Jeez it's warm

I wake up this morning to my alarm going off at 8am, and a strange booming sound...

What could it be besides thunder. So after assessing the weather situation. I went back to sleep.

At the luxurious hour of 12:30PM I roll over, open up my curtians, and lo and behold, it's nice outside! I start a pot of coffee brewing and check my weather widget. 72 freakin' degrees. Wow.

So I figure some saddle time on the Salsa would be nice, so I have my two cups of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal, and I'm off.

Since pretty much all all off-road options are off limits for a while, I figured I'd hop on the closest thing to a trail. The Portage Hike and Bike : ). Beggars can't be choosers, and some spots are a little less maintained than others, so at least it's a little bumpy, right?

So I end up doing an out and back starting on the MUP that runs on Kent State Campus. Here's my Salsa in it's native environment. Click it to go big, dude:

The nice MUP, right on Kent Campus. Not too long but good for a run or a romantic walk with the lady.

And here's the Portage Hike and Bike:


The Portage Hike and Bike ends in Ravenna, and sorry to all that live there, but my humble opinion is that it's the most depressing place on earth. Here's a snap of me next to an animal rendering plant that runs next to the MUP. Not pictured is the silo that says ANIMAL FAT on it, nor the smell that was pretty harsh to my weak vegan stomach. Poor animals :-(


So after a bit of an out and back, I realized that the Kent MUP is done! I don't know if anyone reads this from the greater Kent area, but man it's nice. Super smooth and realllly really wide. You can hop on it immediately south of the Crain Street bridge. Parking is available at the old diner on the corner of Crain and 43.

So all-in all not a bad day, all things considered. I'm absolutely thrilled for spring and summer to be here.

•18.8 miles
•1:28 saddle time