My eldest daughter Sarah has recently moved to the Edgewood area and has developed interest in riding a bike. She is fearful of riding on paved roads (since there are cars on such roads) and has been slowly riding on horrible gravel washboard roads around her home, which actually is more dangerous than riding on paved roads mixing it up with cagers. She recently asked me to come over and do a short ride with her so she could have some company and courage to ride on the highway.
Today was the day. We had set a time for noonish but last night's weather report forecast high winds of up to 60(!) MPH. This morning dawned fairly calm so we decided to ride a couple hours earlier in hopes of beating the afternoon winds which are almost always much worse than in the morning. I thought at first I'd drive my 2-wheel recumbent over there since it's about 10 miles away but thought better of it and just saddled up the bike and rode it all the way. I worried the winds would get too nasty before I got there but all turned out OK.
I was shocked at the horrible loose big-rock gravel on the washboard roads leading to her house. If she can ride around this nasty stuff on a street bike with relatively narrow tires she can ride anywhere.
She has not ridden bikes since her college days, now fading into yesteryear, so she admittedly is not "in shape" and has not built up her leg strength or stamina yet. But, she's been trying to ride at least a little bit, every day, and that will definitely result in success.
We rode out the nasty gravel stuff and got on old Highway 66 which passes within a few hundred yards of her house. She is still very leery of the whoosh of passing vehicles, but I tried to convince her that hundreds of cyclists ride this very area every day, and most vehicles and their drivers are used to encountering such. We didn't go very far, but as Bob used to say in the movie "What About Bob?"...... Baby Steps... That's all it takes is Baby Steps......
We rode back to her house and I, as the multipurpose Daddy, got to work on her obstreperous guest bathroom toilet. I tore it out and made a mess of the bathroom but got it working a LITTLE bit better, hinting they might just have to cough up the big bucks and buy a new unit. They are on the Entranosa community water system and scale and calcium deposits are a big problem, plugging up waterworks eventually almost everywhere in a house without a softener system...
On the way home I got a close-up and personal look at the "new improved" pavement recently completed at the junction of State 217 (Mountain Valley Road) and Old Route 66. The new pavement has a nice wide shoulder EXCEPT at this critical stretch just west of the 217 turnoff.
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| WHY put barriers in the precious PAVED SHOULDER? |
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| Nice Narrow New Shoulder with Debris |
If you ever wonder why a cyclist is out riding in front of you blocking your personal high-speed traffic lane instead of riding in the shoulder, try riding a bike in these areas yourself before criticizing....
The much ballyhooed winds never achieved their gloomy forecasts.
This again proves you'll get a lot more enjoyable bike rides if you just saddle up and go ..... And see for yourself. It WAS breezy and gusty, but not nearly as bad as forecast by the experts.
Trip Started: 9:07 AM Trip Ended: 1:56 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4 Ending Voltage: 13.0
Lowest Temp 64 F Highest Temp: 72 F
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 20.49
Overall average speed Moving Avg Max Speed
5.8 MPH 8.2 MPH 34.8 MPH
Total Trip time Moving Time Stopped Time
3 hours 30 mins 2 hours 29 mins 1 hour 1 min
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