That extra hour of sunshine means recreational cyclists can sneak in a ride after work. After-work rides, coupled with longer weekend journeys, mean they can start getting in shape for the long event rides -- the M.S. 150, Bikefest, Cycle North Carolina -- that drive their training.

In the Triangle, the 2008 riding season kicked off at 4:48 p.m. Monday in a parking lot off the American Tobacco Trail on White Oak Church Road in Cary. There, Dave Connelly led five of us on a 30-ish mile, slower-paced ride that took advantage of the White Oak and Black Creek greenways. Destination: Lake Crabtree. And back.

Group rides are a great opportunity to learn how to ride in traffic, how to observe the rules of the road and minimize conflicts with motorists. Granted, not two miles into Monday's ride, a carload of kids threw a cup of ice at us. Had they hit one of us, a support network would have been there to help. That network comes in handy with everything from flat tires to encouragement and incentive.

After a short stretch on the ATT, we headed east on Green Level Road in a slow (12-14 mph), steady pace line, one rider behind another. We turned right on Green Level Church Road, then did something group rides rarely do: We took a left onto a greenway. For this wasn't just the first ride of this new season but a scouting expedition for the East Coast Greenway.

The East Coast Greenway (www.greenway.org) is a work in progress toward linking Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla., with a continuous multiuse greenway. About a fifth of the 3,000-mile path is complete.

"We're looking at where exactly to run the greenway through the Triangle," said Steve Bevington, the South Atlantic Trail coordinator for the greenway.

The path we took will one day link the American Tobacco Trail with Lake Crabtree. Perhaps a third of that total is complete, says Connelly.

We followed a gorgeous new section of Cary's White Oak Greenway, which is nearly complete to Bond Park, save for a railroad crossing. On the east side of Bond Park, the ride became more exploratory, ducking through neighborhoods, passing through downtown Cary, then picking up what's now the southern end of the Black Creek Greenway near Godbold Park. We crossed Maynard Drive and took the greenway maybe another mile to Dynasty Drive.

At 6:25 p.m. it was time to head back so the ride wouldn't end in total darkness. There will be more rides to come.