Yesterday, the kickoff of the 4th of July weekend, I had every intention of doing a quick ride to the retention pond and coming back home to help Del get ready for our house guest, Cheryl. But when I got to the pond, I found myself veering off in the direction of the lake. Lake? Pond? The distinction varies depending on where in the world one is. Our pond is someone else’s puddle. Heritage Lake is a favorite destination of mine since it offers more ‘scenery’ than usual. I’m always looking for ways to further the fantasy that I’m not still in Rantoul, Illinois. So at the far end (from 410 South Garrard, anyway) of the pond, I headed south and picked up Century Boulevard, which takes a turn to the south and becomes East Perimeter Drive. I was at the lake in “no time.” But first, I took a stop for some photography on the eastern side of the airport. Many unused runways remain…
You could fly out to the west if you wanted to, I suppose, but it would be a bumpy ride. A far cry from its heyday when the B-52s came and went here.
On impulse, I snapped my shadow next to the bike, and its shadow:
And, yes. There’s a fence. I snapped the above runway shot holding the camera aloft above the fence. Suspicion is low at the moment, and the traffic was very light on E Perimeter Rd. The airport patrol gets more active in the wake of an incident. It’s been a long while.
Heritage Lake is just around the corner. I was on the dirt bike, so I just went up the hill to the lake and skipped the formality of using the official entrance. A lone angler was busy with his tackle. I was respectfully quiet the last few yards up, and walked the bike up the path to the eastern-most island. This is surely a favorite hang of teens looking to experiment with getting it on.
The view is from the island, and you can see that I left the bike on the bridge. The overgrowth is perfect for being hidden in weeds while smoking some weed. Or whatever you miscreants want to get into. Not telling, swear to god.
The ride yesterday was without incident and very pleasant. A sort of a local pallet cleanser.
I took a survey about a week ago of three of the local bike shops. At Neutral Cycle, I found a hole in the wall in a busy section of campus town, with an unhelpful staff and not much inventory. They were busy helping younger folks who appeared to have money to spend. This was after a stop at Champaign Cycle, which was a very large shop with a ton of higher end inventory. They are dealers for Cannondale, so you can look at pricey bikes up close. They can’t offer much advice on parts unless you bring your crap bike in, and they can really get down to selling you a Cannondale. Or trying to. They also carry the Trek line.
The best of the three shop quick tour, in my view, was Durst Cycle. I visited both locations, and was impressed by the value of the Giant brand that they carry abundantly. The two people I spoke to at Durst, one per location, were very helpful and personable. I can see the advantage of giving them my business when (and if) I finally get down to business. Of the Giant cycles, I lean towards the Cypress models because of the geometry of the frame. I’m sort of done with hunching forward to ride. And though my favorite features, ie., disk brakes, aluminum alloy frames, a currently available accessory range, up the prices, this is a very appealing brand to me in the somewhat affordable zone of available new bicycles.