I am not a golfer but I think the sand trap is not one of their favorite obstacles. Today while biking the Spring Creek Greenway I encountered my own sand trap. At the far west end of the trail just before the barrier sand flowed across the asphalt. On the right a puddle of water stood so I moved to the left into what I thought was a shallow pile of sand. Quickly my Canyon bike bogged down and as I tried to pedal harder I veered to the left and went into a deeper pile of sand and came to a complete stop. As I tumbled to my right I couldn’t get my foot out of the pedal in time and landed on my right side in the sand. No major injuries but my elbow is sore around the same spot I hit back in November in another crash. On my right knee I felt a small cut that burned from the salt in the sweat. 28mm tires are no match for deep sand. This is the scene of the event.

After getting up I brushed all of the sand off that I could, rested a few minutes, and got back on the Canyon to ride back to Dennis Johnston Park where I stopped at the water fountain by the pond and washed the sand off. From there I went to the main building planning on refilling my water bottle but they had no water so back to the fountain and I refilled it there.

Up to the sand trap episode the ride was going great. Weather during the bike ride: start 86 (44% humidity), a few clouds, wind S 13 mph. Finish 88 (37% humidity), a few clouds, wind S 22 mph, gusts 30 mph. The blue sky was stunning as was the wind but thankfully the trees blocked the big gusts. I started at 11:42 AM and finished at 4:10 PM.

Photos during the ride.

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On the ride to the west I stopped at Pundt Park for a few minutes. On the return ride I again stopped at Pundt Park to rest from the sand trap and eat some cheese crackers. Back at Jesse Jones Park I refilled my water bottle for the rest of the ride back home. I didn’t stay there long.

When I exited the east trailhead I immediately felt the wind and was glad it would be a tailwind most of the way home from there.

Traffic was busy on Hamblen Road until I got to Forest Cove Drive. From there I was usually alone on the streets. Back in Kingwood I usually ride one of the greenbelt trails from Foster Elementary School to avoid traffic on Woodland Hills Drive but today they patched a number of places on the trail so I moved back to the streets. It took several traffic light changes to cross Kingwood Drive.

With today’s 48.07 miles my April mileage is up to 290.44 miles, 48% of the way to my 600 mile goal. This is three days in a row where the ride is over 40 miles. Tomorrow that will end because I have an errand to run and may not be able to ride or if I do it will around 25 miles.

Turned miles around and now 2019 is ahead of 2016 and 2018 but still trails 2017.