Wildflower Time~

 A truly beautiful spring day!  I couldn't resist loading the bike & heading toward the trail.  Once in Silver City, I noticed the wind had picked up & as I left, I was riding right into it.  I didn't care!  It had been a hectic day & I was ready to work off some energy.

Dutchman's Breeches!

The greens are slowly taking over the browns of the winter months.  As I crossed over toward the area where I'd found the flowers last season - there they were!  Just short of a week since I'd ridden & in that time they had gone from unnoticeable to full bloom!  I'd been watching for mine near the creek at home too, but I couldn't find any - yet.

The grass is greening!

Stopping on the bridges with creeks - it's fun to see the changes in the water levels & watch as the edges turn green.

Smokey on the bridge~

Last Saturday I'd taken Smokey into Mari Jo's shop.  I'd lost air from the rear tire, almost every time I went to take the bike out.  Our plan was to remove & check the tire.  The problem became removing it, as it was difficult to get off.  Getting it back on correctly was even more difficult.  I decided to take it into the Bike Rack, which I did on Sunday.  There, they kindly explained the bike has a small latch that needs to be flipped for the back wheel to release.  Service checked out the bike, showed me how to drop the tire & put it back in.  Valuable for me to know, with Butch gone.

Silver Creek

With the beautiful sunshine, Silver Creek almost had a silver sheen :-)  The Cardinal's were out too, racing to cross the trail in front of me several times!  They're such bright flashes of color I can't miss them!

I arrived in Malvern in really good time, well under an hour!  Something a few weeks ago I didn't think I'd ever do.  I rode over to Little Red's Service & talked with Donnie about taking in the Bronco.  He agreed & Phil will tow it over for me next week.

On the way back~

I sat for a while at picnic table by the little Depot before heading back.  It was a nice break, to have the wind at my back.

Sweet William~

A sure sign winter is finally over, is seeing the first of the Sweet William starting to bloom.  Soon, there will be more!  It's been so dry for so long, that even the wildflowers are starting to wilt.  Rain is forecast for later this week & I hope we see it.

Once home, I downloaded my stats to find I'd made this 16.5 trip my fastest ever, average speed 9.7 mph.  Shutting off the Garmin when I stopped for photos, my average moving speed was 9.8.  It's just over a year & a half from my accident & my leg has muscled up again.  It doesn't work quite the same, but it's working.  Changing bikes to the Cannondale has also made a huge difference.  I've reached my goal & made the ride a bit faster than pre-accident!