An Evening with the Cicadas

This year is the seventeenth year since the last time the cicadas hit the scene here in Northern Illinois. It certainly isn't a quiet summer. All these little guys are attracting (more) squirrels, dogs and seagulls. I guess they are a good protein source. My cats pesonally don't seem to like them. But generally, my guys don't seem to like crunchy bugs of any sort.

Last night, we took a ride out towards Frankfort, then to Hickory Creek Junction. Not only were there dulcet tones of the cicadas everywhere, they were flying around all over the place. The ground was pretty crunchy, too. There is some risk of riding fast in this buggy climate. I had a few of them bounce off me and my bike. And as hard as it is for me to do, I'm trying to ride with my mouth closed so that I don't find out what they taste like. I'll find another way to get my protein, thank you very much.

My total miles for the ride yesterday was 21. Slowly I'm working my way back to 200 mile weeks. I may get 150 this week.

Sunday Riding Adventures

Today, I agreed to lead the medium ride to Joliet because my friend who had originally agreed to do it realized he had committed to something else. So I was ride leader of a group of three. Destination: Joliet.

There were light southeast winds So after a brief maintenance stop in Frankfort, we got off the trail and enjoyed the tail winds on the road to Joliet. (By the way Tony, I know you were faking it with that loud obnoxious noise in your brake. You just wanted the attention).

We met up with the fast group in downtown Joliet and had breakfast with them. On the way back and stopped in Frankfort and enjoyed some good music associated with the country maket. Then we headed home.

I ended up with 51 miles for the day.

Sunny Summer Riding

Today was a beautiful day for a bike ride. Sunny, light winds and temps in the 70s. FINALLY.

The Frankfort Breakfast Club rode out to Beecher for breakfast. This was one of the first rides since last Semptember that was warm, sunny and nice. Man did I miss it. We had a group of 6 going to Beecher, though the group kind of broke up on the way back as different riders had different destinations home.

All in all a good ride, total miles 48.

Altered Transport

A good friend of mine writes a blog called Altered Transport. Well, I'm entering the world of altered cycling. My friend Ray just picked up his new handcycle. We had to go to a different bike shop that specializes in handcycles to get try it out and get it.

But our first bike ride was from my house to my favorite bike shop. Had to accessorize the handcycle with mirrors, bags and cycle computers. Got 19 miles, a new mirror and a reflector for the handcycle. Probably going to be doing more ride like this until Ray and build up some endurance and speed. But I'm not complaining.

My miles are already down for the year, this might be a good way to build it all back up.