Exploring the 'Hood

I recently rescued my bike from its position hanging upside down from hooks in the garage and went for a ride around the neigborhood. I haven't used it since last spring (yes, spring 2009), when we still lived in our apartment. That day, I decided to look up the trails in town and chose one that was an accessible distance to the apartment and was not too long. I trekked up and down the steep hills of North Bismarck and it was exhausting. When I finally arrived at the trail entrance there was a gate across it. Lame. No trail for me. After that, I didn't ride the bike for rest of the summer, mostly because it was so steep up there that riding was painful for a person like me, accustomed to flat Eastern ND.

While I was riding a few nights ago I decided that this neigborhood is like a kid's fantasy neigborhood. There is a large park two blocks from our house that has tennis courts, a skate park, a frisbee golf course and a large swimming pool, as well as an ice rink during the winter. The indoor golf bubble is close enough to bike to (although it would be hard to do so with a golf bag!) and two golfcourses within minutes of our house. There is an elementary school one block away and a middle school with a track and football field about 4 blocks away. I'm especially excited about the track because I can rollerblade on it! I can roll pretty fast, and I don't fall, but I can't stop very well and trying to tackle hills is out of the question so I'm glad I found a safe place to rollerblade nearby! (There are flatter trails in the southern part of town but I would have to drive to them). I appologize for the lack of pictures. I didn't know if people around here would appreciate a stranger on a bike lurking around and taking photos of schools and swimming pools from a distance.

If I see any overweight kids around here I am going to follow them home and give their parents a piece of my mind! There is no excuse for that around here. It's safe for kids to be out alone around here and there alot to do, so get moving kids! Shut off the video games!