I'm not sure yet if I want to make this thing a kind of bloated, everyday every ride account, but if so then I'm already late with my report on Friday's spins.

I elected NOT to roll the dice with the parking lot on Washington Blvd on my way in on Friday. I did, however, take Ellsworth to Morewood again. It's a neat route; not as fast as 5th Ave, but definitely safer.

Friday night we were planning to meet my parents, siblings, and siblings significant others at the Sesame Inn in Station Square for dinner to celebrate my sister's birthday. My wife Jessica assumed that she would just be picking me (and my bike) up at work, and for some reason I assumed the same until I thought: "Wait, why don't I just bike down and meet everybody there?" So I did. The Eliza Furnace trail is temporarily out of commission so I got a chance to introduce myself to the South Side Trail, which runs right alongside the southern shore of the Monongahela River. It was a really cool ride; very twisty and turny with some interesting, alternative views of the city, especially the Sawth Side. Saw a tug boat pushing some barges of coal from a distance of only about 50 feet away or so. The combination of the oncoming dark and the healthy amount of autumn leaves on the path had me being kind of careful not to overdrive my little headlight, though. I'd love to get to know that trail well enough to really fly on it.

I beat everybody there, and ended up sneaking my bike inside (I badly need a U-lock) and sitting on a bench inside the Station Square mall, hanging out, waiting. Eventually my parents came in and when my Mom saw me sitting there in my green shorts-over-biking tights and fleece pullover on top of biking jersey and a cut-off shirt sleeve on my head (the coolest option in cheap-o ear warming technology) she said: "I'm not sitting with you!" Hmmph.

Album of the day: "Of Snowdonia"- by Daedalus