I set my sites just a little further down the blacktop today. I decided to ride out to Cloudland Canyon, one of my very favorite parks in the area, just over the Tennessee/Georgia state line.
To make the stretch manageable, I mapped out a route to the northern, and closer by 4 miles than the southern, entrance to the park. Always looking for the next manageable increment – at 55 miles, roundtrip, I tacked on 5 miles more than yesterday, and it felt doable. An extra 9 would have landing me on the taxing side of things.
When I got there, I hiked 4 miles up the Sitton Gulch Trail to see the many waterfalls in the park.
I did several new things today. I stopped and got gas for myself. I figured out how I wanted to conceal carry my gun. I was able to ride with headphones in my ears inside my helmet so that I could listen to a little bit of music, talk on the phone with the hubby for a few minutes, as well as hear instructions from my Google Maps. I, also, figured out how to use my helmet lock on my bike. All in all, not a bad day!
What I’m finding is that I’m getting more and more comfortable all the way around, enough to manage those extra details of different tasks in addition to feeling so much more comfortable while riding my bike, enough so that I felt I could manage tacking a hike on in the middle of my ride. Everything is really starting to gel!!
Smarter-Not-Harder U 