Thought I lived in a boring bicycle area
 

I've spent most of my 29 years living in my city of 85,000. When I started riding at the beginning of Summer, I thought that commuting would be my best riding. The area surrounding town is agricultural and, based on my experiences in a car or on a motorcycle, flat. Speed limits are pretty high and shoulders very narrow. I figured riding out there would be dull and dangerous.

Yesterday we went on a ride through the county to a winery about 7 miles away and discovered just how wrong I was. What looks flat and boring at 50 mph is filled with lots of small fairly mild hills and lots to see and smell. Mint fields, a mile in a narrow corridor of tall corn, small farm houses that I barely noticed cruising along at the speed limit. Combine that with half a glass of delicious local wine at the destination and a nice mild ride back home and I had a much better time than I would have expected.

I just wanted to share in case anyone else thinks they live in a bike-dull location. You might be wrong. I was and am looking forward to lots of future rides in the county.

Some people might regard Manitoba as a dull and boring place to ride ... but there were actually some very interesting things to see along the way when I started exploring. In the 13 years I lived there, I ended up cycling most of the paved roads in about a 200 km radius of Manitoba, and had seen more of the province than people I knew who had lived there all their lives. :)

Amazing what happens when you slow down and get rid of the screen (ie windshield) ain't it.

Now you know why many bike commuters say the commute is the best part of their day.

Absolutely. I work 11.5 hour days, and I arrive home in a much better mood if I cycle than if I drive. Even if I arrive home a little bit later.

It was a glorious late summer day today, and well, gosh darn... I forgot some supplies I picked up for the office on the weekend at home, and I just had to go back and get them... :thumb:

Ahh, moderation. Who needs it.

I took my new found love of riding the county roads and a day off from work too far. I decided that riding 25 miles to a fishing spot I like would be a great idea. I learned that I am CAPABLE of a 50 mile ride. I also learned that I have not built up to the point that I ENJOY any part of the final 10 miles of a 50 mile ride into a headwind.

Time to build up to it, I guess.

Colorado is anything but boring. However, when I first started riding I had a difficult time finding destinations and folks to ride with. Now I have so many places to ride and people to ride with that I can't seem to find enough time. Life is good.

I'm a little worried about that, too. I have a really pretty ride planned from Brooks, OR to my home in Falls City, OR which will take me over the Wheatland Ferry and through a bunch of farm country like the OP was talking about, though I would have more hills. I expect the last 10 miles may not be that fun. But how else do you get to where they are fun, except by doing it?

The Road Cycling subforum has this on the Forums listing page:

This truly deserves a facepalm.

Pedaling a two wheeled vehicle is never boring.

I think part of the issue with my leg pain may have been under eating. I had a decent breakfast, a quick lunch just before the halfway point and a couple granola bars. Towards the end I was aching. Badly. I got home, had a banana, cleaned up and felt ok. 2 days later I've only had slight leg pain. I think I was trying to ride with no gas in the tank, and that I could have accomplished the ride much easier if I'd brought a little more to munch on. As sore as my legs were when I finished the ride, I expected to not be able to walk today. Not the case.

That said, I was in pretty decent shape before I started riding this summer and have done quite a bit of riding this Summer, even if it's shorter distances.

Oops, double post.

How do you transport your rod and tackle? I presume you have a rack and strap the tackle box down, or you just carry a small pouch with enough tackle to eek by with, but how about the rod? I've thought of riding to my fishin' hole also, but can't figure our how to transport the rod without strapping it cross ways to the handlebar and becoming in essence 5 1/2 to 6 feet wide. Not a good thing when sharing the road with motorists.

Tenkara. It's a Japanese form of fly fishing where the line connects to the end of the (In my case 12 foot) rod. No real, no extra fly line. Modern Tenkara rods are able to collapse by telescoping down to 20". Rod weighs next to nothing. I slid it into a side pouch of my very small day pack, included the spool of line and a spool of tippet (both about the same size), a small container of roughly a dozen flies, strapped it all to my rack and took off. Total fishing gear is WELL under a pound and takes very little room.

To be completely honest, I'm still struggling with Tenkara fishing. I'm much more productive with traditional fly fishing, but the gear doesn't collapse down as small. I can fish dry flies with Tenkara pretty easily but I'm still struggling with the wet flies. I think I need to experiment with different styles of line. Still, the small size/weight of the setup, along with the utter simplicity (the fixed gear of fly fishing? And no, I don't happen to be a fixed gear rider) keeps me working on mastering the new skill. The portability is awesome for backpacking, day hikes and, I'm learning, bicycling.

There is nothing like bicycling to get you in touch with an area. It is sightseeing at its best.