14 Mile Bike Ride, Weeding, Batch 43 Finished

OMG my quads and thighs are still super sore this morning after our longest ride yet yesterday. We left the house before 11:00am and went our normal way for the first mile. This time once we crossed the highway for the second time we rode down River Estates road that is a 2 mile long dead end and fairly flat and mellow the whole way. The only spot that has a hill is right at the beginning by the highway.

14 mile ride.JPG

At the end of the dead end is a ranch of some kind and the fence line. The river runs out through here and the last house on the road has an area along their back fence line that they allow the public access to the river. It's a nifty little area that is far better than the swimming hole right next to the highway. One of these days I will bring the boys back up so we can go check it out.

I rode everything without having to walk but J walked his bike a number of times on the steepest hills. He walked his bike as fast as I could pedal mine while towing the trailer carrying R.

By the time we got back to the intersection at the top of River Estates we had done 5 miles. J wanted to go on to the lake so we turned up the road and continued on our normal route. We rode around the lake and ended up by the playground. We had to pick a different table since the covered area was being used by a group of women with a get together. We had done 8.25 miles when we stopped to eat.

After the boys played on the playground a little bit and had eaten their lunches we got back on the roll again. I have taken to the longer route home to give us more miles that are on the mellow side. It is pretty level most of the way home save a couple of small hills. The route takes us to Chattaroy road and the hill. The hill is where the road drops nice and steeply down to the valley below. It is one of the steeper roads in the area and can lead to some pretty high speeds. R seems to do okay and holds on tight for the fast descent. J takes it a bit easier and goes at a more comfortable pace for him. This is the view from the top of the hill, looking across the valley at our property.

Once we were home it took a bit of rest before I could manage to haul my ass up and outside to do some more weeding in the main garden. It appears that the beets did not quite germinate like I had hoped and the weeds and grasses had choked most of them out. I have to reseed them since they will still produce by the end of the season.

Scouts was at 6:00pm and we were home by about 7:30 pm. The boys all got to put up tents and see the various types of tents since we will be going to the camp out this weekend at the scout camp up north.

Shortly after returning home from scouts the freeze dryer finished its cycle. All 5 trays were perfectly dried. I bagged them up and from the 10 pounds of veggie medley that went into the freeze dryer only 1 pound 12 ounces came out. 8 pounds of water removed and in the drain bucket after the defrost is one gallon of water. It took a bit longer than I had expected since the trays went in with frozen food on it, but at least the cycle is done before the temps get back to the 80F+ range the rest of the week.

Today I am going to try and rest a bit as my body is damned sore still. There is more grass to cut, the sheep need a new bale of hay rolled in, I have to get the trailer ready to get grain tomorrow morning, and there is still plenty of weeding to do in the gardens.