2.17.2011 Ride: Wyman Valley Rd.

I am entering into dangerous territory.  This is reminiscent of when I was working on a novel when Rachel was 2 years old.  In the beginning, working on the novel consumed an enormous amount of mental and emotional energy to the point where I was not fulfilling my duties as a house dad.  I knew that it could not continue that way for my family's sake and for my own well-being.  I managed to strike a balance and continued working on the novel for another four years.
The biking alone is probably very manageable but working on the blog is an added stress and today I found myself getting easily irritated.  This will be interesting to see how it plays out.  An obvious solution is not to worry about doing the blog every day.  That may be what happens but I do enjoy the daily blog process.

From our house, we have a wonderful view of Wyman Valley (first photo).  That is where I headed today, driving to Barrington Park and then biking down Fox Hunter toward Wyman.  Fox Hunter never disappoints me, even though it may run by the sewage treatment plant.  It is quiet and there is an energy about the countryside that it passes through that is calming.  Crossing the White River, feels like officially entering Wyman Valley.

Up until very recently, the long stretch of road than ran through the valley was dirt.  As a bicyclist, I was excited to discover that it was paved but disappointed to find out they left about a half mile still dirt.  That prevented a wonderful paved loop.
Though the valley is only a few miles from town, the area feels so removed.  Today, with the wind gusting into the 20s, I felt as if I was on a prairie in Kansas. Even the road ribbons up and down like few we see in Arkansas around here.

I stopped quite a bit to take pictures on my way out, the ride feeling as if it was a totally new place even though I espy the valley every day from up high.  There was a desolate feel to the area like a ghost town at times.  But there was also a lot of energy.  The idea of being in a kind of Shangri-La began entering my conscience.

I was no rush to leave, drinking in the magic of  my ride today. 

Back out I went, looking back fondly on what became a piece of paradise for me for a few miles.  As I rode out, a jeep with a canoe on top passed me.  About a mile later it had pulled over to secure the canoe.  Turned out to be Matt & Larry who I ran into just the other day.  This time they had been out doing some surveying on the river.  The ride back Fox Hunter was again satisfying and when I got to the top of the hill I wanted to get in some more miles and rode through the subdivision which was a rather interesting contrast to where I had just been.  How striking that these two worlds were only 3 - 4 miles apart.   I did come across the fellow below who added a good smile to the end of my ride.

Just after I took this picture, I heard him say, "I can't get down."  There wasn't really any stress in his voice, so I rode on and passed him a couple of minutes later, still in the tree.  By the time I passed that way again about 20 minutes later, there was no sign of him.

Today's Ride:  2 hrs 2 mins.  Miles: 21.26.  70-67 degrees.  Wind: 17 - 23 mph.  Miles YTD: 831.41