Sunday, September 15, 2013

Summer 2013 Wrap-Up

Astronomically speaking, the official start of fall isn't for another week or so.  Atmospherically speaking, we are already two weeks into the fall season that started on September 1st.  Academically speaking, fall starts at the end of summer break, meaning on the first day of school, which was exactly one month ago today.  So this seems like an appropriate time to provide an end-of-summer wrap up for the PUMC Cycling Group, with hopes that we can still have a handful of rides this year before the weather gets too cold.

The 2013 cycling season started with a very well-attended meeting in March to discuss plans for the year and start looking at possible dates for our bigger trips.  I am pleased to say that we accomplished most of what we hoped for this summer, but once again schedules quickly got busier than many of us expected.  We may not have enjoyed as many rides as we wanted to, but the rides we did manage to accomplish were enjoyed tremendously.

Starting from our most recent trip and working backward, on Labor Day the group gathered at Channahon Community Park for a 20-mile loop along the I & M Canal, Rock Run, and Joliet Junction trails.  Normally for the Rock Run and Joliet Junction ride we would gather at the Theodore Marsh parking area on Gaylord, or at the Lower Rock Run Preserve on Empress Road.  This time, however, the park was chosen so that group members could see what it had to offer in case a future picnic and family ride event might be held at this location.  The slight drawback to starting at this spot is the longer trip along the crushed limestone canal trail, something the group leader (me) could have made more clear to those who brought road bikes instead of their hybrids.  So we live and learn!  Either way, the trails were great and the trip was a lot of fun.  Here's the log:
The trip prior to our outing on Labor Day was all the way back on July 28th.  That tells you a little something about busy August schedules.  On this day, which was extremely mild (almost chilly) for late July, the group visited the beautiful Fox River Trail, riding from Aurora to Geneva and back for a total of 18 miles.  One thing the group talked about at the kickoff meeting in March was trying to line up some 'family' rides which older, younger, or generally less experienced cyclists would find enjoyable and manageable.  This ended up being one of those rides.  We had a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old riding little single speed knobby-tired dirt bikes, and two adults towing kids (one actually towing twins).  So we weren't out to set any speed records, but if you look at the trip log you'll see that we averaged over 9 miles an hour, about the same as our non-towing and adult-only New Glarus and Starved Rock trips earlier in the summer.  The young cyclists were quite proud about riding that far and really weren't too worn out.  So the point is -- anybody can do this!

Here's the Fox River Trail log:
Additionally, here are a few pictures from that really fun trip:
Ready to hit the road!

Three good looking guys!

Taking a break to stretch our legs and rest our rears.

Kids enjoying a fountain in beautiful downtown Batavia.

Adults enjoying the waterfront in beautiful downtown Batavia.

Fabyan Windmill along the trail.

Obligatory ice cream at the Early Light Cafe in downtown Geneva.
The earlier trips this year are documented elsewhere on the blog, so step back to previous entries to get the details.  Overall between Bike the Drive, New Glarus, Starved Rock, and the Fox River family ride, it has been a really fun year with some really great memories.  In addition, the group of cyclists for each ride has been surprisingly varied.  Someday we might be able to get all the group participants together on the same ride, but in reality that would be pretty tough given the number of different schedules being juggled.  But the fun part is riding with different people all the time, getting to know each other better, and enjoying new friendships!