Saw Wee Kee Work and a Fox River Trail Ride

We started off the day with some trail work at Saw Wee Kee in Oswego. Some Ninja has been building trail out there during the winter months and we had to discourage some of that activity by filling the openings with deadfall and digging holes along the new routes. Our intentions here are honorable, I assure you. Our mission is to maintain existing trails. This includes making them sustainable to foot, bike and equestrian traffic. A few days ago I posted a pic of a proposed project (say that ten times fast). I will post it again along with an after pic.

When riders come over this rise they tend to hit the brakes and skid to the bottom. Time will tell if the new work will hold up.

After the workday I went over to the Fox River Trail, also in Oswego. I took the Miyata 610. This bike was new in 1983 and purchased by me at a garage sale a couple of years ago for $10. I have done quite a bit of work on it. My intentions are to use this as my daily rider and I have been trying to get it dialed in to my liking. I'm on my 3rd set of pedals. Every set I've tried on has had a bent shaft on the left pedal, including the set I rode today. I'm not satisfied with the center pull brakes either. So the plan is to swap out the center pulls with a set of side pulls. I should also mention that the cable routing is a bit of a mess as well. When I install the side pulls I can straighten out the cable routing. Now to find a set of clipless pedals without a bent shaft.

  I am otherwise pretty happy with the Miyata. Today we took her for about a 20 mile ride. Starting and the Route 34 bridge and riding up to the bridge in North Aurora. There I took a short brake, drank my remaining supply of water and ate a peanut butter breakfast bar. The ride up felt like a breeze even though my fitness level is in question. When I heade back to Oswego after my break I figured out why it was such a breeze................TAILWIND! The tailwind has now become a headwind for the return trip. I was poorly hydrated for this ride and I was feeling the effects for most of the return trip. Dry throat, sore knees and slow cadence all reared their ungly heads. It was a beautiful and warm day that I managed to survive. I'm looking forward to the next ride and hopefully the soreness over the next few days will be limited.