I went for my longest bike ride yet today; woohoo! I did 4.23 miles, or 6.81 km! Almost 7 km!
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| My best friend, Laurie and my new bike. |
Yesterday I had a nice surprise....my friend Laurie stopped by to see the bike. She couldn't stay long, but it was nice to see her.
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| Dad in the yard |
Here's my Dad in the yard. I was on my way to get the bike out of the garage when I took this today.
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| Prentice Ave. |
I rode my bike to Prentice, and then followed it up, across Second Line, and past Our Lady of Lourdes School. I haven't been down this part of the street in years...if ever, lol.
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| Gravel and sand path |
Prentice ended at a gravel path, and I biked across it. The bike was OK on packed gravel and grass but I felt uncomfortable, like I might fall, on the loose gravel and sand parts. Thankfully it was a short path.
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| Sydenham |
The path led to Sydenham. My friend Nancy used to live on the other end of this street. She just informed me that this was the path that she took to go to school when she was a kid! Cool!
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| Bike path/paved shoulder |
When I got onto Korah Road (this portion of it) I was happy to see a paved shoulder/bike path. I thought I'd feel safer but I didn't because cars stopped moving over at all when I was on this path, and some came close to clipping me, they rode so close to the line.
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| Barn |
This barn is where I remembered Garson's Pond to be. I was worried that maybe they had filled the pond to build this barn, but the pond was further up, past the barn.
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| Garson's Pond |
Garson's pond is still pretty, but far smaller than I remember. I was just a kid the last time I stopped here.
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| Garson's pond |
It was very peaceful by the pond so I hopped off my bike to get some more photos.
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| My bike by the pond |
There were lots of pretty wild flowers swaying in the wind.
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| Ducks and geese on the pond |
All of the ducks and geese swam across the pond to me, thinking I might have food, I imagine.
I have always envied the people who own this property. How lovely, to have a pond full of geese and ducks in the back yard! When I was little there were also big turtles in this pond...snapping turtles! I don't know if they are still there. There were also horses and cows in a field when I was a kid.
For some reason, some of the ducks decided to walk across the street to get to the pond (rather than fly). The two closest ducks here had just crossed the street. I had to wave at cars to get them to slow down, lol.
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| Close up of ducks on pond |
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| Crazy duck walking across street instead of flying. |
Several ducks walked across while I was there, causing cars to stop. The city should put a duck crossing sign up, lol.
I had a nice photo break at the pond, but decided to get moving.
I didn't get far before i saw this pretty patch of moss, near the intersection of Moss Road and Korah Road. I couldn't resist stopping for a quick photo.
The bike path/paved shoulder continued past the turn at this end of Korah Road. It was nice and quiet, with hardly any cars.
I passed lots of short dead end streets.
Then I discovered a cool abandoned property, complete with falling down structures and a weedy, overgrown dirt driveway. Of course, I had to explore!
I found chokecherry trees with bright red chokecherries. I don't like them though; they suck all of the moisture out of your mouth. I hear they make a nice wine, however.
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| Chokecherries |
Part way down the driveway, on the left, there was this old shed structure. Only the roof shows through the overgrowth.
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| Shed |
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| Abandoned house or barn |
At the end of the driveway there is a falling down house or barn structure, with another structure next door to it.
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| Raspberries |
Raspberry bushes line the left side of the driveway. They were delish, lol!
If you like, you can click on the photo above to make it bigger so you can see the two structures at the end of the road. The shed in the photo we already talked about is to the right of where I was standing to take this shot.
The above and below photos were taken from the driveway. I would have explored further but I was getting worried about leaving my bike alone.
When I got to the end of the driveway, I noticed the clouds were breaking up and blue sky was showing, a bit to the East.
To the west, it was still grey and overcast. I just about killed myself cycling up the hill at the end of Korah Road, near the intersection of Korah and Goulais Ave. It doesn't look like much, but combined with the heat and the wind, wow! I had to take a break at the top because I felt dizzy and nauseated.
A look back down Korah Road from Goulais Ave. You can't really tell it's a hill, but it sure did me in, lol.
Looking back from the top of the hill. I crossed the street and headed back down Korah Road and it was downhill all the way to the turn at the end of this stretch! I didn't even have to pedal, lol. Fun!
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| Intersection of Korah Rd. and Second Line W. |
Korah Road brought me almost all the way home. It gets busy again, surrounded by houses and at this intersection, grocery stores, a pizza place, a donut shop, etc.
The traffic picked up so I hopped on to the sidewalk for a few blocks until it thinned out again. I went very slow and checked for pedestrians, but there weren't any. I made it home so exhausted I could barely walk from the garage to the house. My Dad gave me shit for biking in the heat and going for so long. When I went inside and saw that I'd been gone for an hour and a half, I couldn't believe it. I washed my face in ice cold water and drank a bottle of ice cold water and sat by the fan to cool off. I had a great time, and burned 671 calories to boot! The best part...no butt (or other) pain! I LOVE my new bike.
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