Took a spin down the Fox River Trail toward the south on a lovely late June day. Started from my usual spot near the Hollywood Casino in downtown Aurora.
Here's a look back toward downtown Aurora. There were some fish below the bridge here, languidly poised in the slow current and pointed upstream. I'm guessing they were redhorse; that would be good news since that species is pretty sensitive to pollutants. Indicates that the Fox is in pretty good shape.
Not a lot of competition for space on the trail on a Thursday. Nodded to a few fellow cyclists and walkers, who appeared to be mostly retirees like myself.
It's about 7 miles to the trail's end in the town of Oswego. A bit too early for lunch, so I headed back north. Stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the view from the Veteran's Serenity Park. This is really nicely done: a place to pause and reflect.
I was feeling frisky on the way back, so I decided to tack on a few more miles. The Virgil Gilman Trail connects to the Fox River Trail just south of downtown Aurora, so I headed west.
On the first of a series of bridges near the start of the trail, a long train of tankers carrying sludgy oil-shale crude raped from the pristine Alberta wilderness thundered overhead. Soon that oil will be converted into kilotons of carbon dioxide and pumped directly into our already tortured atmosphere.
This local gendarme enjoys the trail's seclusion and quiet beauty as he takes a well-deserved nap after a grueling morning of writing a speeding ticket.
Well, the old clock in the sky said it was time to be getting home after a relaxed 20-mile ride. Also it was getting sticky hot.
Just signed up for the North Shore Century, which takes place Sept. 18, so I need to pick up the pace on these rides.
I want to do at least the 62-mile "metric century (100 kilometers)," but would really like to shoot for the 75-miler. Gonna take a lot of riding 'twixt now and then to shake off these pandemic pounds and get my stamina up.
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