Our Second Day of Cycling Together in June

After our initial trail expedition yesterday, Penny and I initially thought we'd just tool around the neighborhood tonight.... but instead.... seeing as how the bike rack needs a bit of a workout, we decided to pack up the bikes and hit the trail again. This time, we headed over to the industrial park where the Lebanon-YMCA trails intersect. We figured if we parked inside one of the company parking lots, we could take this trail the 1 mile back to the Little Miami trail and head for Foster instead of toward South Lebanon like we did yesterday.


With the exception of the 2 mile section between the Kings Mills Powder Plant and Fosters, this was mostly the same we'd done Sunday. We were just hitting it from a different start location.

Nothing leisurely tonight.... we ended up doing an hour ride and 8 miles.... my butt complained and thumbed the "ride". I'd picked up a couple of different seat pads today that helped, and we swapped them about 1/2 way which I liked... not sure if Penny did.

More than I'd figured we'd do, but it was nice to get out and ride!

Air Temp: 83F Sunny
Wind Speed: about nil
Bottom Time: 60 minutes
Approx Distance: 8 miles

Here's a couple of pics from my phone of us getting ready to unload bikes:



When we got back home, we did some maintenance checks and adjustments. Seems that the bike I was riding had been assembled with the front wheel forks backwards... which made the balance a bit odd and explained why the front brakes didn't grab real well!!! I guess I need to pack better lunches for my bike assembler!! D'oh!

Cranking up the Cycling

This year has been about developing a diversity of activites... walking, cycling, and possibly dry caving. I've been solely focused on diving since '99 and like getting into more activities.

I've been slowly getting my bike tuned up this year, and Penny got a couple of cycles (one for her and her daughter). We've been doing some "check out" rides, and yesterday had a fun excursion around our sub-division that took about 45 minutes.

Today, we ran up to Dick's Sporting Goods and got a 4 bike rack to put on my Jeep trailer hitch. To give it a test, we put two of the new bikes on the rack and drove a couple of miles to the Little Miami River cycling trails.

The cycling trails are a very nicely shaded area along the river, with other trails intersecting it at various intervals. We entered near Kings Mills and started down toward the town of South Lebanon. A short distance down the trail, the trail to the City of Lebanon darts to the left. We decided to head down that way and take it easy. Our goal for today was to get an hour of seat time (I've got to build some callous' up on my butt cause that tiny seat is killing me even with padded shorts!!!).

The trail toward the City of Lebanon is about an 8 mile spur. I figured we could get a mile or 2 down this section at a leisurely pace before turning around. About a mile down this spur, the trail leaves the shade and goes through an industrial park. Not the most scenic venue, but mostly down hill riding. When we got to the stop sign/"road crossing" before the 2 mile mark, we decided to turn it just short of our projected time because across the road was a sharp incline. Rather than get to the top of the next hill and then have to turn around, we turned early.

After making short work of the turn-around and getting back to the Little Miami trail, we decided to head toward the town of South Lebanon again, rather than back to the vehicle. It was a pleasant ride to that town where we turned around and headed back to the vehicle.

Our target was about a 60 minute ride, and we ended up with around 70 minutes. It was a great day with beautiful weather! I'm glad we got out. Hopefully the bruises on my butt get over it quickly!!

Wind Speed 10mph
Air Temp 86F
Seat Time 70min