Another Benefit of Riding A Bike

Last night, Quicksilver and I retraced our route to IUS from last Wednesday, minus all the backtracking and so freaking out. The route was very easy to remember. A stiff headwind most of the way made for a tougher ride than last week, though.

However, a brief stop at the waterfall where Blackiston Mill Road crosses Silver Creek made it all worthwhile. There's a little spot where you can pull off and hang out. The ground was iffy, so I rode partway in, then carried QS over to the edge of the bluff by the falls:

Quicksilver 'enjoying' some off-road time — from IUS Commute

There, I managed to snap a couple of decent shots of the water:

The Main Falls, from IUS Commute

A little side race, from IUS Commute

It would be much harder to take advantage of this nice spot while driving a car — it's a sharp right turn-off at a place where the road is bending sharply to the left, immediately after a narrow bridge crossing. Moreover, the road drops off onto soft sandy dirt. No problem for a cyclist, but scary in a car!

I will spare you the dorky-looking shot of me in my helmet. If you really want to see it, you can click through to the album.

I will, however, offer you this shot of my leg:

From IUS Commute

I guess it's time to clean the bike. I'm pretty sure this is a written protest. It has, in fact, been rather longer than I usually allow between baths for the bikes.

Here's my route, if you're interested:

View RP to IUS in a larger map

I would love to ride this route on a Saturday, with nothing to carry, some time. Then again, we haven't actually used our texts in class thus far, so I'm beginnign to think I can probably get away with leaving it at home on class days. That would trim five pounds of dead weight right off :)

Ride time last night was about 40 minutes, not counting the waterfall break; total distance about 9 miles.