Longer Ride

The sun came out early this morning and most of the house was up by 6am. Instead of hanging around the house and eating breakfast, I decided to leave early and explore new routes to work. Since I had already found all the direct paths to the office I decided to head east into Payson. I climbed steadily uphill into the town center and then went north. I followed the main route that connects Payson, Salem and Spanish Fork. It has some nice rolling hills and nothing too steep. Once I got into Spanish Fork I took a right into the residential area and rode through some of the older neighborhoods. By the time I got to work I had gone 14 miles and had burned 1000 calories.

One thing I am starting to notice about this area is how cruddy the bike lines are. Most areas don't even have bike lines, and when they do they are filled with all sorts of debris. Yesterday as I was riding home I swerved to avoid a pile of broken glass and almost ran over half a pair of discarded scissors. It's almost like the sweepers come and sweep all the dirt of the road and into the bike lanes. I had never thought about it before while driving, but now that I'm on a bike and especially since I've already had one blowout, I pay much more attention to the garbage in the road.