Familiar Roads

Hello world!  This is a new blog about my cycling adventures.  I took a ride close to home last Friday and took some pictures of what I get to see close to home.  I'm eager to ride into new places, but aware that I live in one of the best places in the country to be bike riding.  Cache Valley is full of straight and long country roads with views of mountain all around.  Country homes come with smiling faces.  I love riding here and love being outside on fall days like we've had recently.  The worries of the summer heat causing dehydration and, with it, heat exhaustion, are distant.  The exhaustion you feel these days is real! 

Benson Marina near Benson, Utah.  The Bear River flows through much of the western side of Cache County and its flow is maintained by the Cutler Reservoir on the west side of the valley.  History says Jim Bridger, the mountain man, explorer, and map maker, took the Bear River by canoe through this area eventually ending up in the Great Salt Lake - he thought he was at the ocean given it's vastness and saltiness.  For a time, he was attributed to its "discover" although it had always been there...

The Benson Marina is exactly 10 miles from my house.  It is a good there-and-back if I need a shortish ride to get the legs pumping.  There are usually fisherman there.  I've tried fishing there, but never caught a thing.  I think I'm hitting it on the wrong days (or I'm just not that good).

 There is a little picnic area and boat launch - lots of kayaks, canoes, and the like.  I hear you can explore the area by boat and find inlets all over.  Birders find this area attractive during migration seasons.

My new shinny bike....  Maybe another post on it later.

I rode south and west towards the Wellsville mountains that you can see above.  The pictures don't capture it well, but the mid-October morning had the mountain a blaze in red from the changing leaves of the scrub oak that grows on this east facing mountain side.  The "Wellsville's", as the locals call them, are considered some of the steepest ranges in North America - soon enough they will have white snow covered peaks.

I turned east again in the city of Mendon and headed to USU campus for the day.  This is my medium-long ride to work, around 30 miles.  I usually head to the mouth of Logan Canyon and haul up the hill from 1st Dam to campus to finish the ride.  I can make it longer by visting some other country towns (Newton is a favorite) on the way.