when I went into the store and then the bank. Time for another long ride, I think. ROUTE MAP

I've got to find our little camera. There are so many good pictures I could take along the way.

Derby Elementary

Rode up and up and up to Derby Elementary School. The last hill's a doozy! Took about 45 minutes to get there. ROUTE MAP

Running Errands

Today I went running errands around town. Only an eight mile ride, but going into a strong wind made it much more difficult. There are lots of ups and downs, too. I would have ridden for longer down the Lake Road but a detour re-routed traffic that way, and it was annoying and possibly dangerous around those sharp narrow corners. The section of bike path on which I rode goes by the Gateway Center, shown in this picture. ROUTE MAP

Salem

Rode around little Salem and got to see the David H. Wood Memorial Fishing Access. Very nice, fitting tribute. The last time I rode in that direction I had to stop three times and thought I was going to be sick! This time I got through all of it pretty easily, and only stopped to drop off a dvd. Lots of traffic on Sunday afternoons- I think I'd like this route more in the evenings or early morning. This ride marks another 1st for me: I was exceeding the speed limit for a short ways, when the speed limit was 20mph, and I was going 24mph! ROUTE MAP

Page 3 of this online magazine, Lake Front, contains a great article about David H. Wood and the fishing access named after him.

Orleans ride

This was my longest ride yet, with several hills that seemed to have no end. 32 miles in all, way too much of it uphill. The Tarbox Hill Rd in Orleans is REALLY steep and long, and difficult to climb. And when I got into Brownington I had meant to head back to Derby, but got turned around somehow, took a wrong turn, and went back to Orleans! Oh well. It was a nice route, although there's a lot of truck traffic between Coventry & Orleans. RIDE MAP

Biking!

I joined Bike Journal.com for free this spring, when I started biking again after a very long hiatus. I enjoyed writing little blogs after my rides, but after a month I lost my free blogging rights. SO I'll blog here! My bike journal profile is here: http://www.bikejournal.com/profiles.asp?rname=wdprue