So, It Must Be Spring Now Because...

Finally, I was able to start that spring/summer/fall ritual of riding off road every Wednesday. The first time out was at The Camp's South side. It was surprisingly dry, almost dusty, and definitely sandy in spots.

However; there still is enough moisture in the ground to jump start the vegetation out there. I would imagine that if we get a few showers, or even a solid drenching rain or two in the coming week, it won't take long to turn the still mostly barren landscape into a raging jungle.

Evidence is everywhere that things are ready to "spring" into action. (Maybe that is why it is called Spring!) At any rate, the green stuff is there just below the duff of last year's dead growth and fallen leaves. When it gets some more moisture, look out!

I was fortunate enough to have had to stop to take some images of my bike and rear tire for Twenty Nine Inches. This forced me to notice a slew of tiny flowers in the dead underbrush and leaves all around me. The first flowers of Spring in the wild!

Little pink and white ones with an occasional violet color could be seen here and there peeking out in the bright April sun.

I don't know if it is legal for a "guy" to get excited about flowers or not, but I do. For me, it is one of the reasons for me to get out and use my bicycle. I get back in the woods, or down that lightly traveled rural road and see things few, if any, people see at all.

Now that I have finally figured out how to focus my LX-3 manually, (I know Gnat is doing a "face palm" about right now!), I can have fun getting some decent images of the things I am seeing as well.

So, expect me to be out trying to bag some more of this sort of stuff in the coming months.  I probably won't have to lay right down on the ground to get the shots I am going to get though, like I did today! Those flowers were tiny!

It turned out to be a "two-a-day" ride too. This time all off road. I hit up George Wyth State Park in the afternoon, but it wasn't nearly as clear, or fun as the Camp is.

I was still feeling last weekend's Renegade Gents Race in my legs too. Not much "spunk" there yet, so I kind of backed it down a few notches from my regular riding pace to stay away from causing any untoward effects later. Looks like I'll be getting a rest tomorrow anyway, what with the wet weather that is predicted.

Which should bring more flowers, right?

Snow Dog Down: 43 Days and counting.....