2021 mileage: 3187.2
Today was another adventurous day in my riding life. I decided to haul my trike to Hudson Mills Metropark, slightly north of Dexter, and ride there. This had been the site of my first ever trike ride, on May 2, 2015, at a time when I was looking significantly more juvenile than I do now.
I had hoped to ride from the park along the trail that connects it to the town of Dexter, and in fact had even considered trying for consecutive round trips, as I was thinking it was a roughly 10-mile round trip from the park to town.
However, it had been a number of years since I had ridden at Hudson Mills, and I had forgotten that its layout includes a roughly 3-mile paved loop down near where I parked, from which you can only access the spur to Dexter by an unmarked branch. Not remembering that, I kept circling the loop, and was beginning to catch on, as one bridge kept looking awfully familiar ... but then it was clinched for me when I passed a group of older women walking, and one asked me, "How far do you ride?" I stopped, and turned my palms up and shrugged, to which she replied, "Oh, you don't know, eh ... you just ride fast! Well, I wondered since you've passed us three times now!"
Before this, I had already long since cut back mentally from my thought of doing two round trips to only one, and then, as Dexter was still nowhere in sight, at 14.8 miles, I turned around and figured I'd just ride back to the car. But 20 minutes later, I was still not making substantial progress, so I began to pray for God to give me clarity and help me understand what was happening. I also typed a note on my phone explaining my situation and concluding that I seemed to be lost and confused and wondering whether they could point me back to Hudson Mills—but I hadn't the opportunity to show it to anyone. A short while later, I recognized a loop at the end of the area where I had parked, and then I turned my eyes slightly and was delighted to see our black Honda (which we call Rhonda, for the rhyme 😎).
At any rate, I had a 17.3-mile (mostly circular) ride—splendid 72° sunshine—in 1:55.
The nicest feature of the day was when I arrived at the park and had to buy an entrance permit, and told her, "Annual," she gave me the senior pricing of $29 rather than the regular pricing of $40 without even asking my age! (???)
wn
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