Happily Out Of The Loop

Much as I love the loop we do every morning and don't mind going around it two, three and sometimes four times to build endurance and just to enjoy the ride, sometimes I need to break out of the loop and see some different scenery and face some different challenges. This is what I generally do on Wednesday's, but the weather and my schedule have not allowed that for some months now. Today, after a night of hard rain and a much needed sleep the weather cleared just in time to accommodate my leisurely schedule. And despite the fact that I have a bunch of stuff to get done today, I couldn't resist riding out of the loop. I thought I might go as far as Conshohocken, but couldn't stop there either. Then I thought I might go all the way to Valley Forge for the first time this season. I certainly felt well enough on the bike to do so. But when I arrived just past the East Norriton sewer plant, about a mile or two before Norristown transit station, the construction on by the side of the trail would have entailed a long wait and the mud churned up by the rain plus the construction didn't look appetizing to ride through. So a took a little break right there at something over 17 miles out. Ate my Cliff Bar, finished the first bottle of water and switched the empty for the full one in my spare cage, and turned around. It was really wonderful to get in a relatively long ride. It was a good challenge, on a very windy day with very strong gusts now and then, to go through Manayunk and up Umbria hill. Still home in time to stop and the bank, and then go for a haircut and now do some work at home. 36.6 miles: Good show.