My bike has been
in the shop -- the *paint* shop -- for 3 months. Tonight I had an email notifying me that my new "she-bike" is finally completed and
ready to pick up. Major transformation! I wanted my bike to be girlier and say
"this is me" more than the testosterone-heavy look it had before. I think I got my wish! :)
Neon pink, sparkly, white wall tires, and custom lettering designed by
me, with a saying that expresses the love of riding that I have
redisovered. My bike is truly one of a kind now. There is not another
one like it. Looking at her just makes me so very happy!
Thank you to Groody Bros. Bicycle Restoration in Kansas City for working such magic. And thank you to my husband for being willing to accommodate my splurge on this utter indulgence!
Thanks to Randy and Nova (http://vanscyoc.net/blog/ ), our inspiration for our quest to ride in all 50 States, I picked this one out as one I wanted to ride if ever in Louisiana! They had ridden it back several years ago and shared it on their blog.
Louisiana in his dictionary means "Louis Sauna". It was a hot and muggy ride today!
We decided to start our ride at the Slidell trailhead which is on the easternmost end of the trail which runs 28 miles from Slidell to Covington.
They have a very nice trailhead at Slidell with bathroom facilities and plenty of space to park.
The trail actually goes on past the trailhead for about a half mile or so and then ends with a gate.
At each road crossing on the trail there were nice maps showing information about the trail and where you currently were on it.
They really shouldn't let dorks like this guy on trails!
My Sweetie rocking one of her Rockin Noggins!
The trail was lined with tall skinny trees and lots of swamp/marsh/bayou.
We out-of-towners commonly refer to this as Tree Tunnel! Note the Speed Limit sign because we bicyclists are known to break the sound barrier every now and again! :)
I'm a lucky man! Humna Humna!
Smiling at her frog prince who just escaped the Lilly pad!
We had planned to try to ride to the next trailhead at Lacombe but had to change plans when we suddenly heard thunder and looked up to see dark clouds off to our north coming our way rapidly, so we hightailed it back to our car. Our ride only ended up totaling just a little under 10 miles. Hope one day to get back to this one and ride the whole trail.
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)
Overall we rode just a little over 10 miles on the trail, riding it end to
end twice.Here are a few more pictures from
our fun morning together.
We knocked out Tennessee on the list of riding in 50 states by riding a
short section of the Music City Bikeway (map here) in downtown Nashville.
I guess this "Music City Bikeway" is part of the "Cumberland River Greenway", as this sign was also along the route.Shrugs.I really don't know.
The section of trail that we rode is urban. And sketchy. In fact, I'm pretty sure those two terms are
interchangeable.But before you judge
too harshly, understand that the author of this post is a small town chick who
is not really comfortable with big city downtowns in general, especially when
on my bike. And most especially when the parking lot we had intended to park in
to access the trail is right across the street from the jail.Razor wire topped chainlink fence and
all.
And that was just the beginning of the sketchiness.
In the short 2.53 miles (and, yes, that's round trip)
that we rode this trail we rode past empty lots....
...... a creepy abandoned building missing a whole lot of glass....
..... and through the middle of a cement mixing plant.Alrighty then.
And by the time we reached this part of the trail...
...... we looked at each other and said "Far enough?"And we very quickly mutually agreed "far
enough" indeed.
It was at this spot we found one of the items we were looking for on our
bike scavenger hunt Facebook page that we play along with, the Bicycle Ride and Seek Challenge (see full post about that
here).The score:A boxcar with graffiti.
So, that mission being accomplished, we turned the bikes around and headed
back to our car.
We had this view of the downtown Nashville skyline with an impressive
thunderhead looming behind it.
And the AT&T building that I think looks like Batman. Anyone with me on
this?
Now, to be fair, here are some more positive impressions of the trail:
Green trees near where we ended up parking.
A barge on the Cumberland River.
A horse drawn carriage.
Some type of old industrial riverfront building that had been repurposed
into apartments.
An interesting fish sculpture.
A rusty railroad bridge with the lights of the Tennessee Titans stadium
visible behind it.
