Somehow Out of Sorts

Early February, 70 degrees, sunshine, no wind … perfect riding conditions, and yet I was somehow out of rhythm. It was my first “shorts” ride of the new year, and I took off on a northerly route, picking off some new-to-me gravel roads on the border of Allen and Anderson Counties.

An hour or so out, I realized that I didn’t have my wallet with me, so I spent the rest of the ride wondering if I’d left it at home, or had lost it along the way. (It turned out to be the former, thankfully).

Somewhere along the line I also noticed that I forgot my wristwatch, so had to rely on the phone for time checks.

At one point, I stopped along the way to check for a geocache. Never did find it, but managed to lose my eyeglass mirror in tall grass. Spent the rest of the ride feeling a bit blind. Aggravating.

With the unexpected warmth, and no money to purchase provisions along the way, I ran out of water, and had to do the last ten miles or so without.

So all in all, it was a disconcerting ride. But pretty, and I got in a half-century. Strava activity.

It was a great day for clouds!
Wall-to-wall fresh gravel in Anderson County.
Smoothly-flowing clear-water stream in Anderson County.
The Nashbar gravel bike, taking a break in northern Allen County.
It looked like the road grader had just come through, and the surface was extremely soft and unstable. The only place to ride was in the tire track. Miles and miles of this! Ugh.
Behold the awesome power of a small stream. All that gravel in the background had been swept off the road over time.
DirtBum Written by:

I enjoy riding bicycles all over -- city streets, suburbia, rural roads, gravel roads, dirt roads, rail-trails, and singletrack. I love exploring the countryside and finding the interesting and historical treasures hidden in plain sight. You can follow my rides on Strava.

One Comment

  1. Clayton
    February 17, 2017

    I can relate to the feeling of blindness without my mirror on a bike ride! Our bodies’ seasonal rhythm is out of sorts with this unseasonable weather and must be part to blame for the ride that started quirky and stayed that way. Good pictures and good to know even the most experienced ramblers like yourself can suffer through ordinary funks. Good post.

Comments are closed.