I must be getting old(er)
Somehow, I have gotten pulled into a project that involves constructing mountain bike trails in the nearby city park. Perhaps, I shouldn't say "somehow" because I can trace the whole path to that point through a series of emails from the head of a local biking group that is working on installing bike lanes throughout the city, something I highly support since I do a fair amount of bicycle commuting.
So I get this email about the city park project and click through to take a look at the map of "proposed" trails. The email is asking city residents to write to the council to support the project, and it seemed as if they were having a hard time getting that support. After looking at the map, I had a whole lot of questions about the project that made me wonder whether the park was the right place for it. Of course, being me, I emailed those questions back to the bike group.
The rest is history, as they say.
Yesterday I spent a couple of interesting hours tramping through the park and seeing what was planned on the ground. Despite being pretty good with maps, it really helped to actually walk through the space and hear what was planned. The proposed trails were actually improvements on old trails already present and the removal of trails that were detrimental to the environment. The person spearheading this project really knew what he was doing, having done this in other parks in the area. So no problem there, and I was glad to have spent the time getting to know two very interesting people who liked biking (and kayaking...I now have a standing invitation to explore several ponds I've been studying from rather limited access points.)
But really...did we have to pick the coldest Saturday of the winter so far to do this? My feet were frozen by the time I got back. (And, no, better socks would not have helped since I was wearing wool and my insulated hiking shoes. It's a circulation issue.) I ended up collapsing on the couch (with a warm kitty snuggled with me) for several hours. This morning, I ache and am still exhausted. I've forgotten just how much the cold can take out of you.
Would I do it again? Sure.
But not today.
(And now that I think about it, I will be doing it again tomorrow, since I am going out sampling with one of my research students tomorrow.)
So I get this email about the city park project and click through to take a look at the map of "proposed" trails. The email is asking city residents to write to the council to support the project, and it seemed as if they were having a hard time getting that support. After looking at the map, I had a whole lot of questions about the project that made me wonder whether the park was the right place for it. Of course, being me, I emailed those questions back to the bike group.
The rest is history, as they say.
Yesterday I spent a couple of interesting hours tramping through the park and seeing what was planned on the ground. Despite being pretty good with maps, it really helped to actually walk through the space and hear what was planned. The proposed trails were actually improvements on old trails already present and the removal of trails that were detrimental to the environment. The person spearheading this project really knew what he was doing, having done this in other parks in the area. So no problem there, and I was glad to have spent the time getting to know two very interesting people who liked biking (and kayaking...I now have a standing invitation to explore several ponds I've been studying from rather limited access points.)
But really...did we have to pick the coldest Saturday of the winter so far to do this? My feet were frozen by the time I got back. (And, no, better socks would not have helped since I was wearing wool and my insulated hiking shoes. It's a circulation issue.) I ended up collapsing on the couch (with a warm kitty snuggled with me) for several hours. This morning, I ache and am still exhausted. I've forgotten just how much the cold can take out of you.
Would I do it again? Sure.
But not today.
(And now that I think about it, I will be doing it again tomorrow, since I am going out sampling with one of my research students tomorrow.)