First Ride 2012- At Last

At last. No, not the great Etta James song. My first outdoor bike ride of 2012. It took a couple months of continued recuperation from the December surgery. Then I couldn't get the bike to the shop for its spring tune-up. But finally,

this past Tuesday everything came together-

• a free evening
• the bike back
• beautiful weather and

out I went on the trails and streets of Rochester.

(No I didn't start at Caribou Coffee. That was the 2/3 mark. To relax, enjoy the evening and do some outdoor reading.)






As I often do, I started out along Cascade Creek and, coming to the dam just before the river was the duck and flowers a-bloom. I only took my HTC Android phone along but got some good pictures anyway.

Then across and along the Zumbro where I wasn't the only one enjoying the evening. People in paddle boats, parental Canada Geese and baby geese learning to swim shared the near sunset.











As often happens, I found a butterfly to capture on my digital card.


Flowers and butterflies.







A constant source of pictures.




A great start for the cycling season!