The weather has been wonderful of late.

Though I risk the “write about it and the opposite happens” curse, it has been great weather for being outdoors and riding my bicycle or just walking around if there is no time for a bike ride.

The town and the farmland that surrounds it are incredibly beautiful when cruising around the countryside on the bike, especially in the late evening when the sunlight hits it just right.

There are landscapes out there that you just wouldn’t notice if you are speeding around in a car, going from one place to another with a purpose. But when you are on a bicycle, going nowhere in particular, the vistas really stand out. The trees out near the country club; the ponds and lakes that dot the countryside; some of the barns, mills and homes are breathtaking; and of course, the crops still out in the fields.

Sometimes I wish I had artistic talent with painting, or that I had brought out my camera. But I usually leave the camera at home, and the lens can’t always capture what the human eye can see.

There’s only one problem. While most cars are really great about moving around me, there have been a few times when I’ve been out and I could feel the wind of someone’s mirror buzzing by through my heavy helmet.

I see other adult cyclists out all the time, and children are out too. Riding out there sometimes makes me worry that it’s only a matter of time until I’m called by the sheriff’s office about someone on a bicycle being hit by a car. I hope I never get that call.

Most of the time, people seem great about giving cyclists room, so this only goes out to a few people. While it isn’t everyone, it only takes one time for a tragedy to happen. Please, please, just try to exercise some patience when passing cyclists.

I know it can be annoying, but we cyclists like to enjoy the road and the beautiful community just off it. It is also our legal right. I’d hate to have to give up a hobby I enjoy, not because of lack of time, but because of fear of being struck by a car.

Speaking of the beautiful community, I was out in Drewryville on Wednesday taking pictures for a story we are doing for Western Tidewater Living. In this upcoming issue, we are working on a history piece on the community. We decided to follow the train tracks eastward coming from Greensville County and landed in Drewryville. We dug into information on the original homes in the community, as many of the public buildings as we could find out information on, and more!

I’m expecting that story, along with the rest of the magazine, to be an interesting read. Check it out at the end of September.

CAIN MADDEN is the managing editor of The Tidewater News. He hopes he didn’t bring on the rain. He can be reached at 562-3187 or by email at cain.madden@tidewaternews.com