I mentioned in my previous post that I probably will not be biking to work since it would involve riding on streets like Lisbon, Burleigh, or Capitol… Those are streets you somewhat risk your life on even in a car! So where I can I ride? Well, I used to walk in the cemetery by my house quite a bit. It’s a lovely space, quiet, lots of nature and best of all (almost) no cars! In my dozens of walks I probably saw just a few cars in the cemetery. So my plan was, bike in the cemetery.
I mentioned this to a bike friend and he said “Well, check that it’s allowed… I know some cemeterys do not allow bikes.” So the first thing I did was searched for “riding bike in cemetery” and got this AmItheAsshole post… (Worth a read, but I still hate Reddit.)
So I did a bit more searching and found this brochure for the cemetery I planned to ride in.
The highlighted bit says “Walker, runners, riders and the like should remain only on roadways.” Hey, I’m a rider (or an “and the like” whatever that means) so it should be all good. I have no plans to ride on the grass or anywhere else that isn’t the roadway. So I set out for my first ride…
… and it was a little bumpy! I realized that on the main road from the entrance the road has these “cracks” every 50 feet or so, and you get a good “cuh-chunk!” riding over them. It’s a very noticeable bump. I wondered if this was by design, since it would be noticeable when driving a car and might make you more aware of your speed. Luckily it seems these bumps don’t persist through all of the roads.
On my second ride I spotted a coyote! It saw me and started to run off and I (sort of) followed it, in the hopes of getting a better look or a photo. I did manage to get a phone photo, so it’s super tiny since I was so far away… As the coyote ran through the cemetery I kept an eye on it and tried to keep track of it while I was in motion. It was actually pretty fun! I’m hoping I didn’t freak it out too badly. I had heard about coyotes in the cemetery before but never saw one on any of my walks, so that was pretty neat!
