Take Two.

This morning was take-two on the longer bike ride, after yesterday's unfortunate tire-pop. And, putting aside that M had to get a new tire, I actually think it was for the best. Yesterday morning was probably 80 with high humidity and no breeze. Today it was mid-70s with low humidity and strong breeze. Yesterday, the lake was pretty calm. This morning, there was a pretty strong chop. All in all, today was a better day for a ride and yesterday was a better day for a swim.

I've lived in Chicago for seven years but I've never been to the end of the lake path. That makes me feel kind of silly but I didn't have a bike until this year so I guess its understandable. We were supposed to ride for 90 minutes. That turned out to be 22 miles total, or almost to the end of the lake path on the south side. Its really pretty -- you get some surprising bits of nature, lake views, and the most lovely view of the city from the end of the path. Although, technically, our 45 minute turnaround point was a mile short of the end. Next time.

The plus side to riding south is that you get "open road" pretty quickly. The north side of the path tends to be much more cluttered with dogs, walkers, strollers, runners, rollerbladers, etc. The minus to riding south is that the turnaround means you have the wind in your face in the entire return trip.

By the time we got home, we were both starving. In fact, we pulled up to our building but decided that we had no time to waste in getting food so we rode to Elly's. I'd be lying if I said we looked good but we did put on an impressive display of eating. Pancakes, omlette, potatoes, coffee, all good, all gone. Great start to the morning.