End Pavement

No pictures today, but a fun time — at least, as fun as it can be commuting to work. ;) It takes about an hour by bike one way. It was in the 60s today, which is fine cycling weather.

It’s funny. Driving to work takes around 20 minutes, depending on traffic, so 40 minutes every day. An additional 80 minutes spent gives me two good workouts, saves me money, and does wonders for my mood.

Remarkable moments:

Morning

• Pair of what I believe were military Chinooks heading north-to-south.
• Passing through my wife’s childhood neighborhood out in what’s left of the orange groves, now being torn up for housing developments. Always makes me a bit sad biking through that stretch.
• Smiling homeless couple walking along a sidewalk with a scruffy dog on a leash between them — but neither of them was holding the leash, as it dragged on the ground behind the dog.

Afternoon

• Checked out the Santa Ana River (waterless, of course) from the Orange Show Road bridge. No evidence of the official SART trail yet, though plenty of space for one, gated off. Lots of graffiti on the underside of the bridge. This is in the middle of the dotted “under development” line on the SART plan map, and is about 3 miles up river from the Mt Vernon Avenue bridge SART entrance I found last week.
• Crazy-strong burning pot smell that lasted a few blocks — I was starting to think a slow-moving Volkswagen Bus was up ahead. ;)
• This was replaced, after I turned onto a side street, by a cloud of perfume smell from a woman standing in her front yard. Here’s a free fashion tip: if I can smell you from fifty feet away, outdoors, you probably have too much freakin’ perfume on.

The combined tally today:

• 21.87 miles
• 12.6 MPH average

Tomorrow, we have a nice hike planned. Looking forward to it — I find myself getting sketchy if it’s been too long. :)