Red-lining it on the Greenline

I've put some miles on my bicycle these last two days and gotten real cozy with this heat wave we're having.

Here in Memphis we have a new bike-pedestrian path that's been open a little over a year.  It's on the bed of an abandoned CSX Railroad line that runs from the eastern edge of Midtown out to Shelby Farms, a large park on the city's eastern outskirts.  Before yesterday I had never gotten around to riding the Greenline, as it's known, but WKNO, our local public radio affiliate whose studio is out near Shelby Farms, was hosting a "food truck rodeo" yesterday, and I figured that was all the excuse I needed to get out on the Greenline.  After all, who doesn't love a food truck rodeo?

There are supposed to be plans in the works to make the Greenline more accessible to all Midtown residents, but that day hasn't arrived yet, so I had to snake my way through the not-so-bike-friendly area between my house and the Greenline's western terminus.  After that it was smooth sailing all the way out east.  The Greenline is an asphalt trail that at least for now is smooth as silk.  It crosses several city streets, and each crossing has a button-activated signal you can use to stop the traffic if it's too heavy for a comfortable crossing.  Between these crossings the Greenline is pleasantly secluded, passing through wooded areas and heavy brush with an occasional glimpse of a backyard.  Then, after you pass beneath the eastern leg of Interstate 240, you approach the Wolf River, and this is where I think the Greenline is most scenic.  Here a long bridge carries the path over swampy bottomland and the Wolf itself.

I hummed a happy tune as I enjoyed this trek through the heart of our fine city.  Once I crossed the Wolf, the trail entered the open landscape of Shelby Farms, and as the sun beat down relentlessly, the reality of how hot it was began to sink in.

Then I reached the Greenline's end, and realized I wasn't entirely sure how to find the WKNO studio.  I had driven there before, but from my bicycle the area looked quite different.  I had stupidly forgotten to look up the studio's street address.  I spent the next hour wandering around, trying one street until I was sure it wasn't the right one, then back-tracking and trying another.  The heat was taking its toll: my water bottle, which I had packed with ice back at the house, was now the temperature of bath water.  And I was worried that the food truck rodeo would be over by the time I finally found it, depriving me of much-needed fuel for the trip back home.

But finally, I found the place.  There before me was spread an array of beautiful food trucks.  I enjoyed a fish taco from the Tamale Trolley, followed by a bison taco from the truck of a restaurant called Fuel.  After that I went over to Yo Lo Frozen Yogurt in anticipation of a cold creamy dessert... but they didn't have any yogurt!  They were only selling lunch food.  I was bitterly disappointed and had to settle for a shaved-ice sort of thing from a nearby truck.

With my energy stores recharged, I headed back to the Greenline.  I had a nice-enough ride back but it was getting too god-awful hot.  I soldiered on until I was back in my air-conditioned home, where I ran some tepid water into the bathtub and soaked for a while before taking a nice nap.  Later on I looked up the weather online and found that the day's high had been 102 with a heat index value of 108.

For today's exercise, I rode my bike down to the river, a very short hop compared to yesterday's marathon.  Then I paddled for an hour.  This morning started slightly cooler than the previous few mornings, but by the time I was back in the harbor paddling toward the dock the day was starting to sizzle.  The ride home felt longer than the ride down there.

What was I saying the other day about immersing oneself in the heat?  Well, I've immersed.