SpringfieldCyclist.com

After church today, Pam and I decided that we would do something a little different instead of going out on the tandem.  We took the trail bikes up to the Frisco Highline Trail and rode a 20 mile out and back.

The Frisco Highline Trail starts up on Kearney Street near the airport and goes as far north as Bolivar if you care to follow it that far.  It’s a converted rail bed maintained by Ozarks Greenways, with a crushed lime surface most of the time.  From my experience, it starts getting kind of soft and chewed up by horses a few miles north of Willard, so the riding isn’t all that great once you get past that point.  I’ve been as far north as Walnut Grove, but it’s been a while.  One of these days it might be fun to go as far as Bolivar, but because it’s kind of tough to ride on the soft surface I’m not sure I would want to do an out and back.

It was another beautiful day for a ride, with bright sunshine, clear skies, cool temperatures and low humidity.  I’m getting spoiled by this strange Missouri weather lately.  July was unusually cool.  It was our 7th coolest on record, with some towns around here setting records for the coolest July ever.  Go figure…It’s great for us, but not so good for the utility company I work for.

Just outside Willard, we spotted a couple of wild turkeys on the trail.  Then we spotted some more.  And more, and then still more!  There were at least four hens, with what seemed like thirty young chicks.  They didn’t seem too concerned with us, letting us get fairly close before moving off the trail.  I was pretty slow getting the camera out, but did manage to grab a shot of some of the hens.

On the way out there, I noticed the familiar rattle of a broken spoke on the back wheel of the Marin.  That’s the third one now, so it’s time to have the stupid thing rebuilt.  I haven’t ridden it at all since starting to commute on my roae bike again this spring, but I suspect it will become my cold weather bike for commuting again this fall and that wheel needs to be made right.  I’ll try to drop it off at Sunshine in the next couple of weeks before I forget about it.

At the ten-mile mark there is a boulder set out on the side of the trail that makes a perfect spot to sit and rest a while, so we took advantage of it before starting back!

The trip back was slightly uphill and against the wind.  Typical isn’t it!  We weren’t in any hurry to get back, so we just took our time.  Our average speed for the day was a rip-roaring 10 mph, but hey, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

God bless….

TW