The Canal

The Folsom South Canal Trail has somewhat secretly existed for decades. There's really no reason for most people to know of its existence unless you participate in the Tuesday night time trials (which are now on Wednesdays this year). It's pancake flat and runs over 15 miles along (wait for it) the Folsom South Canal, from Nimbus south to Sloughhouse Road.

Jennifer and I started riding on the trail a few years back. I think it just started as an option to mix things up a bit, or to recover from one of our very hilly rides in Shingle Springs, but Jennifer took a liking to the trail.

I found it terribly boring, and I often tried to suggest alternate routes.

Fast forward to last year when we moved to Folsom, CA. We now live less than a quarter mile from an awesome trail system. And it's really great. And people know it's great. And that can be a problem.

On weekdays we ride with few issues. The trails are lightly used, and most of those users are bike trail veterans, meaning they don't do stupid shit. But on the weekends . . .

All hell breaks loose. There are runners, walkers, dogs, kids, skateboards, strollers, scooters, onewheels, e-unicycles, wobbly tourists on e-bikes, and weekend warrior road riders trying to set Strava PRs. It can be complete insanity.

Enter the canal. The boredom that I once considered a bug turned out to be a feature.

Once we navigate about 4.5 miles of craziness from our house, we are rewarded with miles and miles of serenity on the little-used stretch of pavement. I now appreciate the beauty of boredom a little more than I did a couple years ago.

Later.

2023 By the Numbers

It was a pretty good year in many respects. We were very busy early in the year with renovating the old house, buying the new house and moving. We started settling in around June and you can see the results of "real life" slowing down and cycling life heating up.

Some statistics:

• 5917 miles is the most since I started keeping stats in 1995
• 914 miles more than last year
• Seventh straight year increasing annual mileage
• 261 total rides
• 22.67 miles per ride average
• The 214,000 feet of climbing was 50,000 less than last year

There is no doubt that riding down here in Folsom is easier than up in Shingle Springs, and the mileage numbers reflect that. The increase occurred organically, meaning I didn't intend to ride more this year; it just happened. In fact, I think I said last year that 5,000 miles was too much, and here I was flirting with 6,000.

In 2024 I don't expect anything to change. It's pretty easy to ride 500 miles a month here, so I expect to be around 6,000 miles again.

Later.