Ride to Dacula and back

Today, I went for a ride. I've been itching to go all week! I was originally planning on continuing the route I had set for myself at the beginning of last year. But that would have meant a 45 minute drive and I didn't have enough time to ride with the daylight not sticking around enough. So I was going to drive to a local park and bike from there so I wouldn't have to ride on my usual route...but by the time I actually got ready, it was later than I had planned so I just biked from the house with no route in mind.

Before a long ride, I have to get all my food together before I can change. Here's what my food looked like for today's ride: 4 clementines, 2 hard boiled eggs (in case of emergency), an egg salad sandwich, a ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce and tomato, 3 servings of baby carrots, 3 mini sweet peppers, one large fuji apple, and in the thermos is mashed butternut squash in case I really wanted something hot...and water bottles.

After lunch is gathered, then I can change into my biking clothes and load everything onto the bike. I wore a short sleeved jersey, long sleeved jersey and my winter cycling coat on top, biking shorts, and fleece pants under rain pants on the bottom. I left my biking shoes at home since they leave my feet freezing in this weather (low 40's) and went with thick wool socks and my insulated hiking boots. I used my winter cycling gloves, a neck gaiter and a hat under my helmet. It was a lot of clothes but I kept them all on the whole time, except for the neck gaiter which was on and off periodically.

I don't find Georgia particularly pretty in the winter. I don't like dead looking trees without snow on them. But I did some scenes that I enjoyed, dead trees and all.

I had been down this road a couple of times before and knew there was a river there but the trees had always been too thick to see that it actually cascaded down some rocks. Well, I couldn't see that from the road but I could see that it dropped off out of view. I got off the bike to see what was over the edge. I walked down to the bottom of the cascades which don't show up very well in the pictures. After getting a few pictures, I climbed back up. I was walking back up and made the mistake of stepping on a mossy spot. I tried to stay calm and just hold my feet in the same position. I slid backward and backward. I was sure I was going to land on my face and destroy my camera which was still in my hand. I made it without getting wet though. :o)

I also found another pecan tree for picking from next fall...or I guess this fall. These pecans are a lot bigger than the ones from the tree I picked mine from.

Here's a dirt road that I found recently. Well, I found it years ago but never could find it again...now I know where it is.

I was hoping that I was going to get 50 miles in but about half way through the ride, I knew I was overachieving. I was close to home with about 32 miles on the computer. So I decided to take the long way home and see the house that recently toppled over. This house didn't give any clues as to the previous owners like the last ruined house I looked at.

But I did find this that made me laugh. This tree grew up through a tire so it must have been there for a few years at least.

By that point, my legs were really tired and my sit bones HURT!!! I am sitting on a pillow right now because they are still really hurting. It was getting very cold and I just wanted to go home.

By the time I got home, I only had the 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 clementines and half of the squash...I love being able to eat so much!