To Spin or Not to Spin...

Today's weather forecast was kind of iffy (32 degrees at 8:30AM and 20% chance of rain), but we decided to ride rather than go spin for an hour at St. John's, particularly since the seven-day forecast is for colder weather. It was actually 35 degrees when I left the house, so we were already ahead of the curve. Doug, Rae, Tom and Ron were already downtown when I rode up, and we headed out to Ash Grove (50 miles round trip).

The ride out was uneventful; we were chased by a couple of dogs and saw a flock of turkeys running across a field. Unfortunately, they were too far away for a picture.

We made good time to Ash Grove. Ash Grove's main claim to fame is that Nathan Boone, the son of Daniel Boone, homesteaded nearby. We stopped at Willy B's for second breakfast.

We bundled up again for the ride back because it was still only about 38 degrees. There was a light wind generally out of the southwest, so we had a little push on the way back.

The return route crosses the Frisco Highline Trail on the east side of Willard. The Highline is a 35+ mile Rail-to-Trail that connects Springfield to Bolivar. It was designated as a National Recreation Trail in 2006, by the National Park Service. There was no one to be seen in either direction on the trail. Must have been too cold.

Overall it was a great ride. A hazy sun broke through for the ride back, there was no rain and we didn't have to go to spin.