Here's Mud In Your Eye (And Everywhere Else)

This is the story of my most recent bike ride, told entirely in photos. I left my home in Černý Vůl, deciding to get a little hill-climbing practice by tackling the long, curvy, fairly steep hill that leads up to Horoměřice from Jeneralka. Along the way, though, just above Černý Vůl, I crossed a farmer's field.


That was a huge mistake. There's a path, but it was still winter-muddy, and after a few dozen meters, my tires simply refused to revolve. My bike was paralyzed by mud. It took quite some time to dislodge enough of the gunk to get going again. My bike felt like it weighed about 5 kilos more than it did when I began my ride. The photograph above is an optical illusion of sorts. The mud caked to my tire blends in with the mud on the trail, and it's hard to figure out where my tire ends and the earth begins.


A charming little fishing pond smack dab in the village of Horoměřice. In the winter, kids use it for ice skating.


Two roads diverged in a wood above Nebušice, and I, I took the one that was less muddy, and that made all the difference.


A monument in Nebušice that I'd never really noticed before. I believe it's a memorial dedicated to the families of soldiers gone off to war, but perhaps someone out there knows a bit more about it and why it's in this village, of all places.


I've always been fascinated by the loudspeakers that you can still see attached to telephone poles and the like in villages on the outskirts of Prague. From what I understand, they're vestiges of the communist days, when they would be used for public announcements or air raid drills and the like. I also like the retro design of the clocks that are often attached nearby. This photo was taken in Nebušice.

Here's my route, thanks to my Garmin Edge 305.



The picturesque church and clock tower in Nebušice.


Regular readers of this blog know that I like to take photographs of interesting patterns, manmade or natural. The buildings above and below are in Nebušice.




The sun was out in full force when I first had the idea to go for a ride, but by the time I hit the trails, it was a dark and stormy day. A raw day for a bike ride, to be sure.


A real fixer-upper at Jenerálka, just below the village of Nebušice and at the base of the long, steep climb back to Horoměřice. I'm happy to say that my lungs and my thighs survived the climb.

RIDE STATS
Length of ride: 18 kilometers
Pivo Index: 0
Distance ridden so far in 2011: 54 kilometers