Big Creek Greenway

Yeahheh!

Today was Mother's Day, and our gift to Kathryn was our absence. Glorious, glorious absence, and the accompanying peace and quiet. No Dave pacing the house, mind immersed in nerd world. No Sophie's Dance Moms marathon. No Pierce The Veil wafting from Isabel's vicinity, volume dropping every few seconds with each new text received. None of that. Just the sweet sound of nothing at all.

Actually, these days, Kathryn would have liked to have joined us. She ought to be able in a few months, but right now she's crutching around like an invalid, and under the circumstances, there's probably nothing better than us leaving her alone for a few hours.

So, the girls and I did just that. Isabel had the idea that we should shred the Greenway, and it seemed like the best idea that I'd heard in a while.

Man, it's been a while since I've taken that shot, right there.

Too long.

The Greenway was foreign. Trees and brush had grown up over our heads in one of the ponds at the southern end. Another was completely full of water. The third looked sort-of familiar.

The woods on either side looked different too. The canopy reached all the way over the trail. A lot of the border brush was gone. You could see way back into the woods in most places. Wow. Amazing what a few years can do.

I should say that about the girls too. At some point, Sophie was like "How far have we gone?" and I figured it had been 2 or 3 miles, but then I recognized where we were, and it had been more like 5.

We reached the northern end unexpectedly quickly.

The girls didn't struggle on any of the climbs. Sophie wasn't even tired. She mentioned how she used to be so tired when she'd get to the northern end, that climbing up that last climb didn't seem real, "dreamy, like the end of a fantasy game" or something. I didn't get the analogy right away but she kind-of explained it to me. You've been working at it for so long and when you finally finish, it's hard to wrap your mind around having actually finished. Ok, that I understand. I've had plenty of that. I had no idea that the end of this trail was like that for her though. Gaining that insight struck me as somewhat profound, actually.

We had a quick snack of Clif Blocks, water and shade.

The clouds hid the sun just a bit, and the little tree there at the edge of the road didn't hurt.

But we didn't wait long. Nobody was all that tired.

The ride back went even faster. I guess because it's a net descent.

Somewhere in there, a long line of riders passed us, like 8 or more of them. They all went like 1 tire width across the center line and some guy coming from the other direction nearly lost his mind over their intrusion onto his side. As drifted all over his lane as he waved his arms in frantic protest. I swear, most situations only become truly dangerous when someone overreacts to perceived danger.

There was that, but that was about the only crazy thing that happened on the way back.

Back at the car, we shoehorned our bikes back into it.

It's always amazing to me what we can fit in that car.

Also, as Iz climbed in, she was like: "Hmmm... GPS."

I'd brought my GPS along, turned it on, set it on the roof to sync, and apparently left it there, all day. Nobody took it. I imagine half of the would-be takers had a conscience. The other half were like "pfft, that thing must be 15 years old". I was quite relieved to have it back though. I've had a few near misses with losing it over the years. There are few "things" that I love, but that's definitely one of them.

We snacked up at the gas station around the corner.

The bountiful haul provided adequate post-ride recovery nutrition.

We used to do this so much. So much! But it's been a long time and we all felt a little nostalgic.

Sophie was exuberant.

Iz seemed a bit more introspective.

I leaned back and enjoyed the fatigue, the breeze, the shade, the company, and my Baja Blast. I feel compelled to drink the Baja Blast these days. You know, "limited time only" and all.

Short day on the bike actually. I think maybe 2 hours and change total, including stops. It worked out well though. We got back early enough to get cleaned up for dinner without having to rush around. Good, good, good.

Happy Mother's Day!