3 October 2011 Ride: Rebound

I piddled around in the morning with various tasks and chores waiting for the temperature to climb out of the 40s.  By the time I did head out it had reached a pleasant 60 degrees.  A beautiful day with no wind to speak of.  It was good to be out riding and knowing I was going to take in a decently long ride.

A rare alignment of the the light post in the mostly undeveloped subdivision.  You may recall that this lamp has a curved head with ornamental iron works below the curve.  I like how, in the shadow, it looks as if it's a straight post.

I spotted this fella on the bike trail by the Botanical Garden.  I dismounted quickly as he scurried across the trail but was only able to get one shot.  A beetle of some sort.  I like his big shadow.

 At the other end of the trail on Lake Fayetteville, at Veteran's Park, I came across Bill looking up at a tree as if he was harvesting something.  Turned out to be chinquapin nuts.  These trees were very common in Arkansas many years ago and old timers say the wood was highly prized, only second to black walnut.  Bill gave me a nut to try.  He used a cane to smash away the prickly outer covering and with my teeth I pulled away the thick skin surrounding the nut, a relative of the chestnut.  The nut was very hard and I scraped some shavings off with my teeth.  I was hesitant to try and eat too much for fear of getting a stomach ache.  Back home, after I did a google search and saw that indeed they can be eaten raw, I was able to bite off a larger chunk.  A mild nutty flavor with a hint and texture of a carrot as well.  Thanks, Bill!

I was working a good pace back home but these yellow flowers growing right on the side of the round and spilling out over onto the pavement were too pretty to resist and I turned back to photograph them.

My spirits were indeed lifted after today's ride and it's get to feel as if I'm back into the groove.

Today's ride:  3hrs 26mins.  42.05 miles   60°-72°  Miles YTD:  6,928.27

Today's number of miles per day needed to reach 9,000 miles by the end of the year: 23.28

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