Splendid.

That pretty much describes yesterday’s Poky Pedaling Potluck Picnic. On a sunny and pleasant evening, 9 Poky Pedalers shared some wonderful bicycling, a delicious potluck picnic, and lots of Bike Fun.

Music in the park during our picnic. Does Bike Fun get any better than this?

From Goerke Park, we headed east and crossed the gauntlet of poor bicycle infrastructure on Main St/Hwy 10 that crosses I-39. Although far from scenic or comfortable, we did experience that with reasonable care this short section can be safely navigated to reach the neighborhoods beyond and their wonderful streets for bicycling.

We rode on Old Hwy 18 and turned into a neighborhood to reach our picnic destination: Kirschling Park East. This scenic Town of Hull park is near a wooded area with some nice walking trails. With the sun comfortably shining, Poky Pedalers shared food, drink, and conversation.

We enjoyed an unexpected treat as one Poky Pedaler brought an unusual flute and entertained us with some delightful music. The flute itself is a V-shaped wooden double-flute (my term – I forget the actual name he told us). After describing its origins and how it produces sounds, he played several happy tunes for us all. A true Bike Fun highlight.

Our return trip headed south on the path along County R, then west through the Portage County Business Park to the Heartland Trail that runs under I-39. Many in our group were unaware of this excellent bicycling and walking connection. We continued west to the recently refilled McDill Pond, where we turned north onto the scenic wooded trail leading to Iverson Park. From there, calm surface streets led us back to our starting point at Goerke Park well before sunset.

This return trip provided us an extraordinarily pleasant post-picnic bicycle ride. We enjoyed pretty scenery on mostly non-motorized paths. A light tailwind even helped us along. This proved to be an excellent finish to an evening full of Bike Fun.

There are many more opportunities to share Bike Fun with PPSP in the coming months. The full 2013 Bike Fun Calendar can be accessed here, and there is more info about this Saturday’s Ornamental Water Well Bell-Ringer Ride here.

Also, be sure to check back on the PPSP blog for more info about my presentation at the MREA Energy Fair taking place this Friday at noon.

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