Happy Halloween!

A little bit warmer this morning - about 45 degrees - so I biked in. It was 71 when I left work around 5. I had to get home for the trick or treaters. It was a nice night for Halloween and the weekend promises to be quite nice, too.

Today's Mileage: 3.1 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 641.8 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 108.2
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $2.33!!!

Bike to Work

The morning started off cold - about 31 degrees - so I drove into work. However, I had to run an errand at lunch, so I stopped home and then rode the bike back into work and rode home afterwards. It was about 65 degrees on the ride home - much nicer. It's gonna be a good weekend, so I hope to get some more miles in while the going is good.

Today's Mileage: 3.3 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 638.7 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 111.3
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $2.39!!!

O'boro gets grant for bike routes

In the October 1st edition of the M-I, there was an article about a grant the city was awarded to build bike routes along Old Hartford Road. The city previously was awarded the $231,000 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant from the state to stripe bike lanes on city streets, but the city's engineering department created a policy barring bike lanes from city streets narrower than 32 feet among other objections. The City Commission then decided to redirect their focus to building off-street paths instead of striping lanes on existing streets. The connection on Old Hartford Road will include paths along both sides of Old Hartford Road south from the David C. Adkisson Greenbelt Park toward Hillcrest Golf Course. Once on the Greeneblt, riders can encircle the entire city.

In addition, work is expected to be completed by mid-December on a 2.5-mile connection of the Greenbelt from Southtown Boulevard to Shifley Park on the west side of Owensboro.

The city also signed an agreement with the state Transportation Cabinet to be reimbursed for building bike routes along Booth Avenue as part of the Safe Routes to School program.

Biking and Big Bugs

Normally, with a title like that and biking you would think I'm going to share the latest delicacy on my latest bike ride that couldn't get out of my way fast enough and became a high-protein meal. However, that is not the point of this post. This was the last weekend for the Big Bugs exhibit at the Western Ky Botanical Garden. These are huge sculptures by David Rogers made from fallen timber and other tree parts and made into beautiful works of art. These bugs are up to 15 feet tall and weigh up to 1,200 pounds, and include ants, a dragonfly, a praying mantis and a spider. It has been at the Western Ky Botanical Garden since August and will be migrating to another location after this weekend. I wanted to get one last look at them and the works of art located around town, created by local artists and inspired by this exhibit. I'll post pictures of these other works this week.

I biked around town taking pictures of the local bugs and then headed to the Western Ky Botanical Garden, on Hwy 60 West and Carter Road. Hwy 60 West is a busy 4 lane road, but there wasn't much traffic on it Saturday afternoon and the cars gave me enough room to get there safely. It was a lovely fall day, with a slightly chilly breeze. After touring the exhibit I biked home. I had already biked to swim training and was ready for an afternoon nap.

Today's Mileage: 12.5 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 635.4 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 114.6
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $2.57!!!

Pet Sitting and Biking

A friend was going out of town, so I checked on her dog this weekend and biked over there Saturday morning before Tri Swim Training at the Y. It was about 6:30 am and luckily, there was some pre-dawn light so it wasn't dark. I let the dog out, fed him and had a few minutes to play with him before heading to swim training.

Today's Mileage: 4.7 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 622.9 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 127.1

Great Pumpkin Metric

Today, a group of us from the Big O travelled to E'ville for the Great Pumpkin Metric bike ride. A more perfect day for a bike ride, would be hard to find. It started off cool and steadily warmed up, but didn't get too hot before the ride was over. Close to a 1,000 riders were expected for the 27th annual event hosted by the Evansville Bicycle Club.

At each of the Rest stops, which were placed about every 13 miles, there were volunteers in costumes and scary make-up to go along with this year's theme - "Close Encounter". It was a great day riding through the bucolic countryside of north Vanderburgh County. After the ride, there was a spaghetti and chili dinner, ice cream and live music. The event was well organized, plenty of food and drink at the rest stops, great weather and a good group of friends to ride with. Definitely worth doing again.

Today's Mileage: 66 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 618.2 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 131.8
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.64