The New Steed

Well, my first “real” bike lasted three years. It was efficient and reliable, and together we went from one end of the Neuse greenway trail to the other a number of times. But as I related recently, it developed some wear and tear that couldn’t be repaired without investing half the cost of a new bike. So I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods in Knightdale and worked with Mike to get a new one. It’s the same model but red and black instead of grey and black; I wanted something about it to be different. I had an interesting experience on the night I went to buy the new one, and I wrote a blog post about it that has gotten some nice reactions.

My second Diamondback wildwood bike. The only difference: it's red.

Anyway, I was able to break in the new bike this weekend with two rides. By an odd coincidence, they were almost identical in time and distance even though I rode different routes. On Saturday afternoon I rode south on the Neuse trail past the water treatment plant to the point where you turn downhill to get back to the river. On Sunday morning I rode out to the Walnut Creek trail and followed it past the softball complex and up the street to the point where it starts getting much curvier. I turned around there and rode out to the suspension bridge at Hedingham before heading home. Saturday’s ride was 30.98 miles and Sunday’s was 30.99 miles. The times were 2:00:14 and 201:19, with average speeds of 15.3 and 15.5. It’s not that significant, just interesting.

What’s even more interesting were the things I saw on the ride Saturday. I started out, as usual, on the Mingo Creek trail. I only pedaled a few hundred yards on the trail when I came face to face with a Knightdale police vehicle with two officers inside. It was slowly following a group of walkers. I waved as I went by and they waved back. There hasn’t been any sort of trouble on that trail that I’ve heard about, but I’m glad to see them out there. If nothing else, their presence will encourage more folks to get out and use the trails. The second unusual sighting was a wedding at the scenic overlook at Anderson Point Park. I rode past quietly as the wedding party was making their way down the aisle. The bride looked pretty in her dress.

A first: seeing soldiers doing a road march on the trail, complete with rucksacks. Hooah!

The third thing was a group of National Guard soldiers who were doing a road march on the trail. They were coming back from the direction of New Bern Avenue when I went by, and a Humvee was in the Anderson Point parking lot waiting for them. They were wearing rucksacks. As a former “weekend warrior,” (Army Reserve for 10 years) I was impressed by the creativity in using a resource like the greenway trail for a training exercise.

The new bike performed well. The pedals and brakes both feel great, especially compared to my old one with its wear and tear. I need to tighten the seat and make a few other minor adjustments. There’s one wire that sticks out near the pedals and scratches my leg. Gotta do something about that. Overall I’m very pleased. I look forward to using the new bike to record many more miles out on the trails.