October rides...

[north woods gal]

That was a very nice thing to do for those folks, Sheila. The way we bicyclists look out for each other is one of the things I love about our community. That tricky route where things fluctuate between good and bad sections sounds very much like what I experienced in the Chicago suburbs. All of the 'burbs are connected, of course, but they all varied a lot in how bike friendly their streets were. Just commuting to work required a mile plus of a road that I would never ride by choice, but it was the only way to get there.

As for grades, come for a visit. Have a surplus of ups and downs on my homemade trail system. Some of the steep ones require me to stand up and pedal to crest them, even with the lowest gear on the MTBs. They're what I call my leg burners. Going down is a real kamikaze thrill, for sure.

I ride a minimum of one hour a day, usually closer to two, seven days a week. Not a lot of miles, but they're trail miles, so no way for me to convert them to road miles. Enough to keep me in shape and fun, too, so that's what counts. For sure, no worries about getting hit by a car. A deer or bear, maybe, but not a car.

Our weather has been unusually warm all fall and continues to be so. Beautiful to be out riding in the woods in nice weather with all the leaves falling. Really spoiling me, because I know how drastically things will change any week, now. Will be getting the fat bikes ready, now. One thing I did on one of the Norco fat bikes that made a tremendous difference in performance was having my bike shop set up the wheels tubeless. Those fat bike inner tubes weigh about a pound, each. Not only does the bike handle, better with no tubes, but I'll be able to drop the pressure as low as I want, this winter, without having to worry about a pinch flat. Going to see about going tubeless on some of the other bikes, now.