In an attempt to increase my exercise opportunities, I tried biking to the Fred Bear Archery range, a (theoretically) easy 1.5 mile or so ride.
Smart move: I took a take-down bow.
Except... I took the Four Winds, which doesn't fit quite as well in the case as the shorter Chek-Mate and is a lot more sensitive to changes in brace-height.
Smart move: I took the northern entrance to the service road the range is on to avoid a really scary crossing past I-75.
Dumb move: I didn't realize the lack of bike lanes or anything to support bikers on the service road.
Smart move: I took emergency supplies.
Only problem was... the basket is already full of high-powered longbow so I had to take advantage of big pockets in my pants and the hip pack.
Smart move: I wore the back-quiver instead of the hip quiver.
But... that back-quiver with the wood-grained aluminum arrows with bright blue fletching and what looks like snake-skin cresting certainly got me stared at a lot!
Overall, I liked the extra exercise from the lousy aerodynamics and the extra weight of supplies, but whew, I was tired when I got there and set up. I also had to re-do the brace height on my bow because the string decided to untwist a few times in the case. I was still able to keep my groups within a 12" diameter with Sparrowhawk at 20 yards though. The conclusion? If I'm going to bike to Fred Bear Archery again, I'm going to take a shorter 3-piece takedown bow and use a Catquiver (which conceals the arrows a lot better and isn't as likely to make me a safety hazard in narrow spaces).
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