Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle!

My bike arrived with the rest of my stuff on October 3rd (I think). I mostly put it together about five or six days later, then I hit a snag (lack of a long handled wrench capable of enough torque to make sure my pedals stay on, and it was a Sunday and the local excuse-for-a-bike-shop was closed). A couple days later Karjam arrived, and I ended up being super busy trying to get some quality time with him and still do my other essential tasks-- like class prep. In fact while he was here I only walked my mountain circuit 3 times, although I'd been doing it at least 3-4 times a week before he arrived.

Today, even though I have HUGE deadlines and tomorrow is the day I teach in Korean, I put together the bike, cruised down to the "bike shop" (no place that can see me roll in my bike and not be curious to check it out and even ask a few questions deserves to be called a bike shop). I used their wrench and headed down the road. I almost ended up on the toll road by accident, but at the last minute there was an exit, and after rolling through some small factories I found the bike-path-ish thing I'd seen from a bridge. The bike path petered in and out, with hard packed dirt, nice crushed rubber, and cement alternating for about three miles in the direction I was headed (next time I'll go the other way). It was mostly abandoned, and sandwiched between agricultural greenhouses and a small river. The path crossed the river, left the riverside and spat me out back on the road I'd been on earlier, so I rolled home and then pounded up the hill to the end of campus so that I could fly back down.

Although the road until I reach the path I found today has fast traffic whizzing by, and the air was not the best next to some of those diesel trucks, it felt wide enough that it should be reasonably safe.

My sit bones have not been subjected to a bike seat in several months and will probably be outraged next time I straddle my bike, but tomorrow and the next day I'm so busy, then I'm out of town Friday and Saturday, so it might not be until Sunday that I can ride again.

--Three photos of Gingko from three separate days--