A Ride Around the Block

Saturday was clear blue sky and sunshine for the first weekend day in several weeks. You know what that means: mow the lawn! If you don't get to it today and we get more rain and who knows how many rained out weekends, you might as well call up Grimms to come over and bale it. The top of the grass dried in the sun and was cut-able but at some points I was running the mower thru standing water. Good thing the blade was in the highest setting or I would have left a wake. That took most of the working day, but we got it done in the end.

Sunday morning came up cloudy and grey with a forecast of possible showers by afternoon. We past the last frost date last weekend but so far have not had enough dry weather to dry out the ground so we could till. Yesterday did the trick and all but the lowest patch of garden was tillable. Tim was off pouring wine and Dave had other business today so no group ride in the morning. Out came the tiller. By 1:00 or so, the garden was tilled, peppers tomatoes potatoes and eggplant set out, and beans in the ground ready to sprout.

Except for a quick trip through the sort-of rain to the Masonic Temple in Birdsboro for breakfast last Sunday, I haven't been out on the bike since getting home from West Virginia three weeks ago - way too long. I decided to go out solo for a quick ride around the block before the rain started. The temperature was in the low 60's so I could lighten up on the gear, though I still wore the long sleeve base layer and the Gerbing jacket unplugged for its thinsulate.

The day was grey, grey, grey. Even the phlox was having trouble looking bright. I headed north towards Kutztown and quickly realized we had not had lunch. I remembered that the refreshment stand at the WK&S in Kempton featured Johnsonville Brats and served a pretty decent cup of coffee. A destination was born! But Rt 737, usually a great ride, was closed and the detour down Rt 222 and back old Rt 22 was pretty blah in the grey of the day. I got to the WK&S just in time to see the 2:00 train return from its excursion, but the refreshment stand was out of brats. To make matters worse, they had no coffee today. I had to make do with a kraut-dog with yellow mustard and a bottle of YooHoo. The grey of the day seemed to be just permeating everything.

Well, I know when it's time to head home and focus on something else. So I headed down Rt 143 through Lenhartsville, Virginville, and Moselem Springs and motivated on home.

Final tally to ride once around the block:
2 Hr 20 min elapsed time
1 Hr 52 min riding time
71 miles total distance
38 mph ave. speed.