For the past 10 days, including today on July 4th, I’ve been riding my Specialized Como e-bike averaging twenty miles over a couple of hours each morning. I’ve taken three trips driving our car to the Neuse River Greenway Trail from southeast Clayton to northeast Raleigh riding my bike on the south, central and north sections. Although the total trail is only about 30 miles long, each time I parked at the designated lots and rode for 10 miles each way, I doubled the distance going roundtrip. With summer temperatures rising from mid 70’s to over 90 degrees, the bike trails are a cool haven located in a predominantly oak-tree forest adjacent to the gentle, meandering river.
Today on the north section I rode from the Falls Lake Dam to the Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve. At the rest stop, I noticed two happy woman smiling and said hello then I noticed the JW.org information so we had a nice conversation about religion, politics, and praying for world peace. At the Preserve, the Neuse River forms an oxbow so the owners protected the area then obtained certification for SITES sustainability with features including solar lighting, composting toilets using no water or chemicals and permeable pavers to reduce runoff and filter stormwater. Along the entire trail there are several interesting wooden and iron suspension bridges crossing over the river and elevated wood platforms over wetlands. Along the way, I saw several deer, rabbits, and an old, ornery snapping turtle on a wood bridge that did not want my help to move and he lunged at me holding my bike helmet.
Yesterday, I took our dog Moka to PetSmart in Apex for grooming so I had some time to ride the trails around Beaver Creek and Cary. So now I’ve found we can ride along neighborhood streets from home to Apex Friendship High School. At nearby Apex Nature Park, a bike trail goes along the Beaver Creek Greenway all the way to Jaycee Park. We can also ride to the nearby American Tobacco Trail stretching 22 miles north to Durham and also a trail along White Oak Creek greenway northeast to Cary and Bond Lake Park.
Then with more time to wait for Moka, I drove over to the Koko Booth Amphitheater and Symphony Lake area of eastern Cary and found the Swift Creek trail goes to Ritter Park where we played 12u baseball (AJ played and I coached the Goodberry’s team).
I also found some roads and trails to ride along the Haw River and Harris Lake. One funny thing I learned when using the phone app Raleigh Greenspace, I tried to find bike trails along the Haw River like I found along the Neuse River except with the Haw the map lines only trace the river path and there are no bike trails. I tried several times to cross over a bridge not seeing a bike trail until I realized my mistake. So instead I found some nearby roads in a rural area off old Highway 1 and got chased by a dog protecting a herd of cattle. Luckily, my e-bike saved my knees and ankles.
Despite all the riding I’ve only lost about three pounds and still have more belly fat to remove! I realize I’m eating too many calories like Aussie Bites which are 130 calories each as Costco sells 32 bites per container (or 4,160 calories) which only lasted a week! For my age I only need about 2000-2500 calories per day.
Moral of the story: Ride more, eat less.