Ride to South Buffalo and a Short Ride with My Dog

in #cycling4steemit6 years ago (edited)

What a gorgeous day! For once, we had an amazing weekend in the 50s on Saturday and then in the 60s today. I am so ready for a summer full of cycling! I am so glad I discovered Steemit and the cycling4steemit group. This is helping inspire me to ride more, Strava it and take photos to share. I just to want to show all the cool places you can go by bicycle and hopefully inspire others to explore by bike.

So, I rode with a friend again today. I love riding with other people and in groups. Cycling can be a great way to socialize and I've met so many new people this way. The only problem is that nobody wants to stop to take photos. I guess I may only have photos of our destinations when I'm not riding alone. It leaves so much more to show everyone on future rides.

Strava stopped finding my location for awhile so the map below is wrong and is missing 3 miles. I actually rode 20 miles on the first ride. It missed our trip through South Park by the Botanical Gardens. After meeting my friend at Cafe Taza for coffee, we made our way past the outer harbor to the Union Ship Canal.

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After my friend had a couple drinks (I'm still not drinking), we made our way through South Park, home of the Botanical Gardens then went a few blocks over to the Dog Ears Cafe for lunch and coffee. This is a great little coffee shop with excellent food, a a great atmosphere and with a bookstore in the middle of the shop!

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The Botanical Gardens

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The cafe was closing soon so we took the food and coffee over to Cazenovia Park. After getting some rest, we made our way home, but stopped for more coffee at Grindhaus. Alright, I know I come off as a coffee fiend but coffee shops are a great alternative to bars when you quit drinking. Too many rides featured bar after bar. It's good to stop somewhere once in awhile. At least there are a lot of good independent coffee shops around here.

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I still had energy when I got home so I decided to take my dog Sebastian for another ride in the trailer. I went to Front Park again but also went a bit further up the river. These photos are from two stops we made by a new bridge over the highway. The highway cuts off most access to the Niagara River. This pedestrian and bicycle bridge is awesome but it would be so much better if the highway wasn't there at all!

The first couple photos are from a dead end trail below the bridge. The next couple are on the bridge.

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Well I'm worn out a little bit and sore but I think I'll ride to work tomorrow. It's 10 miles each way so the last two days were a good warmup.

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You have an amazing dog! Keep up cardio training ;)

Thanks! I'm just excited for this great riding weather! Lots of cardio and fun.

The nice thing about riding in groups, or even twos, is that you are riding together to the same place, while not being tied together. Everyone has their own pace, and if someone wants to stop for a while, it's okay. They'll catch up, or others are bound to stop for some reason, and eventually you are back to sharing the experience.
And as for drinking, I prefer the coffee before the ride and the beer after. If you drink as much water in between as the two of them combined, you'll even be well hydrated, enjoying both beverages even more.

Groups of more than two are good so at least if I'm not drinking, everyone else is not left drinking alone. I might start drinking again but I'm enjoying these couple months sober. I meet a lot of cyclists in social barhop rides so maybe that's just the scene I'm in.

That is a super cute dog you have.

The reason i often end up riding alone is because very difficult to find someone who has similar reasons for riding. While I might want to stop for pictures, the other person wants to do a hardcore ride for fitness. Then there are groups of cyclists here, who stop every couple of kilometres for 'selfies', those i avoid like the plague!

Very difficult to find a riding partner.

A beer after a nice long ride is any day better than a coffee :p

Thanks! I don't know if this sober thing will last. That's the other half of finding people to ride with. Everyone usually wants to drink and not alone. Maybe if I can get a couple more people to ride next time, then I can go do my own thing and meet up with everyone in a little bit. I'm not much of a selfie person.

Dogs are about as smart as a two- or three-year-old child. This means they can understand about 150-200 words, including signals and hand movements with the same meaning as words.

Te felicito por tus imágenes fotográficas, además gozas de buena salud y mucha energía al hacer una travesía y luego con tu perro. Buen Post.

Your post had been hand selected by me for @buildawhale & @upmyvote team and mentioned here:

https://steemit.com/curation/@buildawhale/buildawhale-curation-digest-04-24-18

Keep up the good work and original content, everyone appreciates it!