Beautiful Busse Woods

Well, for the first time in 2009, I broke a sweat riding my bike. And for the record, that's not because I've only ridden easy rides. Instead it speaks to the fact that our weather has been so abnormally cool this season. Yesterday, temperatures finally climbed into the upper 70s, and I could finally leave my long-sleeve layers behind. Yippe! To celebrate, I rode to the Busse Woods Forest Preserve in Elk Grove Village, largely along Weathersfield Way. Although Busse Woods was populated with people enjoying their leisure time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the bike trail never seemed overly crowded.

Busse Woods is a perennial favorite of mine. When you're amidst its paved trails, large lakes, expansive meadows of tall grass, and sections of dense woods, it's hard to believe that you're in a populated area, less than a mile from Woodfield Mall. On some previous occasions, I've driven to Busse Woods so that all my miles could be spent within it picturesque confines. Yesterday, however, I chose to keep the car at home and bicycle the whole way, which amounted to 35.3 miles.

I am fast approaching 400 miles for the season and (surprisingly) I'm ahead of last year's record pace. I doubt that trend will continue in June and July, though, since I rode an unprecedented amount during that same period last year.