Pearson Park; It's a park, so it must have bike trails...

    So it was actually a very nice Saturday afternoon in late October, which doesn't happen very often, and I just had to get out and ride.  However, the rest of the world seems to be in automobile mode by now, so if I wanted to ride, I was on my own.  

     I wanted to explore someplace I haven't been to before, and Pearson Park is one I haven't been to in "forever"; at least before the days I cared about bike trails.  Now, I certainly didn't remember what it was like, or if there were even any bike trails in that park.  In fact I was told it isn't really a bike friendly park at all; but what exactly do they mean by "bike friendly"??  I can make friends with anyone, so it should be easy to make friends with the park.

     It was a bit of a drive just to get there, but I needed new blood, so I was up for the road trip.

     When I got to the park I noticed all of the roads were one way, and the opposite side was the bike lane.  

This was interesting that they reserved half of the road for bikes.  I soon figured out why they did this...

     This was the bike trail, and it does not look bike friendly at all.  There was no way I was going on that , especially on a "road bike", and I'll bet not many others wanted to either.

     I'm sure the park administration figured it was a lot less work to put up "one way" and "bike lane" signs, then it was to pave the awful gravel trail.

     I didn't have a problem sharing the street with the motorists, but the problem came in when the wind from the vehicles blew the leaves into the bike lane.  If the leaves weren't challenging enough, buried beneath them were a million acorns.  Blindly running over random acorns with thin tires and feeling the pop was enough to give a person a mild heart attack.

  However, it wasn't enough to make me end my ride, because it was a beautiful day and gorgeous park.

  I did get off my bike and admire the breathtaking view of the  pond for a while; I sometimes forget my bike's not attached to me...

     But soon I was back on my bike and exploring a park I had forgotten all about.  I came across a playground I had played on as a child, and while the rickety old swings I remembered were still intact, they had added some space age equipment, including our team mascot; Mr. frog:)

     While I was taking a picture of the cute little (or huge) frog, I noticed there was a man sitting on a bench watching his grandsons play.  I asked him if he would snap a quick picture for me and then I had to follow it with some idle chit chat telling him what I'm doing so he didn't think I was a total nut case (of course I may have just confirmed it...). We briefly reminisced about the park in it's early years and I was back on my way.

     It's funny, my mom and I were just talking about how the leaves haven't started to fall yet, and it's almost November.  Suddenly I feel like I'm in a blizzard of falling leaves.

     On my ride I think I saw leaves in every color of the rainbow, but my favorite was when I got back to my car and noticed these pink leaves.  Pink is not what leaves are supposed to turn, but I really think they were put there just for me;)

     To the person who said Pearson Park isn't bike friendly, I say "well, I just made it my new friend that day!"

Have a great day!

Christine:)