Riding with my eyes wide open.

     When I was riding my bike at Secor Park the other day, the smooth pavement got me thinking about the construction that has been going on all summer with the University Parks bike trail.  It was time for me to re-visit it again.

     I always enter the trail by way of Wild Wood Park, and as I was anxious to check out the status of the construction on the trail, I thought I would never make it out of the park.

     First, the park was swarming with people; I'm guessing because they figured it might be the last nice weekend they have for a super long time.  There were literally no parking spaces to be found, so I was forced to wait for someone to walk to their car and stalk them until they left.

     Then, I was getting my bike out of my car and I just happened to be wearing a bright pink shirt (shocker!  Right!?!?), a couple of cyclists who were putting their bikes away asked me if I ran in the breast cancer race that happened to be that morning in downtown Toledo.  I told them running isn't my strong suit these days, but I ride in the MS bike to the bay.  A few random questions and a dose of idle chit chat eventually turned into me working my magic on them; hoping to convince them to ride next year:)

          When I finally managed to make my way out of the parking lot and into the park, that too became a huge challenge.  I hadn't been to Wild Wood Park in a few weeks and the colors of the leaves were breathtaking.  I found myself stopping about every 500 feet to take some pictures.  I must have taken a million pictures... Here... I posted all of them for you to see... Just kidding!!!  But don't tempt me;) Now the handful I do have for you won't seem so bad:)

          About an hour later I managed to make my way to the construction point of the trail.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the trail was completed; for all intents and purposes.  There were still a few minor details left.

     Coming back in the other direction you can see how nice the new pavement is.  Now they need to add the yellow lane  lines, otherwise when riders pass each other it becomes "every man for himself".




       I never ended up completing the entire trail because I wanted to make it home that same day,  but I did get my share of the great outdoors.

          As I meandered back into the park I was looking at the fluffy white clouds over head, and I couldn't help but wonder if they've always been that white, or if I just never noticed them before.

     The time leading up to my past year of riding I had a tendency of going outside basically to get from point "A" to point "B", and I was usually looking straight ahead.  Or I may have been in a golf cart chasing a silly little ball.  Of course, even then, I was too stressed out about the game to notice what was around me.

     I'm so glad I was pushed into this riding thing last year; If I hadn't, I may have never discovered all of the world I've been missing:)

     Oh, incidentally... this picture of me in front of the beautiful red foliage was taken by a very sweet lady who was just out for a leisurely walk; her name was Sister Nancy.  Ironically, she resides at the Franciscan Center along with Sister Karen; a very well known name in the local community that also happens to have MS.  Small world huh!?  It's amazing what you discover when you ride with your eyes wide open.

Have a great day!!

Christine:)