Fall Riding

OK, so yesterday I was bummed because my planned 20 mile plus ride turned into a 5.5 mile hop. Today we had a chance to make up some of that lost mileage. KJ's usual Monday outing with his aide got canceled, and since I usually don't work on Monday evenings, we had a chance to get a ride in after KJ got home from school. We rode to a different park, referred to locally as "Blue Slide Park" (because of the long blue concrete slide built into the hillside), and officially known as the Frick Park Parklet. The Parklet is approximately a 9 mile round trip. We played for a bit, including KJ playing with the fallen leaves, before riding home as the sun set.

This time of year, with the sun setting sooner, and the weather getting cooler, there are some things a cyclist needs to do differently. Tonight we had our jackets stufffed in our bags when we left the house because it was still quite warm. But by the time we were ready to come home it had cooled off, so we pulled out the jackets before we headed home. Worked out perfectly, especially since the trip home has some long downhills that can be quite chilling. The other thing that came in handy was our flashing red taillight. If you are riding at twilight in traffic one of these things is a MUST. You can pick one up for $10 or less from Target or WalMart. I've even seen some that are built in to the back of a bike seat. Our particular unit is a TREK five-bulb model that offers 270 degrees of coverage, so it helps you to be seen from the side in addition to from behind. Handy when you are going through an intersection. It has settings for solid light, slow blink, and fast blink, and runs off two AAA batteries. Our TREK unit sold for about $24.