Nite Ride

Darkness gets a bad rap.  Admittedly it can be scary.  That fear may be based in reality or, I suspect more commonly, in our own minds. Darkness can also be beautiful. Tonight I found it particularly stunning.

When the sun was setting and temps dropping my muscles were warming.  In Duke Forest I stopped with the last traces of daylight to bundle up with remaining layers and snarf a few handfulls of trail mix.  I resumed pedaling into into darkness.  Helmet lights and handle bars lights fought a losing battle against the encroaching blackness.

Light and temperature plunged like two kids leaping off a dock into a summer lake.  My eyes strained at the darkness and my toes stung with the cold.  Then mother nature delivered a stunning second act.  A steep climb slowed my pace and revved my engine.  At the slower speed my senses adjusted to the darkness.  The work of climb fired my internal furnace.  Suddenly I could see. I could see the world bathed in soft moonlight. I reveled in the delicate balance of the warmth of my work against the cold darkness. The world slowed down and I slid into place like a link in a chain.

Night is really just mother nature's way of turning down the volume.  It is the visual parallel to taking the artificial noise out of modern music that is added to enhance loudness and overlaying a baseline synchronized to cardiac rhythm.  Take away the blaring and banging. Take away the noise. Take away the excess and leave the adequate.  Read the book, without the neon highlights.

Moonlight provided enough light to see the trail with an incentive to feel the trail. I could just make out the gravel crunching under the tires.  I could discern the edge of the trail by the change in texture and shading. Soft steering and harder pedaling attested to deeper gravel that sight only suggested. Trees and grass were present but winter's brown weight was shrouded.  The moonlight and headlights were bright enough to see what I needed.  I could perceive the here and now and get just a wist of the trail ahead.

I inferred enough to miss trees on the trail and steel cables at trail heads. I found the road along with the noise of cars, headlights, and civilization. I turned around and retraced my steps through the moonlit forest reveling in nature's mute button.

Rainy Muddy Miles

I welcomed the Moots home properly with a nice muddy ride.

After moving pedals from the Tricross back to the Moots I set out in the drizzling rain this morning. Late night and early morning rain made a water wonderland. I made for the north end of the ATT and Starbucks for breakfast. The trail was completely submerged in several places. After coffee, oatmeal, and an apple fritter I headed back south with more zeal.



This was flowing over the trail when I first crossed.





Durham seems to be hosting a biker convention



With all the extra water the falls are still nice


I couldn't resist riding the stairs and parking deck this time. The Moots eats stairs like everything else. Nice views from the top of the parking deck


Heading south on the ATT I found plenty of mud



Looping around and heading back north I found a friend enjoying the water









It was a beaver swimming along the trail.

Heading back north I was making good time until I got a flat in the bad part of town. There was a broken bottle hidden in debris on the trail. Stupid litter bugs



I'm glad to be running a new slime tube now. I'm not sure about these tires. They may get replaced with Kevlar and steel belts. Flats at sunset suck. The cold sets as the light fades. A 29" tire holds lots of air. That was quite a bit of work with miniature pump. Then I had to do it again when the tire didn't seat properly. It was a fight to get back up to speed and crank out some body heat. I zipped up the vents, cranked the tunes, and hammered the pedals. I dallied a bit on the trail to escort a woman back to her car. Police were out earlier warning that people were getting robbed along the trail.

I finished up in the dark and headed in muddy and happy.












100 miles in the saddle and one flat. Welcome home Moots and welcome to March.

Bojangles, Biking, and Bonking

Oatmeal just wasn't going to cut it for breakfast today.  Neither were Starbuck's poorly warmed pre-prepared sandwiches.  I parked at Starbucks for the follow on coffee but froggered across the street to Bojangles for breakfast.  Every Bojangles meal probably takes one day off your life but you gotta live a little.

My poison of choice are two egg and cheese biscuits and an orange juice.  It varies by nutritional information source but this will set you back around 800 calories.  After making short work of ~1/3 of daily caloric intake I headed back to Starbucks for a coffee to "do stupid things faster and with more energy".


My plan wasn't quite so stupid.  I did a few hours of peaceful focused work at the office while the temps rose from 20's to 40's.  Around 1pm I set out on the bike with a clear destination - no where.  Somewhere in the 1/4 mile out to the main rode I opted for a favorite game of late.  My game is quite simple.  Find as many connected miles of bike lane, bike path, or greenway as possible.  Today's added wildcard requirement was paved surface - no dirt or gravel trails allowed. My time limit was around 5 hours.  After 5 hours I have to endure colder temps and riding in darkness.  I thoroughly enjoy night riding when it's safe but I am further terrified of vehicle traffic.

I started with most of Third Fork Creek greenway. I jumped off before the end to loop under MLK and pickup that bike lane.  I rode MLK bike lane to the western end and headed back east.  MLK has some great hills.  The easterly end of MLK bike lines are at NC-55.  I flipped back westward and took another right onto the American Tobacco Trail.  I missed the Cornwallis bike lane for reasons I cannot explain.  The mental interrupt just did not fire.  I was zoned out.  The ATT from MLK to Cornwallis is particularly flat, straight, and nice.  If you've been there you know what I mean.  If you haven't then you should check it out. I did wake up in time to catch a right onto Riddle Road Trail to its eastern terminus and back to the ATT.  The north end of the ATT connects to the downtown trail.  I have to be liberal with this "bike lane" designation.  There is no true bike lane.  There is ample side walk and there is heavy foot traffic as it runs along side Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  You can take the scenic route and ride by Tyler's and the waterfalls

Follow this north by the farmers market area and the Durham Bulls practice field.  Go under the railroad bridge and turn right onto South Ellerbee Creek Trail.   Follow this North and go under I-85 on the broad sidewalk of Club Blvd that is designated part of the trail.  Turn left and follow the trail into Northgate park.  Then pickup Ellerbee Creek Trail to circumvent the dog park and continue North.  Pass Rock Quarry Park and anatomically incorrect (head) formerly known as a Brontosaur.  It's a cute conundrum when science/politics/the world evolves beyond old ideas and their representative likenesses. Take a left to follow the trail on Stadium Drive.  Take a left to follow Warren Creek Trail.  This takes me to the norther terminus of trails and bike lanes near the intersection of Horton and Guess. Flip around and unwind. The police had a checkpoint setup on Stadium Drive.  It seemed an odd place and time for a checkpoint but they had several cars stopped both times I passed. I briefly thought about license, registration, and tag for my bicycle in a lull between solving world hunger and green energy.  For more than a moment I wondered what they would say about my photographing the scene.

Heading south this time remember to turn LEFT onto Cornwallis bike lane. Follow that to a right on the greenway that parallels TW Alexander. Follow that path through a left that parallels Louis Stephens. Follow that to a left onto a path that parallels Kit Creek Road.  Pedal for a while.  Enjoy the water visages and hills.  Follow the left to parallel Davis Drive. Take a left onto the greenway that parallels Development Drive.  Really enjoy those hills. With good bike handling and no traffic it is a roller coaster ride at times.    Back up Louis Stephens to a right on a path that parallels Hwy 54.  Then a left onto the path at Davis Drive.  North to a right on the bike lane on Cornwallis. Find the eastern terminus at Paige Road and head back west to a left on the ATT. Follow that to the southern terminus of the north side near Southpoint Crossing.  By this point it was starting to get dark.  I headed back up the ATT to a left in the Juliette Drive bike lane through the neighborhood and eventually home.

[updated paragraph] I forgot to mention bonking.  Bojangles, a coffee, an apple, one honey stinger bar, and three handfulls of trail mix were not enough for this duration, distance, and intensity of ride.  By the end I was feeling rough.  Afterwords I felt rough.  Gotta get back on nutrition best practices.

I doubled over a few sections, skipped a few parallel paths, omitted the fabulous Woodcroft Greenways, and completely skipped Rockey Creek Trail.  It works out in my tired head.  I finished with 60 miles of connected paved bike lanes and greenways.  Thank you Durham and RTP.  Raleigh - what's your problem?  What do you have? I'll be coming over to find out soon. More importantly, can we please get a decent bike path, bike route, or bike lane to RTP to Raleigh? Also add allowing bikes in the Eno to the list!

The bike lanes and greenways are used by many people.  I saw fitness enthusiasts, dates, friends, families, mother/daughter, father/son, too many groupings to count.  People use the trails.  Open Spaces are healthy. It's unfortunate Congress is planning to cut funding for all of this "alternative transportation" from the current Transportation Bill. I'm sure it's better for kids to be buckled into a car seat in the back seat than to pedal down the street to the park in someone's mind. Most likely the mind of a petroleum executive.



60 miles on the day; 104 miles on the weekend; 395 miles on the month.  My back is non-plussed about the change in geometry again. I get more back and glute engagement on the Tricross and certainly rode harder and faster this weekend.  I'll add some supermans to my morning core routine.