Before I begin with details on my ride, I just wanted to share to let everyone know that I rode more than 2000 miles on my Coker this season. I have 2053 miles on my Coker this season. I broke 2000 miles this season, YIPEE!! Three years ago I did not own a unicycle or have any experience unicycling. I try to use this example to show my children that anything is possible. If an old man (43) can ride a unicycle 2000+ miles, then, imagine what children can do, mentally or physically. I hope you enjoy my ride summary. It is the first I have done.
I took the day off work. I used quite a few vacation days this year just unicycling and do not regret any of it. Today was the last remaining vacation day for 2007 and I felt it would be perfect for riding. The day started cold, about 40 degrees, so I slept in. Finally I got all packed up in the truck and arrived at the local forest preserve at about 1:30pm. I live in Illinois, so the scenery is not like Colorado or Hawaii, but we still have nice places. Independence Grove is a forest preserve in Libertyville, about 40 miles north of Chicago.
I parked my truck and hopped on the unicycle. The forest preserve has a big loop around a lake that is in an old quarry. The loop is about 2 miles. I first rode around the loop to get warmed up. The temperature was now about 60 degrees and it was sunny and perfect. Once around the loop I headed for the Des Plaines River Trail. This trail follows the Des Plaines River for about 17 miles. Most of the year this river is small enough that even a novice could swim across in less than 30 seconds, but during the spring, it quite often overflows the banks by miles and floods hundreds of homes.
As I was going down a hill, a biker passed me on the left. At the bottom of the hill, the trail goes up another slight incline. I knew I could catch this biker going up. About 50 yards later, I pulled up on his left. I said, “You gotta do much better than that if you want to dust old one wheel, Much better”. I rode with him for a while, telling him about my unicycling over the summer. He was only out for a short ride and turned around soon.
I continued on, the trail follows the winding river and for most of the route, the trail is very heavily covered with tall old trees. There are Oaks, Ash, Hickory, Maple and various other types. Today, the trail was covered with millions of leaves. The shadows from the thousands of tree trunks crossed the trail, making it look like a zebra with stripes. In many places the leaves appeared to be a carpet covering the ground and at points you could not tell where the trail actually continued. The leaves were a myriad of colors, deep crimson, bright golds, earthy browns and many other colors. The sunshine would peek in thru the treetops where the leaves had fallen and the sun was providing a backlight for the leaves still on the trees. It was almost magical seeing this. All along the trail, there were stumps, logs and fallen trees, some rotted out. Most all of these trees had fallen due to age or weather or even a lighting strike. It was as if the forest was telling a story about the history of itself. The leaves that remained on the trees were struggling to soak every last drop of light from the sun, before their parent dropped them to the ground. During my entire ride, leaves were falling, so many so, that in some places it was almost like it was snowing. If you have never experienced a fall in the forest, you will not know the scent. There is a special scent that autumn dry leaves have, not the burning leaves smell, but an aroma of these dry leaves that rustle about in the wind. I took many deep breaths, as this will soon be gone when old man winter finds out what is going on. The squirrels knew this was a golden day as well. They were busy harvesting all the nuts they could find, to prepare for the winter.
Usually I take a break to cross a road or provide a relief to my bottom, every 3 or 4 miles. Today, I found myself taking more frequent breaks, not for personal comfort, but to stand and admire the trees and the forests. Unfortunately, the only camera I had was my cell phone, and the resolution is low. I have a few small photos here, but they do not do justice to the views. My next opportunity for a ride will be in 4 days, and I fear that by then most of this beauty will have passed. The trees are ready for their winter naps and this ride signaled to me, that this may be my last long enjoyable ride of the season. I can and do ride in the cold, but riding in 3 or 4 layers of clothes, with nothing but a barren landscape is nowhere near as beautiful and enjoyable as today. For many of us, the seasons provide change and beauty, each season having its own special beauty and time. This was one day I just wished would last FOREVER!
Ride Stats
29.0 Miles
11.5 mile per hour average
