Wow! Finally a Real Spring Day!

Little did I know that the dry, though foggy morning was a transition to ending the week with an amazingly nice spring weather day. Evan and my ride, on Thursday, started out cold - mid 30's - and foggy. Near work, the temp was still cold, but light was trying to break through. After parting ways at his school, I settled into my easy pace and cruised on in to work.

In some ways, I often feel disappointed that I have arrived at work, I just enjoy riding in the morning, the reason I would discover the next ride home from work (Friday).

By the afternoon when I left to meet up with Evan the weather was pretty darn nice. Certainly more people were out, quite a few had cameras and cameras and tripods.

I decided to stop before crossing the Steel Bridge and take a picture of the cherry blossoms along Waterfront Park, that lead to the Japanese Memorial. I probably could have stayed and just enjoyed the scene, but I did have someone expecting me.

Friday

Wow, what a beautiful morning to ride! Even being cold, again, in the mid-30's Evan and I savored the ride. Just standing in the driveway enjoying the clear, sunny air was such a peaceful treat.

Wah, do I really have to go into work? Evan led us on to school, though we did chat along one of the neighborhood sections, side-by-side. Definitely one of those days where I could have just ridden around and explored. Once we parted and I headed the rest of the way into downtown, I did see more cyclists, yep, people are definitely waking from the winter hibernation. The frustrating part is that many seem to bring their "in their own world, oblivious to anyone else around them" idea and did not seem to get that they are not the only ones out and about on the multi-use paths (MUPs). Braking, slowing, weaving, near-crawling so as not to startle, or worse, crash - okay, so I found something not so enjoyable about this awesome weather.

The commute home started with me stopping along the floating section of the Eastbank Esplanade to take a few pictures and enjoy this seemingly real first day of Spring. The clouds were cool. Did I mention it was warm?

OMG! The further along I rode the more "argh!" moments I had. So many people, walking,jogging, biking, spreading out across the full width of the paths - "really? Can you not be even a little aware there are other people out using the paths?"

I obviously am way spoiled at usually not seeing hardly anyone out using "my" paths, I guess I need to learn to share - lol. Fortunately, the challenge is primarily contained to the esplanade, so for that distance I can deal with the frustrations and share the space - haha. My sweet revenge, or satisfaction came shortly as I left the esplanade MUP.

I've written about this section along SE Clay St. so I finally decided to take a picture. Way up there at the far signal light is MLK, Jr. Blvd. Shortly after I took this picture this intersection's light turned green. I enjoyed the ride, up past all the traffic, proceeding directly to MLK. The really fun thing is that the light stayed red until I just got up there and then it was green and off I went.

So far, my Harrison/Lincoln route isn't too crowded, yet, so I only see a few cyclists, still. The solo riding along this much more peaceful route allows me to flush the traffic thoughts and I then focused on the sunny day, spring blossoms, watching people became a fun thing rather than an evasive, defensive riding thing. My legs found their rhythm, my feet spun in their 170mm circles and my mind set the beat for my pace and I rolled along. Yep, that's what it is all about - just enough effort to keep building up strength, just enough easing off to stay in that "oh, yeah" just right zone.

How long did it take to get to work? To Home? eh, who cares.