Happy Trails

This past weekend was the first one that the Mr. and I were able to get in some good bike time.  Friday after work (which went way too long), we headed out to the Towpath and went from Peninsula to Botzum and back before the evening's night ride with Century Cycles (Peninsula to Brecksville).  So, Friday evening we were able to get about 26 1/2 miles on the bikes.  After a month of crazy stress from the job, it was nice to just get out there and pedal it off.  As usual, the night ride was a blast (despite all the mosquitoes) and we finished the evening at the Winking Lizard.  Knowing their customer base, they had Le Tour on Versus for us.  What's better than a cold beer and Le Tour after a nice long ride?

To keep the pace up, we decided to fit in a ride of equal length on Saturday.  We decided to check out the Metro Parks Bike & Hike Path this time since we'd done the Towpath to death and wanted something new without all the traffic.  I had ridden the Bike & Hike years ago before it was paved and hadn't been back since at least 2001.  The times I'd always used it, I'd gone north from the Rt. 303; this time we decided to go east and south.  So, we arrived at the Parking lot around 2ish and went east to Kent and back on the trail.  Then, when we returned we turned south on the other branch to Hudson Dr. and back.  It was about 23 miles.  We enjoyed the Bike & Hike trail for the most part.  It wasn't at all crowded and the asphalt was in decent shape.  A con to the trail were all the stops at the intersections.  Just when you were in a good rhythm, you'd have to stop again.  The stops were always on the crest of a hill, so it was more irritating than usual.  There was also a lack of shade....We're looking forward to trying the northern end next time- hopefully this weekend.

All in all, the two rides gave us just about 50 miles for the weekend.

My knees were dead.  That evening we decided to go to the Drive-In for something different to do.  I packed some ice packs for the knees and propped the legs up on the dash.  By yesterday morning, they were feeling good again.  We went to a friend's cookout in the afternoon and originally planned to come by bike, but figured Sunday would be a good day to rest.  It was a good call.  Today, there isn't a hint of pain in the knees.

This morning is was back to the usual schedule.  I missed the Varsity over the weekend so it was really nice to be back in its saddle.  Of course, this is the hottest week of the year so far, so I had to haul more stuff than usual.  Big old steel bike and full set of panniers were no treat.  On the way I discovered my sink hole on Twin Oaks finally sank:

Apparently Akron's solution had been to just cover the dip with asphalt instead of repair the underlying problem.  Why am I not surprised?   Hopefully, it wouldn't widen out much more before they get to it, or I'll be hauling my butt up Market St.

With the temps at near 90 all week, I'm not looking forward to it.