Just Keep Pedaling: Indian Creek Greenway -- Madison, Alabama

For our Alabama ride ...

This trail pretty much parallels the border between the towns of Huntsville and Madison. It is a great suburban trail, built on the flood plain of Indian Creek. My sweetie and I have decided that this is our favorite type of trail: paved, mostly shaded, following the curves of a creek, with large safe parking lots and generally with bathroom facilities available (always a popular and welcome addition to any ride.)

While this particular sign could use some TLC.....

..... the trail itself is in impeccable shape. I was truly impressed by the line guides painted for the entire distance of the trail, delineating walking lanes and riding lanes.

And this one on the bridge was triple awesome....

And for the most part, with the exception of one or two nonconformists, it was adhered to by all the users of the trail, of which there were several, probably 10 to 15, even though it was a Friday mid-morning when we rode it. It is a great idea for maintaining a smooth traffic flow, making the trail experience even more enjoyable for all users.

The trail was surrounded by an 18 hole disc golf course, which we also saw more than one group taking advantage of.

Both ends of the trail were still in stages of construction. I love to see towns that are progressive where trails are concerned.

Sweetie's chain came off, so a short timeout was required to put it back on.

Why am I lying on the ground?

Why, to complete another mission of the Bicycle Ride and Seek challenge, of course! One of the items we had to find while on our bike rides is a plane in the air. The really hard part of this, however, is that you must photograph the item you find with your bike in the picture!! How does one get a picture of a plane in the sky that also includes your bike in the picture? By laying on the ground! See the video at the end of this post for more on this topic! Wished I'd have had video of me when I spotted the plane. I'm pretty sure I sounded like Tattoo from Fantasy Island.

I slammed on my brakes and tried to quickly extract myself from my bike and get the camera from my sweetie, who happened to be carrying it at the moment and hurled myself on the hot asphalt, just to get that elusive scavenger hunt shot. And while I thought I did not succeed based on reviewing the image while it was still in the camera, imagine my surprise when I downloaded the pictures and found this:

Do you see that bike AND that plane (AND that husband in the background looking at the plane?) Burned shoulder blades from hot asphalt ..... totally worth it! LOL

However, just to prove how dedicated and awesome I really am.... because I thought I had not gotten the plane in the picture on the first try, when we got back to the parking lot just as we were getting ready to load the bikes into the car, we heard another plane, so I hurled myself onto the hot asphalt yet a second time and was rewarded with what I feel is a much more artistic composition of bicycle and plane. Surely you agree. :) (Hey Sweetie... I hear a Plane! ~~S)