51st ride - 6/30/2015

This morning I went out at 6:00 a.m. (with my headlight flashing) and rode a round trip to the intersection of Woodland Dr. and Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. in the northern fringe of Saline (an 11.6 mile round trip that I did in 1 hour and 14 minutes. The entire ride was in an extremely light rain, which wasn't particularly bothersome except for the fact that I had to keep stop stopping to swab off my glasses (with a wet shirt), or it was like driving in a car whose windshield wipers were broken.

I had planned to ride consecutive such round trips, but the precipitation convinced me to wait and see if I could do another ride later today when it's a bit dryer.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 2:15 p.m.

I just got back from replicating this morning's route (though a bit quicker, shaving off 7 minutes to finish in 1:07)—but I must say, it's infinitely more desirable and enjoyable to ride in midday sunlight and no rain than it was starting off at 6:00 a.m. and doing the whole ride in the (light) rain!

50th ride - 6/29/2015

This morning I rode three consecutive round trips to Marsh Park (25.5 miles) in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I was not pushing myself all out the entire way, only in spurts, but still was glad to better my time by 5 minutes from when I first did this, last Friday. And the other noteworthy aspect of today's ride was that it put me over the 600-mile plateau for the year. I realize that projection like this is uncertain at best, but it seems reasonable, and it is my hope, that I will better my 2013 total riding miles of 1831. I am aided in this quest by the fact that I am doing all my riding now off-road, and so should be able to ride later into the year.

49th ride - 6/28/15

This morning I went out at just before 6:30 in conditions that were still quite cool (a long-sleeved tee felt very good), intending to ride two round trips to Marsh Park. The riding was going fine, but as I am making good headway on a new choral piece I'm writing, I was eager to get back and get to work on that, so I rode one round trip (9.5 miles) in an hour and 4 minutes. I decided I'd wait and do another round trip this evening. Here is a collage of pictures I took, also, illustrating parts of the route.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Even though I am writing this on Friday evening, it sounds as if the die is already cast. Weather forecasts are for rain to begin tonight and continue for about 36 hours here in southeastern Michigan, so this will scrap my plans to get out early and ride a lengthy ride outdoors. But I am grateful that I do have another option for working out, so I plan to be at LA Fitness for their 7:00 a.m. opening in order to have a good, brisk session on the stationary bike.

48th ride - 6/26/15

After rising at 4:45 today, I set out at 6:15, and did my longest ride to date, going 3 consecutive round trips to Marsh Park for a total of 25.5 miles in 2 hours and 34 minutes. Today's ride also put me over 300 miles for the month of June so far (in May I rode 272.7 miles)—my best month for riding in 2013, when I was on a regular bicycle, was 383.7 in July of that year—but that was a whole different experience than riding the trike is!

As I rode, I sang loudly and joyously (in my head) "Brand New Day," the song I learned in our Christian fellowship group at Interlochen, which I often sing in the early hours of the day.

It's a brand new day, everything is fine; though it may seem gray, I want you to know that the sun's gonna shine! And out of the sky piercing every cloud is our God on high! There'll be a new heart for every man, like the flowers that bloom in early spring. For every life there is a plan, no matter what autumn breezes bring. So put away cares, let freedom be yours, joy is everywhere—joy is everywhere! Let freedom ring, alleluia now, everybody sing, let your voices shout to the mighty King!

47th ride - 6/25/15

This morning, Kristian and I rode together, doing the round trip to Marsh Park, which he really enjoyed. It was a cloudy, mildly cool morning (68°), and we did the 9.5-mile ride in a hour and 4 minutes. Now, I hope and plan to ride it again this evening.

46th ride - 6/24/15

After another early hike with Tom today (and a longer, more difficult one, too), I seriously toyed with the idea of taking the day off from riding. But the Tigers were so putrid in their noon game at

Cleveland that, in the end, I decided I didn't deserve a day off. When they were down 7-2 in the 8th inning, I decided to cut my baseball experience short and go ride.

When I went, I was thinking I'd do two round trips to Marsh Park. But, in the end, I chose to split the difference between this and a day off, and merely do one round trip there, for 9.5 miles in just a few seconds under an hour—a fairly brisk pace for me on the trike.

45th ride - 6/23/15

This morning, I had to forgo my plans to ride early, as my friend Tom Brown invited me to go for an early hike with him at the Eddy Discovery Center, west of Chelsea. The picture here shows me gazing reflectively out over the lake, just before we began.

But after we got back from that, I went out and did my longest ride to date, going out to Baker Rd. (Dexter), for a 19.2-mile ride, in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

I figured today would be a good time to try it. I was going to do that ride on Sunday, but had my tire trouble when the left front one blew, but after I took it to Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn yesterday for repair, when they changed the alignment slightly and put new tires on it (all at no cost to me), I figured I should be in pretty good shape today. And I can get there completely off-road, as there is a long sidewalk that runs along the south side of Jackson Rd. all the way out there. It's not the most scenic ride imaginable, but I'm indescribably glad to be able to do it!

Monday, June 22 - 6/22/15

I took my trike to Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn this morning for repair of the tire problem, and they called TerraTrike (the manufacturer) and were told how to correct the problem with the tires, which keeps recurring, by adjusting the alignment of the front wheels so they are very mildly toed out. Accomplishing this took until mid-afternoon, and by the time I got back to Ann Arbor the first drops of the projected severe weather were beginning to fall. So I will take a guilt-free day off today, and hope to get out there early tomorrow.

44th ride - 6/21/15

Today's ride was, again, mildly adventurous. I set off just before 6:15, intending to ride to Baker Rd. in Dexter, which I can reach all off-road, and the round trip would have been 19.2 miles, my longest ride to date. All was going beautifully until about 43 minutes in, as I was trucking down the sidewalk on the south side of Jackson Rd., a little way west of Wagner Rd., when suddenly a loud BANG - HSSSSSSS told me that my left front tire had suffered a blowout. I swore silently (in my mind, where the only One who matters anyway could hear it).

Last time I was at Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn (this past Tuesday), I got a spare tube so I wouldn't have to return to Dearborn next time, but could just have it done here in town. (I haven't learned yet how to change it myself, nor have I the equipment, so that wasn't an option.) So I'll get it repaired this afternoon.

The worst part, by far, was having to call Michelle at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday. (Thank goodness I had thought to bring my phone with me! I almost left without it, but then realized its absence from my pocket at the last minute, and ducked back in the house for it.) We later agreed on a system in order to avoid this morning's problems. I first texted her, and after waiting a few minutes with no response, I called her. After she asked if I was OK, and if I needed to be picked up, she said, "Where are you?" I said, "Text." She asked, "Where? Church?" I repeated, "Text." A third time: "WHERE?" I said, "TEXT!" Then she said, "I can't understand. Why don't you text me?" I found mild amusement in this ending to the conversation, but felt bad for having had to wake her.

So instead of the long ride I had intended, I did 5.9 miles in 43 minutes. I hope I can tack on a little more late this afternoon or this evening.

SUNDAY EVENING

This afternoon, I took my trike to Wheels in Motion here in town, along with the spare tube I had bought from Jack's in Dearborn so that I wouldn't have to return there next time I had a problem. But after looking it over, they said it wouldn't do any good to put the tube in because the tire was "shredded." They said they could order new tires for it, as they are a specialized and somewhat uncommon size, but they wouldn't be in until Wednesday. I am not going to wait that long, having become once more addicted to riding, so I'll be heading back to Dearborn in the morning.

I explained, though, that I bought the trike on May 2 and since then have ridden 500+ miles on it, and I wondered if I should consider that normal wear, or indicative of some sort of problem. They said, "Well, congratulations on ringing up the miles at that rate, but really they should not be this bad yet. If you're really set on going back to the dealer in the morning, I'd suggest replacing both front tires, as the other one is pretty nearly gone, too." And they said the basic reason was that they're fairly cheap tires; "If I were you, I'd try to get better quality ones next time."

So ... live and learn.

43rd ride - 6/20/15

I set off at 6:30 this morning, fully intending to do 3 consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, which would have been my longest ride to date (at 25.5 miles). But I am finding that, for me, the mental aspect of long rides is the most difficult part. (Just as it was in marathon running—I did 2, in 1984 and 1991, at a slow time of just over 3 and a half hours for each, and the thought of running 26.2 miles at one time was more of a challenge than actually doing it physically.)

As I was coming into the home stretch of the second one today, light raindrops made me equivocate; and then, I got to thinking that if my goal is to do five consecutive round trips (41.5 miles) by the end of the summer, then in pacing myself out, I should do four (33.5) by the end of July, and since I just bumped up to two yesterday for the first time, it would make more sense to wait and do three on the last day of June.

In the middle of the ride, I passed a woman, running with her dog, who knew me, and said hi and complemented me on the cycle. Like when I passed Andy Zimmer a few days ago, my vision made me less than certain of her identity. But I thought it was Andy's wife, Erin.

I was going to ride in a t-shirt, but at the last minute I decided to throw on a light pullover, and I'm glad I did, as it was still below 60°. I'm sure there will be some early morning rides in July and August when I'll have all the heat I want, though!

One other notable thing about today's ride—though my mileage is still quite modest, it's steadily building, and now, since getting the trike on May 2, I passed 500 miles today.

42nd ride - 6/19/15

Had a great ride this morning, doing consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, for 17.5 miles in a hour and 58 minutes. However, I turned around at Ellsworth Road, in order to avoid having to cross it and climb the hills along Lohr between there and home. I am hoping to do three consecutive round trips of it tomorrow morning, as part of a long-range goal I have.

On the Haiti mission trip in which I participated (in early April), two of my teammates were Eric and Mari Veenstra. I am grateful to have become especially good friends with Eric—we are fellow grandfathers (though he is just a young squirt, 4 years younger than I), and both Eric and Mari are bicyclists and have invited me to join in a ride next spring. The Five Boro Bike Tour is an annual recreational cycling event in New York City, produced by Bike New York. Conducted on the first Sunday in May, the 40-mile ride includes over 30,000 riders. The route takes riders through all five of New York's boroughs and across five major bridges. The entire route, including bridges and expressways which normally prohibit cyclists, is closed to automobile traffic for the ride. The event began in 1977 with about 250 participants on an 80-mile course. Eric and Mari have both done the ride before, but I will be a Five-Boro virgin.

I was concerned about whether trikes would be able to participate, so I googled their website and asked them. Their reply was that, so long as the cycle is human-powered, rather than by a motor, it's fine.

So, anyway, by going three round trips tomorrow, it'll be 25.8 miles—my farthest ride to date—and by the end of the summer I want to be up to five consecutive round trips (40.5) miles, to ensure that I can do the ride with Eric and Mari next May 1.

At the midway point today, just after turning around, I saw friends - Carol Franklin and her grandson Andrew, who were stopped on Lohr Rd. beside me. However, my distance vision (even corrected) is sufficiently dismal that, though Andrew waved and cried, "Hi!", and I shielded my eyes and tried to figure it out, I had to ask, "WHO?" Whereupon Carol said her name and said they see me quite frequently along Lohr Rd.

41st ride - 6/18/15

Michelle and I experienced a MASSIVE joy today, as Christy came down for the day to spend it with us, leaving Izzy and Danny behind with their grandmother. After a magnificent time together, she left mid-afternoon, and then I went out to ride, having decided not to try to squeeze one in early this morning since I didn't know what time she'd be arriving. Hit and miss thunderstorms were predicted for today, and when I left for the ride it was fine, but just in the last five minutes, it began to rain, and I heard some distant rumbles of thunder, making me glad for the timing.

I rode the round trip to Marsh Park again today (9.5 miles), in 1 hour and 5 minutes. Down along Textile, just east of Lohr, I thought I passed my friend (and Michelle's teaching colleague) Andy Zimmer, running on the path with his big golden dog. However, my vision is poor enough, even with my glasses, that I couldn't be 100% certain it was him. The route felt even more meaningful today, because this morning Michelle, Christy, and I drove it so I could show them the path and where it goes ... so it sort of seemed like they were with me on the ride. I was also glad that Christy had had time to see the trike and do a short test ride while she was here, so she can better know what I'm going through. She found the ride around the circle of our complex (almost a half mile) to be taxing;

I should have had her do the ride I did today! To be fair, though, she was laboring under a misunderstanding, as I had mistakenly told her she'd be doing about a quarter-mile ride.

40th ride - 6/17/15

I am tremendously excited to be seeing my daughter Christy today, and grandchildren Izzy and Danny, for the first time since Christmastime. They drove to Michigan from Colorado last week, and are staying with my ex- up in Okemos. We have not seen them yet, but Michelle and I are driving up this morning. (She got to see them in early April, when she went to Colorado to help them ready their new home while I was in Haiti on the mission trip.)

So, wanting to be able to get in a ride today, since I didn't know when we'd be back, I went out early, starting my ride at 6:00 a.m. I love this time of day, and it was a great joy to ride in the cool (58°), pale early sunshine, with the smell of early morning pervading the area. And it reminded me of the summer of 1974 (a summer that stands out in memory for Richard Nixon's resignation from the Presidency), when I worked at the Devils Lake Golf Course, mowing fairways and greens at this early time of day.

As I rode, there came flooding into my heart a joyous song that I had learned during my first year at Interlochen (1973-74) in the Christian fellowship group there: a song that also washed over me when I was working at the golf course that following summer:

It's brand new day, everything is fine,
Though it may seem gray, I want you to know that the sun's gonna shine!
And out of the sky, piercing every cloud is our God on high!
There'll be a new heart for every man, like the flowers that bloom in early spring,
For every life there is a plan, no matter what the autumn breezes bring.
So put away cares, let freedom be yours, joy is everywhere,
Joy is everywhere!

Let freedom ring, alleluia now, everybody sing,
Let your voices shout to the mighty King!

As I reflected on it, I thought that, perhaps, at age 58, I could be considered to be in the "autumn" of my life now ... and no matter what the autumn breezes bring, God has a plan for my life, and in that I rejoice.

At any rate, I really enjoyed replicating yesterday afternoon's ride, a round trip to Marsh Park (on Textile Rd. east of State Rd.), for 9.5 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes

39th ride - 6/16/15

Today was a very good day for my riding activity! In the morning I had to take my trike back to Jack's in Dearborn, where they replaced the plastic tubes which encase the chain as it travels between the front of the cycle and the rear, as they had come loose and become damaged, after getting entangled in the gears. Richard cautioned me, "With the folding of the trike for transport, and all your riding, it's normal that fasteners would loosen over time. That's what happened here, so you need to check them periodically." I was glad to know of this, and told him when I left, "I keep hoping that one of these weeks I'll be able to stay away and not bother you!" He laughed, "Oh, you don't bother us!"

Then this afternoon, I rode the expanded part of the Lohr-Textile Greenway, about whose existence I had speculated yesterday (after Doug told me a few weeks ago about their plans to extend it this spring). It now continues along Textile over roughly half a mile or so past State Rd., to Marsh Park, so I rode there and then back home, a round trip that gave me 9.5 miles in an hour and 6 minutes. It always feels good when I ride right after a trip to Jack's, as I generally hope and think that I should be in fairly good shape for a trouble-free ride at such a time.

38th ride - 6/15/15

This morning I rode two round trips to Woodland Dr., as I did yesterday.(11.8 miles in an hour and 20 minutes.) I had wanted to go farther, but a clicking/rattling noise from my rear wheel concerned me, and made me feel I should stay conservative.

I did notice today, though, that the Lohr-Textile Greenway has now been extended eastward from its former terminus at Lohr/Textile. I had heard from my friend Doug that they planned to extend it clear to State Rd., though I don't know if it goes that far yet. I hope to explore this new section tomorrow.

37th ride - 6/14/15

I didn't ride yesterday, having had a very full schedule because of helping friends move, and then the Tiger game at 4:00 featuring the 2015 debut of former ace Justin Verlander. And for a time today, I didn't think I was going to be able to ride, either. When thunderstorms rolled through a little after 5:00, I was preparing myself to go back to LA Fitness and work out on the stationary bike.

However, when I checked at 6:30, no precipitation was either falling or nearby, so I decided to go for it. The ride was still very moist, both from a lot of water on the ground, and very high humidity, but I experienced no rain. I was psyched up to do 4 round trips down to Woodland Drive, for 23 miles and what would have been my longest ride to date.

Mechanical problems once again came into play, though. About midway through the second round trip, I began hearing squealing, rubbing, and clicking coming from the back. I wondered if the problem might have been related somehow to all the water, though I couldn't see how. At first (although handling didn't indicate this), I feared that I was getting a flat on the rear tire. But I checked this, and it didn't seem to be the case. As the noise continued, though, I began to get quite nervous about having a breakdown several miles from home—and even though I had my cell phone with me, Michelle was still sound asleep and I didn't want to wake her. So I decided to cut the ride in half, and only complete two round trips.

After I had made this decision, and was nearing home, though I am completely lacking in any mechanical abilities, I seemed to make a discovery. The chain, as it passes from the pedal gear in front to the geared rear wheel, goes back through an upper plastic tube, and returns to the front through a lower plastic tube. These don't seem to be fastened to anything (or, if they were originally, the fasteners had come off and been lost), and the upper tube had worked its way back so that it was rubbing on the wheel, causing the sounds I was hearing, and the lower tube had worked its way forward and was throwing the chain off the gear. This discovery made the last half mile of my ride much more pleasant.

So, anyway, I came home quite drenched from the spray of the wheels on the wet ground, and having done a ride of 11.8 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes—not what I had hoped for or intended, but tolerable nonetheless.

36th ride - 6/12/15

I managed to squeeze in a slow ride this afternoon before the rain arrived—5 loops in Stonebridge for a total of 15.3 miles in 1 hour and 53 minutes. But, given the way the day started out, I was grateful to be able to ride at all. I though my derailleur had again become damaged, but my good friend Doug Tidd, who is the one that got me into cycling a few years ago, stopped over midday to look at it for me, and discovered that the derailleur was fine. The chain had merely come off the gear wheel, a problem he quickly and easily had rectified.

Also, I should note that yesterday's ride nudged my still-modest total for 2015 over the 400-mile plateau. Still low, but steadily growing.

35th ride - 6/11/15

Today's ride registered on the adventure meter, but not high. No injuries, and not severe inconvenience. I wanted to ride 8 loops in Stonebridge, which would have given me a new daily distance record. I did 4 in a counterclockwise direction, and then turned around to go the other way (so I'd avoid expiring of boredom). But I only got a little over a quarter mile into this fifth loop when my right front tire went flat. It wasn't a blowout, and I didn't feel it happen. But I began to hear a WHUFF WHUFF as the wheel rotated, and when I checked it, it was beginning to go flat.

So I quickly chained the trike up to a street sign, and began walking home to get the car, thankful that I had stayed close enough to make this feasible. Still, it would have been a walk of about 2 miles, but after I had gone about a half mile, a maintenance woman in a van slowed and asked me if I needed help. She had been working on one of the homes in the area where I'd been riding, and when she saw me walking with my helmet on, she thought maybe I'd had a breakdown of some sort. She was understandably wary, though, of picking up a strange man (not that I'm really "strange"), so after I had shown her my card, she asked me to write down my address. When she saw it, she said, "Hey! That's right near my condo!" So I was blessed with a ride.

Then I figured I might as well head right over to Dearborn to get it taken care of, and when I entered Jack's Bicycle, one of the guys said, "Hey, Richard—your friend is here!" He soon had a new tube installed in the tire for me, and aired it up, and I was good to go. I did purchase a spare tube to take with me, though, so I could have a shop in Ann Arbor do the work next time, and not have to return clear to Dearborn. On a future visit, he'll give me a lesson on how to change the tube myself.

One other element of adventure occurred today. When I test rode a trike on April 25, I made a joking remark to Richard about its stability. He nodded, but replied, "It is possible to roll it over, though, if you turn sharply enough and at a high enough speed." Sure enough, that's just what I did. I was riding south on the Lohr-Textile Greenway, and when I came to the crosswalk to go across Lohr Road and into Stonebridge, I rolled it right over. But fortunately, neither the trike nor I were injured, and this happened before I got into the roadway, and it was a good lesson learned for the future!

During the early part of my ride, my friend Randy Greschaw, who lives in Stonebridge, passed me slowly, and called out to me, "Looks like fun!" It was great to see Randy, whom I had known at my former church, but had not seen in some while.

Anyway, even with the truncated plan, I still was able to get in a good ride of 12 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

34th ride - 6/10/15

I enjoyed another ride with my friend Kristian this morning, but kept it quite modest, doing only two loops in Stonebridge for a total ride of 8 miles, in 50 minutes. Better something than nothing, I guess!

33rd ride - 6/9/15

This morning I got in a good ride (and doubtless sweated off a few calories, too, as I rode wearing a hoodie in 68° sunshine), though it was not quite as far as I thought it was. I thought I was exceeding 20 miles, which would have broken my record (so far) of 18.7. But instead, when I got home and measured it on the computer's pedometer, it came to 17.4 miles in an hour and 47 minutes.

I did three round trips to Woodland Drive today, rather than two as I have done on each of the two previous days. And it was a joy to see my friend Doris Granum, as I rode south along the Lohr-Textile Greenway, riding toward me and waving. As we drew near, she said, laughingly, "Finally—we meet!" We have talked about riding together on several occasions, but have never been able to mesh schedules. We both agreed, when we met later in the ride, that it was a great day to be out there!

32nd ride - 6/8/15

This afternoon, in sunny and warm (77°) weather, I duplicated my ride of yesterday morning, doing two round trips down to Woodland Dr., for a total of 11.8 miles in one hour and 17 minutes. Originally, I had wanted to ride this morning, since morning is far and away the "best time of the day" (as Dad always used to say) for me. But a steady cold rain was falling, so I decided to hold off and wait for it to cease.

I had intended to ride further this afternoon—perhaps three round trips to Woodland. But several incidents destroyed my momentum. Early in the ride, my too-long and flopping right shoelace got entangled in the crank of the pedal, which meant I had to stop, lean awkwardly forward while remaining in the seat with my leg outstretched, and clumsily disentangle the lace from the pedal. Then, a while later, my seat was wobbling all over, causing me to weave dizzily down the Lohr-Textile Greenway, so I had to stop, get out the L wrench, and tighten the seat clamp, which had somehow worked its way loose.

To increase the frustration, however, both events recurred in the second half of the ride! But I got everything taken care of without incident, and made it home safe and sound, so if that's the worst that ever happens to me, I'll consider myself fortunate indeed. The incidents caused my watchword for most of the ride to be "slow and steady." And I'm happy to note that, barring any unforeseen incidents, I should exceed 400 miles for the year sometime this week.

31st ride - 6/7/15

I went out and rode early this morning. After doing my traditional early Sunday morning jaunt to Meijer (where I get one of their cream-filled Long Johns with chocolate icing; a tradition dating back 30 years to when I lived in Okemos, beginning my doctorate at MSU), I set out for my ride at about 7:15, and did 2 round trips on the Lohr-Textile Greenway, down to Woodland Dr. in the northern fringe of Saline, for a total ride of 11.8 miles in an hour and 17 minutes.

REFLECTION

As I think back to 2013, when I began riding (and loved it, doing over 1800 miles between March and the end of September), I believe that one of the things I loved most about it was the "call of the open road" (though that sounds a bit overly romantic). I rode very frequently to Saline, numerous times to Dexter, and occasionally even to Chelsea.

At this point, I certainly concede that the trike is much safer for me. It seems a bit confining to be limited to paths, walks, and that one subdivision, mostly close to home although I will occasionally travel a bit further with it, like yesterday. This morning I had wanted to ride down to Saline, a trip I can make completely on sidewalks. But the problem I encountered with the derailleur recently has me currently employing a more conservative approach to where I ride, trying now for the most part to avoid sidewalks as well as roads. We'll see how it shakes out eventually. And really, I am so predominantly happy and grateful to be able to return to riding at all, that it seems pretty petty for me to chafe under this restriction.

30th ride - 6/6/15

This morning, I went up to Brighton, where my friend Kahle Strickland lives, and went on a wonderfully enjoyable ride with him at Island Lake Recreational Area, from which I had fondly pleasant memories of riding together back in 2013 when I was riding my bicycle so much. Today we were blessed with another in our string of glorious spring weather: it was brightly sunny, although still cool enough at our 7:30 a.m. start that my (Team Allen) hoodie was most welcome!

Though I am aware that both my stamina and speed are severely limited, Kahle kindly put up with this restriction. I completed a 13.4-mile ride in about 1 hour and 27 minutes; he did about 17 miles by riding on ahead at several points and then returning to me.

29th ride - 6/5/15

This morning, I had to drop Michelle off early at her school for the annual end-of-year expedition to Cedar Point with her students. I already had the trike loaded in the car, and then just continued from the school over to Dexter, to ride at Hudson Mills Metropark. And, though I'm sure I would have discovered this eventually anyway, I thank my friend David Gross for pointing out to me the West River Trail (paved) that connects the park to downtown Dexter. So I rode that this morning, for a slow but highly enjoyable ride of 10.4 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes.

28th ride - 6/4/15

I pushed myself this morning, and did my longest ride to date, completing 6 loops of Stonebridge for a total ride of 18.7 miles in 1 hour and 51 minutes. The loop itself is 2.45 miles with a round trip of 3.1 miles to go there from our home. The math does not add up quite right, but those are the figures I have gotten from the online pedometer I use (g-map.pedometer.com). Anyway, it was another glorious spring morning—sunny and 74°—and that made it easier to keep pedaling.

27th ride - 6/3/15

Had a great ride this morning of four moderately brisk loops in Stonebridge with my friend Kristian Frikke-Schmidt. This 13.4-mile ride (in 1:19) pushed me over 300 miles for the year. Still an exceptionally modest total, but steadily growing.

26th ride - 6/2/15

This afternoon, I rode a moderately short ride—8.7 miles—and rode it more slowly than I would have liked, in 1 hour and 4 minutes. But, given the great blessing that acquisition of my trike this spring, through the generosity of numerous friends (including former students) and family, has been, and despite the frustrating technical issues with which I've had to deal in recent days, I am indescribably grateful to have been able to ride at all. This was after my return from Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn, where they my broken rear derailleur and installed a new one for me.

I rode a route that I could only do, while meeting my limitations of staying off-road, because of last year's rebuild of Ann Arbor-Saline Rd., which includes a nice, secure sidewalk on the bridge over I-94, well separated from the traffic by a small wall. While riding almost 9 miles on all walks was frustrating restrictive, as I said above, on the whole, I'm incredibly glad to have been able to ride at all.

25th ride - 6/1/15

Well, I thought today was going to be an adventure-free day after I got home from Dearborn. Jack's Bicycle successfully fixed the problem that had developed yesterday: the center folding joint collapsed, so that the body would not stay straight but fell down, resting on the ground. (It turns out that the nut holding the latch had worked itself off; they weren't sure why, but put lock-tight on the new one in an attempt to keep it in place.)

So I went out this evening for a moderate ride, going down to Stonebridge and doing three loops there. Then I was on the way home, just within a mile, starting up a hill, when the chain came off the rear derailleur. By the time I could get stopped and looked at it to see if I could get it back on, I was stunned to see that the derailleurl was all bent and misshapen. So I reluctantly chained it up to a nearby guy wire (for a power pole) and set off walking, after a total ride of 9.9 miles in 55 minutes. (Until the mechanical problem, I had been happy to note that my speed was improving marginally.)  I had hoped not to have to make another trip back to Dearborn for a while; but, on the other hand, I am glad that it's feasible for me to go.