I rode my bicycle last week – for the first time this year. It has been a late start. I was going to start writing about the reason why this has happened, but then realized that I had a late start, for almost the same reasons, last year also. So my mindset in this regard, and the preparation for this first ride, mirror what happened last year. I wrote about it in the first section of this blog.
Truth of the matter is that I had gotten my bike cleaned up for a ride a couple of weeks earlier, but had never gotten around to actually taking the bike to the trail. This year, I am finding that the heat outside is discouraging me more than I expected from my efforts to exercise. I have become better at making excuses. Years are catching up.
There were three distinct stages to the ride last week.
The first stage was getting used to the feeling of being in the saddle once again after a very long time. When I am on a bike, the distances and the scenery pass by more quickly and smoothly than I am used to when on foot. I cannot pay as much attention as I usually do to things beside the trail. Nevertheless, it was difficult to miss the large number of birds at the pond at Riley’s lock. I had to stop to take pictures. There were an unusual number of egrets at this location.
There were also a few Great Blue Herons to be seen all along the trail. We have not seen them for quite a while, and their sight, for some reason, brings a feeling of comfort.
The second part of the ride was when I was transported into a world of happy fantasy, where my mind wandered away into some other space. The act of biking itself became completely instinctive. I even recited a nursery rhyme loudly when I went past a section with a lot of blackbirds. My song for the morning included the words – “I want to fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me“! And then, there I was, chasing the butterfly, and the bird, and the rabbit, as they showed me the way ahead, each for a short distance – as they fluttered all over the place in the air in front of the moving bike, or skipped along in the grass beside the trail, or hopped for a while on the trail, all while staying in front of me. This was my Alice in Wonderland moment, and there were no magic mushrooms involved.
The last stage of the ride was the slog. This happened primarily because I am not fully in shape. (Thankfully, I had decided to do a shorter ride than I normally would have pushed myself to do.) If I had been in shape, I would have been in the zone by this point. This stage of the ride is usually notable because one can end up speeding without even realizing what is going on. But I had to slow down. I was feeling the effort. There were also a few distractions along the way, including having to deal with the hordes of people who had descended on the trail by this time.
I hope I can keep myself motivated to do more rides this year. The bicycle rack remains mounted on the car.
In my mind, limited as it is in its capability to understand such things, the birds had nested close to each other on the tree for the night, had just woken up, and were getting ready for the activities of the day. You could see the early morning light hit the upper branches of the trees – to light up the birds, and to perhaps warm them up. I could not identify these birds. They looked like doves from this distance, but I could not confirm this in spite of some research.
This level of air traffic felt unusual, especially for that time of day, and for that day of the week. Most of the aircraft were small to medium size, and seemed to be on domestic flights. I could recognize the 
and I thought I had seen an Emirates aircraft earlier on when we were driving in. Based on what I noticed that morning, I get the impression that the international carriers have reduced the size of the aircraft that they are deploying for their flights. 
We had seen a Great Blue Heron in the same area during previous walks. This led us to consider the possibility that this was the same heron that we had seen before, and that the bird had somehow claimed this area as its territory. Fact of the matter is that we do not even know if herons are territorial and behave like this.
Some of you have probably already figured out the reason for this delightful display of artistry. Yes, it was wintertime when these pictures were taken, and the heron was moving around on a thin sheet of ice.
I decided to ride a distance of about 16+ miles (one way) to Fletchers Cove this day. I had forgotten how cool it could be under the trees even on a July morning in the middle of summer as you rode against the wind. I had forgotten the rhythmic sound of the crunching of the tires against the gravel of the trail as one rode on the dirt. I had forgotten the easy and peaceful nature of an early morning ride. There was a feeling of serenity, and the mind could wander once again.
This great blue heron is standing on ice while giving itself a scratch. It must feel good!
The twist in this egret’s neck seems a little unusual to me from this angle. It may have to do with the position of the wings.
Here is a bird among the twisted branches of one or more trees in winter.
The twisted branches of the trees can sure look like a mess from a distance in the woods in the early morning light. The sun has not quite hit the level of the trail in the following picture.
The turn in the trail appears at a distance in the following picture.
The bikers brightened up the trail.
The great blue heron watched the proceedings from its perch high over the towpath.
The Park Service police kept an eye on things.
The robin watched me as I tried to focus the camera on it through the tangled branches.
We left the marked trail and explored the woods by the river, ending up with this view of a culvert under the C&O canal and the towpath trail. This is where the 
A walk in the woods rejuvenates the spirits!
We find gracefulness in both the still form or in movement. The nature of the motion looks graceful to me in the following picture. 
An object that is not necessarily graceful in its stillness can become graceful when it begins to move. While experiencing grace in movement requires you to actually see the movement, it is possible to imagine the gracefulness of the motion from the nature of a still picture. A think a pelican gliding over the water looks graceful.
This somewhat awkward looking great blue heron looks graceful to me when it begins to fly. The motion of its wings is (relatively) slow and smooth, and the bird seems to be taking flight effortlessly.
But sometimes, the still image can trick you. I think the baby in the picture below, although cute, is not very graceful in its movement in real life.
I have observed that still objects can look graceful from a certain visual perspective and perhaps not so much so from other points-of-view. The nature of the picture and the circumstances of the picture can enhance the feeling of gracefulness. There was a lot of construction going on around the 
it gracefulness was truly revealed to me only from this particular point-of-view. (Like I said, gracefulness is in the eye of the beholder!)
Bridges can look graceful, especially those of the suspension type. To me both the 
It feels like the effort level that I am putting into riding, especially when I am on a level surface, has gone down. I can feel very relaxed even when moving along quite briskly. The wheels keep turning easily, and I do not feel like I am pushing it to keep up the pace. The weather might have something to do with it. Hope it stays this way for the long ride.
I also ran across a big group of kids on the trail who made my morning! They were blocking the trail when I first saw them in the distance. But I was observed while still in the distance, and they all moved in a systematic way to a side and then turned to face the side of the trail I was riding. It was as if they were waiting for the show, similar to a march-past. And so a show was what I put on! I rode past them trying to show good form, crouched over the handlebars a little bit, and feet pumping systematically, and moving efficiently. As I rode by, keeping a good pace and thanking them for clearing the trail, they cheered me on enthusiastically. I heard at least a couple of “woohoos!” I am hoping that at least one of the kids was motivated enough by the encounter to consider asking their parents for a bike so that they could ride the trail. Any chance of this happening?
Here is a picture of a 
This is a view of activity on the Potomac seen from the Key Bridge as I was returning from Virginia.
This is Lock 6 in the middle of the day when I stopped to eat a sandwich during one of the rides.
This is a bridge across the canal near mile 12. It feels great to ride in the shade of the trees on a sunny day.
And today I came across this shy fellow on the trail.
I am now done with my practice rides. The bike I have been using will get its final wash for a while. I have put many miles on it and it has served me well. Now on to Pittsburgh!
or the 
or you might see a sight like this 
or the small and colorful aircraft that lights up the cloudless sky over the river.
Splattered Brains 