I had a physical therapy appointment for my shoulder rehab this morning, so I didn’t get to join the Rusty Chain Gang Ramble club ride like I’ve been doing on most Tuesdays lately. But, after I got home from PT, I took off on the Corsa and headed for a spot southeast of Joshua where I’d ridden on last Thursday’s Burleson & Beyond club ride. At this particular spot was a big cluster of wild grapes growing on a fence. I decided it was time to pick some wild grapes.

Ever since I added the Fastback Double Century bag setup to the Corsa (to move the Camelbak Unbottle to the right side, where my good shoulder is), I’ve been doing most rides without the Radical seat bag I always used. I just put some essential stuff in the right side Fastback bag, and don’t use the bigger Radical seat bag unless I’m doing a randonneuring ride where I want to carry a spare tire, more tools, etc.

But, today I put the Radical bag on the bike, and tossed in a couple of wally world plastic bags to fill with grapes. I ended up stopping at a spot before the one where I’d seen all the grapes the other day. It seems that the area just east of Joshua is a good one for wild grapes. In less than 10 minutes, I had filled a plastic bag so full of grapes that I had a tough time getting it in the seat bag (remind me to take the Xstream, with its huge Aerotrunk bag, on my next grape picking ride).

I’m a novice at picking wild grapes, and didn’t realize that the prime time for picking them has already passed. Some of the grapes were already starting to wither, but there were still plenty of good ones. I’m just as big a novice at making grape jelly, so we’ll see how that goes. I ended up with 38.9 miles.

The grape vine.

Seat bag full of grapes.

The wild grape ride route.