The most beautiful day of the year

I've wanted to start this thread so many times this year. . . there have been so many beautiful, glorious days this year and each time I think "this is probably the last really beautiful day" and then another comes along. Take yesterday morning-- what a wonderful combination of warm moist air and all the smells of autumn.

Bouncing this thread to the top heretoforth will be considered a declaration that said bouncer considers the day upon which the bouncing occurs to be the most beautiful day of the year.

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Permalink Reply by Joe TV on January 6, 2012 at 10:53pm

Nice shots. Envious.

mark stetson said:

Friday was the most beautiful day of the year so far, and may hold that place for a while. I rode 52 miles on surfaces ranging from mud and soft limestone to nice pavement. Hope some of you got a nice ride in too.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on January 7, 2012 at 1:46am

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing these.

I had a really pleasant ride in my neighborhood. Yesterday was about as nice as it gets for January - would have been nice even for April.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on January 7, 2012 at 9:08am

Mark - is your ride route near chicago? That looks amazing!

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Permalink Reply by Tim S on January 7, 2012 at 10:32am

amazing Saturday, 4 hours out and about today after another 4 last night... it is January right?

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Permalink Reply by mark stetson on January 7, 2012 at 10:58am

Thanks for the comments, makes me feel like I didn't waste my time taking the camera and stopping all the time.

Not sure what you consider near, I was riding west of Princeton, trying to put together a mostly gravel ride for a friend in St. Louis. Apparently gravel road rides are quite popular in IA and NM. Didn't find that many actually, so I'm going to try north of town next. Come out and help me explore some time.

Kelvin Mulcky said:

Mark - is your ride route near chicago? That looks amazing!

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Permalink Reply by Bernard Joseph Hannigan on January 7, 2012 at 1:44pm

That was very impressive...Is there a name for that trail?...

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Permalink Reply by mark stetson on January 8, 2012 at 10:51am

A couple of pics were from Mautino state wildlife area, the sunset pic is from the Hennepin Canal trail. Mautino would be a great place for MTB trails, but the state has no interest, or money, for developing. I've asked about volunteering to mow some trails (even providing the machinery and fuel), but they won't allow citzens to operate machinery. One old jeep trail that I used to ride was so grassy that I didn't want to attempt it. I've thought about going out with a weed eater to mow some singletrack, but doing even a mile would be a pretty big chore. Before the state owned it, there were cattle on the property, and they kept the grass down so you could ride virtually anywhere. Bring back the cows.

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Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on February 29, 2012 at 11:23am

Today was a great day for a noontime ride over to Hot Doug's. I couldn't have asked for a better end to February.

-jbn

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Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on February 29, 2012 at 11:28am

This truly was the most beautiful day of 2012 thus far.

But Justin, the real treat for you wasn't the weather; it was the opportunity to eat at Hot Dougs. That's awesome, man.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on February 29, 2012 at 11:33am

Noontime on a day like this!? How long was the line? Then again, I guess it is a Wednesday...

2. Looking forward to the PM commute!

Jim S said:

This truly was the most beautiful day of 2012 thus far.

But Justin, the real treat for you wasn't the weather; it was the opportunity to eat at Hot Dougs. That's awesome, man.