96th ride

My plan this morning was to ride an hour east on the Poudre Trail (the opposite direction from the way I went yesterday), then turn around and come back. I left just before 6:00 a.m., and did fine for a while; but somewhere just after the Trail crosses Shields St. (I believe), I came to an unmarked fork, and ended up directionally challenged, taking the fork which petered off into the end of the trail amidst a welter of city streets. By copious consultation of my Bike Trails map from the bicycle library that also shows most city streets, I was eventually able to find my way back to the trail—but not directly, as I did some meandering and eventually got back to Shields and ended up going north on it all the way to Wilcox before discovering where I was, turning, and coming back down to pick up the trail again. Consequently, I cannot map my route, but I got as far east as Mulberry and Lamay before deciding to turn around at the 50-minute point. Without all the looping on the way home, my ride was significantly shorter, and I finished in 1 hour 23 minutes, which I believe to have been roughly 14 miles.

I did, however, reach a conclusion about Taft Hill Rd. As I turned from the trail onto it, nearing the end of my ride a bit north of Vine, and climbed the killer hill, I decided that must be why it got its name. Though I say it is a "killer" hill, it wouldn't really be so bad at all on my bike at home, with it's three chain wheels and nine gears. But this ride from the bike library, while quite serviceable, is an entirely different story with its eight gears. Two other pieces of equipment I miss from at home are my "Incredibell" (the name of wuich caused Michelle to roll her eyes), which would have been nice to signal others with on the trail; and the small rear-view mirror attached to my helmet. I keep finding myself wanting to check it out here—but there's just open space where it should be.