Warming Up For Tacos & West Side Taco Ride
It was Taco Tuesday so thank goodness there was a West Side Taco Ride ending up at Tortilleria Perches where they have $1 tacos on Tuesdays!
I wanted to get at least 20 miles in so I did a ride around our big block until I got too dizzy and/or ran out of time. The route wasn't exciting, but a few exciting things happened. The first was a car that pulled out of a driveway about 100 yards in front of me going the same direction I was headed. I caught up with them, and then I passed them! On another lap a different car pulled out about about 200 yards in front of me going the same direction I was headed. They stopped at the four-way stop and just sat there...so, I passed them too. Then, as I was reviewing my stats for the ride much later that evening I saw that I had averaged over 20 mph on the ride. I can't remember averaging much over 18 mph before so I was shocked!
I strapped Sirius to the back of the Avalanche and headed to Elfindale Center...
There were quite a few cyclists there, much to my surprise! It was an off-week for this once every two week group ride that was put together with less than 48 hours notice, so I was expecting just a handful of people.
We headed out of the parking lot at 6 p.m. and had a few adventures along the route.
My Strava app stopped recording somewhere around Divsion and National so I had to borrow another cyclist's route map (seen above). The route took us by a high school soccer match, a high school football game, and the Springfield skate park (http://www.parkboard.org/319/Springfield-Skate-Park). Then we went on a trail by Fassnight Park that I had never been on before, and then did a lap or two around Phelps Grove Park. We even rode a path that went through a tunnel under Chestnut Expressway near OTC.
There were a lot of people out enjoying the cooler Fall weather and a few were even outside cooking. Some very fragrant aromas greeted us as we rode by. One family on Commercial street invited us to come back for grilled chicken. I don't think they were serious though... (confession: I didn't take this photo. I found it online.)
We used the last bit of daylight as we arrived back at Elfindale Center. Sirius hopped back onto the Avalanche and I ordered 3 pork tacos and a diet Coke and enjoyed the chips, salsa, and fellowship!
