i ride

During the week, I'm basically stuck riding on the very few roads near us that are still paved. It's boring but also not. Boring because I see the same things every day: corn, more corn, sky, that weird little graveyard in the middle of a cornfield, the geodesic dome house that marks my turnaround point most days. But also not boring because there's something really beautiful about the corn growing higher and higher, and the sky almost always shows me something interesting. And sometimes I race alongside rabbits or see deer — but let's not mention that pit bull who took against me riding on "his" road and got close enough to touch his snout to my shoe. I could do without experiencing that again.

But on the weekends it's different. I load up my bike in the van (which is super awkward but needs must) and head out for a trail. All the rails-to-trails trails (decommissioned train tracks that have been converted to bike/walking/running trails) are at least 30 minutes from home, so the weekends are when I have enough time to make those kinds of trips. This summer, I've ridden on the Nickel Plate Trail (near Rochester), the Pumpkinvine Trail (near Middlebury), the Prairie Duneland Trail (Indiana Dunes/Chesterton), and the Erie-Lackawanna Trail (Crown Point). Each one is neat in its own way. The Pumpkinvine is right in the middle of Amish country, so there are a ton of families out getting from point A to point B. The Prairie Duneland is absolutely gorgeous, with tree canopies and tunnels and bridges. And the Erie-Lackawanna, which I rode 20 miles on last weekend, is bordered by wildflowers and has a whole nature preserve connected to it. 

Most weekends I've been riding by myself, but when I'm lucky enough, Mike or the boys will join me. Either way, it's peaceful. I usually ride early in the morning before it gets too hot, and that's when all the deer and birds are most active anyway. As rediscovered hobbies go, this one's pretty great.