I've Reached The End.

I went on a long, for me anyway, ride this morning. I rode about seventeen and a half miles, all under control so it wasn’t really difficult. The hardest part was trying to find somewhere to go without backtracking. I rode for about an hour and a half, and my goal was to ride for a full two hours but I ran out of places I wasn’t deathly afraid of getting lost, run over by a bad driver, or killed because I wound up in the wrong neighborhood. Just as when I wonder where and when the serious runners run, I wonder where serious the cyclists ride. I rode from my house through Riverside and Avondale, up to the Roosevelt Publix, behind Chamblin Book Mine, through Murray Hill, across Roosevelt Blvd, through Kent Campus, back down Riverside Ave, along the river, through Memorial Park, along the Riverwalk, down to the Jacksonville Landing, across the Main Street Bridge twice, and then home the way I came. I was out of places to go. I didn’t want to ride through Ortega because there are no bike lanes and long stretches I wouldn’t feel comfortable cruising at less than fifteen miles an hour. But even if I did go through Ortega and Venetia, what do I do once I get to Roosevelt and Timiquana? Do I head south on Roosevelt towards NAS Jax and Orange Park? The road is wide and straight, but the speed limit is fifty. Is it even legal for me to ride on that strip? Do I head west towards Cecil Field? I think it’s at least ten or twelve miles of straight road, but eight or nine of it is strip malls and the limit never drops below forty. I think there may even be dedicated bike lanes, but people use them as parking spaces. MJ keeps telling me about some kind of bike park out in the middle of nowhere, but I’d have to load my bike into a vehicle and drive there. I guess this is a good problem to have from a fitness point of view. I’ve outgrown my neighborhood.