Yesterday the Grand-sons and I trucked our bikes to the big city where we rode on the Arkansas River Path and in to the Historic Delano District for lunch. It was chilly and windy but we toughed it out and had a good time.

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Today we trucked our bikes to the big city and went for a 22 mile ride mostly along the Arkansas River path. Midway (21st & Tyler) we stopped and fueled up on Buffalo wings, a Prosciutto sandwich and beer at Old Chicago.
The weather wasn't as nice as we'd hoped it would be. It was cloudy, chilly and breezy.
The river looks pretty pathetic and is being overgrown with trees and other vegetation. The dam that normally keeps the water level higher and looking decent through the downtown area of Wichita has been taken out and a new one being built.

We went for a 27 mile ride today. The only real laboring we did was a few miles against a pretty good wind. The temperature was a little chilly starting out. Rode the Planeview, Gypsum Creek and some of the Arkansas River paths. We stopped at the mall, Target and Gander Mountain.

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Literally and figuratively. I put my new Brooks saddle on my old Specialized Crossroads and rode it for 24 miles on the big city's river path stopping every mile or two to adjust it. After all that it still doesn't feel quite right. I don't know if it's because the saddle's new or I'm not getting it adjusted right. After I got home I checked the temperature and the "feels like" was 107 degrees(°F).

We decided to ride the Canal path today thinking it would be the shadiest of the paths in the big city since a good portion of it is under an elevated hi-way and the high today was supposed to be near 100 degrees(°F). We started South of Pawnee and rode it up to the K96 path which we took out to Webb rd and then back for a total of 30 miles. The new path which connects the Canal and K96 paths, has had some further improvements made since we rode it when it was first completed. Lights, benches, fencing and landscaping. Sadly some of the newly planted trees have already succumb to the heat and are dieing or dead. I empathized with them.
Pictured above is one of two deer we spotted feeding in this field at the edge of a housing addition.

Today we rode 31 miles of path in the big city (Watson Park to 21st N & 119th E). About halfway into the ride we decided to stop for lunch and a big, ice cold beer despite the fact that it was 10:45am. After our early lunch we continued on our way, stopping at a Volkswagen show in the park. Along the Arkansas River we spotted big carp, turtles, fisherman, swimmers and the renovation work on the historic Broadview Hotel and the construction of the new dam. We encountered a lot of people on the path in the morning but come afternoon there were next to none. On the way home we spotted signs displaying a temperature of over 100 degrees (°F).




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This morning Nova and I rode over to my parent's house to see my Mother. I had found a really nice birthday card with a bicycle on it. A little rewriting inside the card and it became her Mother's Day card.

This afternoon Nova and I took the Grandkids up to Chisholm Creek Park and the K96 bicycle path (which Nova & I rode yesterday). We rode on and off the path for a little bit till Blake had a flat that I wasn't able to repair. We then all went hiking on the nature trails at the park.

Yesterday after attending the Bicycle Safety Rodeo, Nova and I went in to the big city and rode about 20 miles on the K96 bike path. 2 of those miles were out and back on the future Redbud rail-to-trail which intersects with the K96 path.
I think I said this the last time we rode the K96 path but it is poorly or not marked at all in the areas around Oliver, Woodlawn and Rock Road making it easy to make a wrong turn.
The Redbud trail is currently being paved in town. I don't know what the plans are for the rest of the trail East out of Wichita to Andover.

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