Sunday Ride - Garmin test

I've adopted the little Garmin eTrex Jackie got a couple of years ago during her short-lived fascination with geocashing. Maybe she'll get the bug again, so for now I'll just say we have joint custody. Anyway, I put in my first test Sunday while battling some stiff crosswind on the roadie.

I did the route I've worked out that goes around Easter Lake, back by the Great Ape Trust and then on to "beautiful" Avon Lake, to Carisle, down Summerset Trail to Indianola. As an interesting aside - the Ape Trust is a research center where they are doing some fascinating work with Bonobos and Orangutans. I would take a picture of it, but there's some SERIOUS security around this place complete with a manned guard station out front. I'm afraid they might send some Kung Fu trained War Apes out to attack me all-guerrilla warfare style (credit to Jackie for that joke). So this link will have to suffice. A lot of their research is around cognition and language development. Who wudda thunk it, there's some pretty cool stuff happening right in my "backyard". Dem monkeys es purdy smart.

Back to the ride - All-in-all it was about 42 miles roundtrip - I think. The Garmin said 46.2, but I think I forgot to reset the trip odometer, so we'll see next time. I really need to get my bike computer back to running. I'm looking into getting an upgraded map program for it so I can have the elevation (or lack there of) profile. Easter Lake would be an interesting profile for sure.

As it is this route is good for one thing only - base miles. The Summerset trail gradually climbs a little going into Indianola but it is really flat and straight without much interesting to look at, save these cows, or more accurately (thanks Country Joe) bull.

Hey dar Bull.

On my way back this guy was eyeballing me at the Carisle Casey's while he was getting gas and I was getting ready to go in for some much needed Reece's Peanut Butter Cup fuel. You always seem to get a lot of looks while in your cycling gear. In the store he says, "You need a beer after a ride like that." "Yeah, but I need electrolytes" was all I could croak out in my weakened state. You never know what someone is thinking, but apparently this was a nice guy.I assume, too often, its one of those "the road isn't big enough kinda guys". I told him, as my penance, to "have a good one" on my way out of the store. Man, that was clever.

I've decided I really don't like this route, its just too boring and ugly. I think a much better ride would be to take the mountain bike around Easter Lake, ride the dirt roads between there and Summerset and then the singletrack at Banner and back. I bet that would be 30-35 miles or so on dirt, much better. Check it


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