The Weekend Tribute To The C.O.G.100

 The Black Mountain Cycles "Monster Cross", or as I call it, "Orange Crush"

Yesterday I posted about the happenings around the World in relation to the solo #cog100 ride and posted up some images sent to me and found on social media. Today I am going to tell you what I did to commemorate the "postponed weekend".

Friday I knew that Saturday was going to be a mess, in terms of the weather, so I rode the single speed set up Black Mountain Cycles Monster Cross, serial # 49, which I call the Orange Crush. That was a fun commute on the new route which does have some alleys, dirt paths, and short cuts across some areas. So, a fair amount of non-paved surfaces. I try to get off pavement as much as possible. Usually that means less, or zero car traffic. The less of that the better! Plus the dirt and alleyways provide more challenges, adventure, and fun. So, I seek that out whenever possible.

The Saturday of the weekend was, as expected, rainy and not conducive to putting in any sort of decent bike ride. I ended up doing a long walk and then spent the rest of the day with my family. Sunday promised to be a bit better, but when the winds were gusting toward 50mph on Sunday morning, I decided to wait until the afternoon to see what would happen. By around 3:00pm, the winds had subsided to a "measly" 16-20mph with a few higher gusts, so I decided to do an urban ride.This was again down some alleyways around my neighborhood. I can literally spend a few hours just riding alleys in this city. The only bad thing about it is that I have to interrupt the fun every block to cross a paved street.

But I like alleyways anyway, despite the constant interruptions. Once in awhile I find some alleys that I can bomb since they are in really quiet neighborhoods. That may be not a smart thing to do, but hey! What is life without taking a chance once in a while? Besides, I am ready to accept any consequences. It is also worth noting I don't do that often, but sometimes......

Alleyway as far as I can see.

There is this one particular alley, it is kind of hidden and out of the way behind some old gentrified homes, that I have discovered that goes fairly steeply down, or up, and is rough, and curves at the bottom. That's one I can generally just blast down, or up, as the case may be, as the cross-street traffic is pretty much nil. Of course, I hit that one Sunday! Then I crossed the mid-Southtown hills and finally did the rustic alleyway down Baltimore Street which leads me right back to my home area. But I wasn't quite ready to be done just yet.

I then hit the Elmwood Cemetery just down from where I live. I made several laps around there, and it is quite hilly, although the hills are tiny. It definitely is not flat! So I got a decent amount of on-again-of-again efforts in a short amount of time back in there.

So, not much to write home about, but there was a ride or two and I made the most out of what I have been handed. Look for a proper "#cog100" outing in the very near future.