Bike Ride 25

 This ride was one of my favorite rides of the autumn.  It was a gorgeous day, not boiling hot, for once, and the leaves were brilliant hues of reds, oranges, golds, and yellows.   The air was crisp and clear and the sky was a vivid blue with big fluffy cumulus clouds.  My favorite kind of day, and perfect for bike riding!

 I stopped often to take photos of trees and clouds, as you can see. 

 There's my shadow, lol.  Too funny!  I was wearing a big sweater and the sleeves were huge; looks like I had wings.

 I love these little flood prevention creeks because they're little oasis' of green in the city.  It's hard to capture how high the water was so I blew up the photo below so you can see.

 The water was rushing over the tiny drop rapidly, making a pretty little waterfall. If it hadn't been so late, I would have stopped there to read for awhile; the water made such a pleasing sound.

 The end of Wallace Terrace, near Allenside Road was so pretty,  with green fields and colorful trees in the distance.

 I took Second Line on my way back and the traffic was OK at first, but got increasingly worse the closer I came to Goulais Avenue.

 I passed this little creek, above, and stopped to watch it for a bit. I've never noticed this creek while driving in my truck.  It's so nice that bike riding lets me see things I would otherwise miss.

I did almost 10 and a half kilometers that day and find that's a perfect ride length for me. I feel good at the end, not exhausted.

I really miss going for my bike rides, and can't wait until my exercise bike arrives.  I've found so many lovely videos on Youtube so I can do virtual bike rides all winter long!

Bike Ride 8, Stopped by a Train!

I was feeling sad today, my first full day without Mac here.  It was super hot, humid and all around icky.  I had a migraine and felt awful for most of the day.
My best friend Laurie emailed and asked how I was doing today.  She knows how hard it is to lose a dog; she had to put her Max down a few months ago.
Laurie knows how much I love my new bike (she's the one who made it possible for me to buy it), and she suggested that I should go for a bike ride, in order to feel better.
I wasn't going to go because it was so hot and I felt awful, but at 8 PM it dropped down to just under 90 F with the humidex, so I grabbed some ice water and my camera and headed out. I'm glad I did.

Route 8

 My goal was to reach the portion of the Hub Bike Trail that is on Carmen's Way, which is the yellow road at the far left of my map, above.  As you can see, I almost made it...but was foiled, by a train.  The trail was just on the other side oft the tracks.

Stopped by a train

 I rode off the road and onto this parking lot to wait it out.

Parking lot where i waited for train

 I waited. And waited. The train went forward, backed up, went forward, backed up.  I got off my bike and wandered around the parking lot.

 And waited some more.

 It finally looked like the train might actually back up enough to clear the road.  It did!  But then it stopped there, just sitting, and the warning lights telling traffic to stop stayed on, winking their red warning. I decided to cross the street and take an alternate route, hoping I could bike up to the next rail crossing and beat the train.

Train sitting still.

 I passed this cool old house with a ladder that reached clear up to the roof top.  It reminded me of something, and I think it was a poster with houses and ladders at the doctor's office, from when I was a child.

Cool house with ladder.

 Just down the street from the ladder house, there was a trail...my favorite!  I followed it and came out on this pretty little park.

Pretty little park

 Alas, I had waited for the train for too long, and the sun was starting to set.

 I followed the other end of the trail out of the park and came up on this portion of Second Line.  Carmen's Way, and the hub trail was just on the other side of the tracks, so close, but alas, out of reach due to the setting sun.

 Cars already had their lights on, and the sun was bright, as it is just before it sets.  The clouds were streaked with oranges and red, blue and purple.  It was going to be a spectacular sunset.  I turned around and followed the path back through the park.

 I pedaled like crazy, trying to beat the setting sun.

Pretty sun beams through clouds.

 I stopped one last time to capture this picture of the sun shining through the clouds, and of St. Gregory's Church, where I used to belong to the youth group, back in highschool.  My camera lost it's charge at that point and shut itself down.

A lady came up to me to see what I was doing and we chatted for a few minutes. Her name was Clara, and she seemed very nice.

 I coaxed my camera back on and was able to snap one last photo before it shut down and refused to turn on again.  The sunset was incredible, and I enjoyed it, even though I couldn't capture the memories.