Greenway Expansion and a New Fork

I was riding back from an appointment on Thursday, taking my usual route through Sylvan Park, and was shocked to see new Greenway being built along my route.

In spite of all of the added burden to the cities budget brought on by the flooding, they've apparently opted to continue with the scheduled greenway projects.  Way to go Nashvegas.  Maybe I can live here after all.  This section, unfortunately, runs parallel to some really nice neighborhood roads so it's not going to help bike commuters much, but it does run along the golf course so it'll be a nice section. 

In my ongoing quest to rehabilitate my Baby Leg, I got the geared bike out a few weeks ago and decided that I had to remedy the fork issue.  Previously the geared bike had a suspension corrected fork on it, but I discovered (almost immediately) that it didn't need one.  It felt like riding a chopper.  So I stopped by Biker's Choice and got them to throw on a $30 rigid fork they had lying around.  Works great, looks ok.

For sake of comparison, here's a shot with the old fork:

It's a subtle difference, but it handles a lot better now and will be even more noticeable when I hit the trails out in Colorado.  Riding a 26er, geared, rigid bike isn't really what I had in mind for my summer, but it'll have to do until I get my knee back 100%.  Hopefully after the summer is over it will still be alive and will achieve its destiny as an XtraCycle.  Went for the longest ride since the injury yesterday and it felt great.  I followed that up with a long walk to get some dinner, then realized I'd locked myself out of the house.  This happens to me sometimes. 

Trying now to decide which of the Specialized CruX cyclocross bikes to get.  The Alloy frame is sweet and affordable but the sponsor wants me to get the carbon.  I've got a standing rule that I can't spend more that $1000 on a bike, no matter how I slice it, this one's going over budget.

Headed West tonight.  So psyched to breath some clean air and spend some time in some hip communities (Flagstaff, Santa Cruz, Grass Valley, Big Sky, Lyons).  This is going to be a great summer.

Trying to get everything packed and ready in time to squeeze in another short ride this afternoon.  Forecast looks pretty good in about an hour and a half, so the timing may work out perfectly.  Gotta work on the "brace tan."