Oh, my stars and garters!

Let's go ride a bike! On the Southern Walnut Creek Trail! Yeah!

Yesterday Eric and I checked out the newly opened segment of the Southern Walnut Creek Hike and Bike Trail in East Austin. When completed, the trail will span from Govalle Park to Johnny Morris Road and will eventually connect to a planned path all the way out to Manor. 

The trail is well east of our house and doesn't really go anywhere I need to be. Still, it's an awesome recreational amenity that winds through a somewhat neglected part of town.

I'm especially excited about it because I know lots of people who enjoy riding bikes but (understandably) aren't comfortable riding in Austin traffic or on the completely-packed-with-humanity trail along Lady Bird Lake. 

This trail is perfect for casual riders. It's wide, smooth, safe, and well graded. Major roads and the railroad tracks are avoided by underpasses. There are a few hills, but they're manageable and add some interest to the ride. 

We felt kind of lame putting our bikes in the truck and driving over to the trailhead instead of riding there, but crossing 183 on a bike is no damn fun at best. We parked at the back of the lot at the YMCA on East 51st. The trail is right there, along the soccer fields. (You can pick it up at Loyola Lane too, but the Y seemed easier.)

Most of the trail runs parallel to Walnut Creek...

...which is admittedly not very lovely. The creek isn't visible for most of the way, though, and the trail is lined with trees that will provide beauty and shade in spring. 

Riding under 183 was kind of cool. I have crossed that bridge on my car many times and always liked looking down at Boggy Creek. It was fun to finally get down there.

It only took us a half an hour to zip from 183/51st to the current terminus at Jain Lane, so on the way back we decided to take a detour on a wooded path that split off the trail just west of Jain.

I don't know who maintains the decomposed granite path there, or why, but it was fun as hell riding through the dim, slightly creepy woods.

We saw a ton of birds on the ride, too. Hawks (BEEEEE-Yaw!), black vultures, cardinals, jays, doves, crows, and an egret. We also heard a critter crashing around in the brush so clumsily that it had to be an armadillo. 

 

If you want an easy, somewhat secluded place to ride in Austin, I can't recommend this trail enough. I'm looking forward to riding it again already.

Reading list

I finally finished Moby Dick during a slow afternoon on my last day of work in 2013. It took me over a year to read it, including a long stretch this spring and summer when I put it down because I had more than enough to read at work and no thank you.

If you haven't read it, I recommend it. It's meditative and funny and human and at times really beautiful. It does live up to its reputation as a slog at times, but it's one of those books you sort of teach yourself to read as you go. I found it much easier going once I was immersed.

I read the whole thing, but I wouldn't judge anyone for skimming some of the slower chapters; if you cut out all the musings on whale anatomy and taxonomy, you'd probably end up with a zippy novella about a chase at sea. 

After I finished, I wandered into my coworkers' office to show off the certificate the Power Moby-Dick site awards you after you ace their reading quiz. They were--or at least acted--impressed, and then Sam asked what I was going to read next.

I said I didn't know, what should I read next? Lei-Leen turned to their shared bookshelf and slammed this down on the table in front of me with a decisive FWUNK:

 

So I guess I know what I'm reading for the rest of the year. I got the Kindle version for the iPad to supplement the hard copy so I can more easily navigate the endnotes. I'll let you know how it is in 2015.