Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail.......

Back to cycling, at least for tonight.

As the end of the month approached, and Jezebel was STILL in the shop being repaired (and I'm grateful that the very expensive repair is covered under her warranty, really I am), I found myself obsessing about the number of cycling miles I still needed to make my June goal of 600 miles.

Boy, bet you didn't see THAT one coming, did you? Me? Obsessing about something?

I was down in the dumps yesterday when I called the bike shop and the handsome/helpful/persuasive/knowledgeable Stan informed me that it would be another day or two. Apparently the manufacturer sent a replacement shifter cable for my bike, but it was for the wrong side. (Who knew they were different?)

I grumpily loaded my el cheapo mountain bike in the car, and I looked online to see if I could find a park similar to ours somewhere near Sweet Girl's house.

Oh, sorry, I left that part out. I needed my bike to get out of the shop before I left this morning to come to see Sweet Girl for her birthday tomorrow.

My apologies...I'm a little tired.

I was hoping I could find a park with some trails that I could ride around and around in circles just to build up my miles. I'm not comfortable riding that bike out on the roads, especially roads I'm not familiar with in a  busy town.

To make a long story even LONGER, I found something much better. Only about 5 miles from Sweet Girl's house is a rails-to-trails bike path very similar to our Silver Comet Trail in Georgia. It is only 14.5 miles in length (compared to 30-something for the SCT), but it is an excellent trail. The miles are marked, the trail is paved, and there were enough people on it that I felt safe even being out there by myself. I didn't leave until 6:00, so it was a little after 8:00 when I got finished. Naturally I did the entire length of the path. When I got back I had 29 miles, and as a card-carrying member of the round numbers club, I rode back out a half mile so I could get my total of 30 miles.

The map isn't much to look at it, but I feel compelled to post it here anyway. Call it validation or proof or something.

I promise I rode out AND back. When the start and finish are on top of each other, it's hard to tell.

Now I only have a little over 12 miles to ride to complete my June goal. I'm hoping to go back to the trail Saturday morning and get those miles in. But I'm going armed with insect repellant. I stopped to answer my cell phone, and I was swarmed with mosquitoes. Some of those suckers had landing gear.