119th ride - 9/30/2015

This morning, I rode a brisk pair of consecutive Marsh Park round trips, doing the 17.5 miles in a record 1:41:16. (My previous best was 1:44 on September 1.)

I plan to do an additional ride this afternoon, before picking up Michelle from school.

WEDNESDAY MID-AFTERNOON

I did, in fact, go out again this afternoon and tacked on another Marsh Park round trip (in a fairly strong wind), clipping through the 9.5 miles in a pretty good 56:30 (only the third time I've broken an hour, I believe), though it was nowhere near the 50:50 I clocked on it yesterday morning.

118th ride - 9/29/2015

My schedule today forced me to do a short ride in the morning, and then supplement it (I hope) this afternoon. So, since I was only doing one round trip to Marsh Park this morning, I decided to challenge myself and pedal as hard as I could for time. The best I had done for this 9.5-mile ride previously was 58 minutes; today I came in at 50:50.

TUESDAY EVENING

Well, I'm sure glad I was able to ride this morning, even if it was only a short one, since schedule and weather conspired to keep me from going back out this afternoon, as I had hoped to.

117th ride - 9/28/2015

When I ride, I'm always shifting my target goal, both in terms of time, and of mileage. Today when I started, I realized that if I could do 3 round trips to Marsh Park today, tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday, it would put me over 1700 miles for the year—so that became my goal, and I made it for today! I did the three round trips (25.5 miles) in 2 hours and 20 minutes (my previous best time for it had been 2:34, but I kept pushing today, and kept reevaluating what seemed possible). Here is a diagram of the route for two round trips.

I was going to aim for 2000 miles for the year, but now it's seeming increasingly likely that I can go well beyond that, so I think I'm going to aim for at least 2500 miles as my yearly goal.

I do the vast majority of my riding on the Lohr-Textile Greenway, that asphalt trail that begins at Lohr and Ellsworth, less than a mile from our home (I reach it by riding on sidewalks). It runs from there south to Textile Rd., and then east (crossing some nice boardwalks) beyond State Rd. to end at Marsh View Meadows Park at the Pittsfield Preserve (which I simply call Marsh Park). Earlier in the year I posted a photo collage of this trail that I had put together. Here is it again:

116th ride - 9/27/2015

This morning, I rode a single round trip to Marsh Park, feeling for the first time my ride affected by the shrinking daylight. I decided to go a bit later than yesterday, and though, at 7:00 it was still far from light, it was not as resoundingly dark as yesterday's 6:30 ride was. And, not liking to be hurried on my Sunday mornings, I decided to keep it to a single round trip so that I'd have plenty of time to clean up and prepare calmly for church.

The ride had one noteworthy feature. As I rode east on the Lohr-Textile Greenway, a bit east of State Rd. (headed down the hill toward Marsh View Meadows Park), a pair of deer bounded across the trail about 100 yards ahead of me, headed from left to right (north to south). But before I could get up to where they were, they had disappeared into the wooded area that was their goal.

Also, yesterday I was dodging numerous runners as I rode. I noticed signs along the way for www.run-annarbor.com, and though I forgot to check it yesterday, I did look this morning and found: "Join us for a Saturday Long Run from the store. The course will be on the Lohr-Textile Greenway for most of the run. 7:00AM start time from Ann Arbor Running Company, 2755 Oak Valley Drive, Ann Arbor. Aid-stations with water and sports drink will be provided by Run Ann Arbor and put out on the course for runners. Post-run refreshments will be provided."

115th ride - 9/26/2015

This morning's ride was a big one, as I did four consecutive round trips to Marsh Park for only the second time (the other being on August 1). This 33.5 miles is the longest ride I have done on my trike. I had set the goal of doing five consecutive round trips by the end of summer, but missed that—however, I am still hopeful of making it by the end of October.

I set out in solid darkness this morning, at 6:30, with my headlight securely flashing (I left it on for an hour and a half), and was hoping to better my earlier time of 3:45. But the time ended up being a moving target. With the adjustments that were made to my trike yesterday at Jack's, it rides easier, so by the end of the first round trip, it was light enough to see my watch, and I could see that 3:45 was too modest a goal, so I reset my sights on 3:40. As I continued to ride, and continued to better my expectations, I kept readjusting my goal, until by the start of the fourth and final round trip, I was hoping to make 3:30 (or maybe even 3:25)—and when I pulled into our driveway at the conclusion, I was delighted to see 3:17:47 on my watch!

The reason for my goal of 5 is because of a big ride I'm doing next spring. Every year since 1978, on the first Sunday of May riders have congregated to do what they call the Five Boro Tour, because it goes through all five boroughs of New York City. (They close the streets to traffic for it.) That first one, 37 years ago, had 50 riders—but it grew steadily until a few years ago, when they capped it at 32,000 riders. After beginning near Wall Street at the southern tip of Manhattan, the route heads north, and through Central Park, and eventually comes back down to finish across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and onto Staten Island.

When it opened in 1964, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the world's longest suspension span. The ends of the bridge are at historic Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island.

I became friends with Eric and Mari Veenstra this year, who were teammates of mine on the mission trip we did to Haiti in April. They have done the ride in the past, and planned to go out for next year's and offered me a ride out with them. I felt I could hardly neglect this extremely kind offer.

At any rate, that ride next May 1 is 40 miles, so to assure myself that I can do it, I want to have 40 miles done OK here in Michigan. And five consecutive Marsh Park round trips will be 41.5 miles. I could have done it this morning, I believe, but decided to wait and let the anticipation continue to build.

114th ride - 9/25/2015

Today was a momentous day. First, I went to Jack's Bicycle this morning, to address the issue of the premature wear on my front tires that cropped up yesterday. I had last been there three weeks ago, on September 3, and gotten new tires on that day. I had only put about 200 miles on them, so something was very odd that they should be wearing so quickly. My friend Doug suggested alignment, so when I took it in I had a note explaining the situation, and asking if alignment could be the problem. They checked it, and at first told me the alignment was "spot on," but then a few minutes later came and informed me that it was backwards ... the front wheels are supposed to be slightly toed in, so that they will straighten out when I sit on the trike, but instead they are toed out, so that sitting on it only worsened the alignment. They corrected it, and put on new tires, all as a warranty item.

With the original diagnosis of acceptable alignment, they said they couldn't figure out what was causing the problem, and we'd have to wait to get an answer from TerraTrike (the manufacturer) ... but until then, they suggested that I just enjoy riding on the new tires they had given me.

Next, when I got home, I was confronted anew with the challenge that transporting the trike is. Disassembling it, folding it, and placing it the car OR removing it from the car and reassembling it is not a task well suited to the faint of heart (or the non-mechanical musician). In the process, I knocked the bell off and broke it (this is a relatively inexpensive item to replace), and also knocked off the taillight (which I had never figured out how to turn on anyway), and was unable to see how to reattach it.

Then the ride itself went quite well. In lovely fall weather (80° sunshine), I rode the 10.3 miles of my Bicentennial loop in an hour even—considerably faster than I have ever done it before, though I wasn't conscious of pushing especially hard. I'm sure this was because the technician who assisted me today said that my left brake was grabbing or dragging a little, and he adjusted it so that the wheel would now spin freely, and "you won't have to pedal nearly as hard."

One interesting facet of the ride, however, was that almost halfway in, the middle joint began to fold up. This is always disconcerting to have happen while riding, because one's midsection begins to dip down toward the ground, while the outer ends of the trike (rear wheel, and the part with one's feet, in front) begin to fold upward, so that you are kind of sandwiched or accordioned while riding. I managed to retain control, however, brought it to a stop, and hopped off to reengage the locking pin—only to find that when I stopped, it healed itself. After checking quite thoroughly to ensure that it was secure, I continued on.

113th ride - 9/24/2015

I went out at 7:30 this morning and rode my Bicentennial loop, doing the 10.3 miles in a slow time of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Kristian is coming at 9:30 to ride with me, so I'm glad to be able to "double dip" today.

THURSDAY MID-MORNING

Today's adventure-meter reading: MILD. Kristian pulled up right on time, and we set off to ride to Marsh Park. But before we had gotten quite a mile, he pulled up beside me while we were waiting to cross Ellsworth Rd. and pointed out to me that both front tires were in quite bad shape - a strip was worn down the middle of each where the tread was nearly wholly gone. I had been to the dealer in Dearborn to have a flat replaced three weeks ago today, and they gave me free of charge two new tires in front that were a higher quality than the ones I had, telling me that they should last considerably longer than the previous ones. But something goofy is afoot, as these new ones only lasted a little over 200 miles  .

I rode on a slight way farther, but then, nervous about having a blowout several miles from home, I turned back, settling for a ride of 3.7 miles in 30 minutes (and a daily total of 14,0 miles in 1 hour and 50 minutes).

112th ride - 9/23/2015

I was unable to ride yesterday, due to a very full schedule (which included a lengthy drive to a funeral). But today, on a very fallish morning (57°, but bright blue skies), I rode a single round trip to Marsh Park (9.5 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes). I hope and plan to do a supplemental ride this afternoon.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

This afternoon I was glad to be able to go out and ride another Marsh Park round trip, this time doing the 9.5 miles in a slightly quicker 1 hour and 6 minutes, and giving me a daily total of 19 miles in 2 hours and 16 minutes. In this morning's cooler temperatures, my long sleeved t-shirt felt great; however, in this afternoon's 75* sunshine, short sleeves felt just perfect!

111th ride - 9/21/2015

This morning, I celebrated the official arrival of fall today by riding consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, completing the 17.5 miles in 1 hour and 56 minutes. (I learn via the Internet, however, that the equinox actually arrives at 4:21 a.m. this Wednesday, September 23.) It was a perfectly gorgeous day for a ride - a fallish temperature (though, at 66°, it was plenty warm enough to be quite comfortable), and nearly unbroken blue skies.

110th ride - 9/20/2015

After being gone on my trip to Minnesota the last three days, and having experienced a 20+ hour day yesterday traveling home (rising at 4:30 a.m. Central Time, and falling into bed at about 1:45 a.m. (today) Eastern Time, I found I was quite tired, and unwilling to do the consecutive Marsh Park round trips I had initially envisioned. So I'll shoot for them tomorrow, and today I settled for my Bicentennial Loop (10.3 miles) in a relaxed 1 hour and 10 minutes.

109th ride - 9/16/2015

I was happy to ride with Kristian again this morning, and he only had time for one round trip to Marsh Park, so I settled for that ride of 9.5 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes. While this time was within my "normal" range, I felt exceptionally slow. Oh well ... I guess all I can do is keep plugging away, trying to improve gradually.

108th ride - 9/15/2015

I had to spend most of the morning today at the Honda dealer, due to continuing problems with our radio. (The final verdict was an internal short in the unit, which had to be removed and sent back to Honda, with the hopes that it'll be back in 2-3 weeks.) So I wasn't able to do the usual morning ride that I prefer.

However, I got out just before noon, and rode in glorious sunshine—a shimmeringly beautiful day!—and did consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, for 17.5 miles in 1 hour and 58 minutes. If I can do two tomorrow also, that'll push me over 1500 miles for the year ... and just in time, too, as I won't be able to ride Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. I'm going to Minnesota for the Friday funeral of my St. Olaf Choir director and professional mentor, Dr. Kenneth Jennings, who died August 20 at the age of 90 after a rich life.

107th ride - 9/14/2015

Summer is definitely gone! I went out at 7:20 today in 40* sunshine, glad for my fleece but soon made aware that I won't be doing early morning rides without gloves for much longer this year! I had hoped to do three round trips to Marsh Park, but settled for one (9.5 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes), and hope to tack on another ride this afternoon.

It was not quite an adventure-free ride, though. After I had turned around at the park, and started heading back home, I had crossed State and crossed the first boardwalk and was riding steadily along on the trail (the Lohr-Textile Greenway), headed west. I began to cross Wilson Rd., when a car coming from the east on Textile (behind me, and invisible and inaudible to me) was trying to make a fast turn onto Wilson and evidently didn't see me soon enough, despite my high orange flag flying from the rear of my trike. Happily, though, he did see me in time to avoid catastrophe, and scrunched to a stop just a few feet short of me. His vision shouldn't have been impaired, as he was driving away from the bright low sun (in contrast to much of my ride, which was headed east, directly into the sun). At any rate, I will try to reflect on it, learn what I can from it, and avoid such a situation in the future.

I always pray before I ride, not only for God's protection, but also that he will help me to exercise care and caution, and ride legally. I am, of course, especially grateful for His merciful protection today.

MONDAY AFTERNOON

Well, conditions are markedly different now than they were this morning (77° vs 40°). So I just did a slow ride, enjoying the warmth, and finished the 10.3 miles of my 'Bicentennial Loop' in 1:10.

106th ride - 9/13/2015

Today was an extremely lightweight day for riding. To begin with, this morning I decided I'd rather ride in afternoon sunshine rather than do an early ride before church. No problem there—it gave me a leisurely start to the day.

Then this afternoon, though I have an exceptionally low need for variety in my routine, I was feeling it today and chose to ride a different route. I'm calling this one my Arcadia Loop (all on walks), as it includes a neighborhood side street near us named Arcadia Dr. I rode it three times, and this gave me a ride of 6.5 miles, in 50 minutes.

The ride was not quite adventure-free, however. On the second loop, after the leg south along Lohr, when I was turning 90° to the right to follow Ellsworth Rd., I had been hustling so as not to hold up cars waiting to proceed, and I neglected to slow sufficiently for the turn, and thus rolled the trike. It was onto lush grass, though, and both the cycle and I were fine. But it alarmed a lady driving by sufficiently that she stopped, popped out, and called, in a concerned voice, "Are you OK?" I quickly reassured her, though, and we both moved along.

105th ride - 9/12/2015

I knew I'd have to ride early today, so I slipped out just past 6:00 and rode one round trip to Marsh Park (9.5 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes). I was extremely glad for my flashing headlight, and glad, too, that I know the path quite well by now. It's amazing how much early rides have changed since I was doing them back in June and July! Both in terms of the daylight (it was still quite dark when I began today, and not yet full daylight when I finished), and also the temperature—now, at 8:15, it is 50°, so I suspect that it was in the high forties when I rode, and my navy blue Michigan fleece felt awfully good!

A few days ago, my cousin Jim ("Jimbo") Harris contacted me to say that he had a spare ticket for today's coaching debut in the Big House (Michigan Stadium) for Jim Harbaugh, and wondered if I'd like to go! He and my other cousin, his nephew Chris, are picking me up at 9:30 this morning (in order to leave time for negotiating the large crowd, and their tailgating protocol at Pioneer High School, where they park, right across from the stadium), well in advance of the noon game against Oregon State. So I was happy to be able to get my ride done pre-dawn.

104th ride - 9/11/2015

This morning I was happy to be able to ride with my friend Kristian Frikke-Schmidt. Schedule conflicts have prevented our riding together for about three weeks now, so it was nice to be able to reconnect. Though I had hoped to do two round trips to Marsh Park, in the end I settled for just one, completing the 9.5 miles in 1 hours and 4 minutes.

9/11—an ominous date in American history now. I was working in my job at Firestone on that September morning 14 years ago, and as the events unfolded on the TV up in the customer waiting area, some of us gathered around, watching in disbelief.

103rd ride - 9/10/2015

This morning I pushed myself to do a good ride, completing three round trips to Marsh Park (25.5 miles) in 2 hours and 39 minutes. I'm glad to have done it, even though the time was not great—the best time I've had for three round trips was my very first time, on Juns 29, when I clearly didn't know any better.

As I think I've said before, the mental challenge of a big ride is by far the toughest part of it for me. As I am finishing up the second round trip, having ridden about 100 minutes already, the temptation is almost overwhelming to tell myself, "Hey, you've already done a good ride!" But I'm glad I was able to push on today, for my first time of doing three of them since July 17.

The other notable thing about today's ride was that it pushed me over 1400 miles for the year. I'm aiming to get to 2000, which seems rather modest as a yearly goal (I hope to do much better in 2016),  but is still a significant achievement for my first year with the trike.

102nd ride - 9/9/2015

Today's ride was squeezed by my needing to be at the Honda dealer all morning for repairs on our car. But I was able to work in a round trip to Marsh Park this afternoon, and pushed myself for time, completing the 9.5 miles in 57:34. Objectively, this does not sound like all that good a speed in terms of miles per hour, but it's the best I've done for a round trip—the trike is not geared for speed riding, but I'm steadily building good muscles in my legs.

101st ride - 9/8/2015

It felt a little odd riding this morning, in this new season of our life. Today is Michelle's first day of school, so after dropping her off, I came home and set out on my ride. And I am still rebuilding stamina after my recent weekend off. But I managed to gut out consecutive round trips to Marsh Park today (17.5) in the respectable (but by no means great) time of 1 hour and 52 minutes. (The best time I have done for 2 round trips is 1 hour and 47 minutes.)

100th ride - 9/7/2015

I am extremely glad to be back to riding, after having had to be away from it for a few days. And for my 100th trike ride, I suppose I should have done something a little more notable. I set out a bit past 9:00 on this Labor Day, intending to ride consecutive round trips to Marsh Park. But then, not having ridden in three days, I found myself quite lacking in drive, and decided to scale back and settle for one round trip. So, I got in 9.5 miles in 1 hour and 4 minutes, on a morning already quite warm (it is currently 77°, and they are calling for a high of 89 this afternoon, so I'm glad I rode early).

99th ride - 9/4/2015

This morning I went out at 8:30, intending to ride three consecutive round trips to Marsh Park. But as I rode, I was praying (with eyes open), and felt I was hearing the message that I should do a shorter ride and get home so I could spend time composing on the piece I began yesterday for our church choir and new music director (a setting of portions of Psalm 46—"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble").

In general, I am somewhat suspicious of people who claim to hear the voice of God telling them what to do—especially myself—when it accords with their own desires. But today, I decided to heed that "still, small voice" (I Kings 19:12). So I did a single round trip, finishing with 9.5 miles in 1 hour and 4 minutes. My 100th ride with the trike will have to wait until next week, however, as Michelle and I are going to her hometown this weekend to celebrate my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary with the gathered family, and we've decided not to take the trike.

98th ride - 9/3/2015

First, I sing the praises of Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn! When I took my trike there this morning because of the blowout right front tire I had suffered yesterday, they also checked the left one (per my request), and replaced both—at no charge—with higher quality tires. They told me that they should last "at least twice as long" in miles as the cheaper ones I had on there. They also (at my request) upgraded my bag in which to carry my laptop. After I did a trial with it (empty) the other night, and a slight bump made the clips fly off the rack and deposit the bag on the ground, I knew I couldn't carry my laptop in it that way, so I asked about a more secure arrangement. And they gave me (free of charge) a bag with spring loaded clips and a small bungee cord that attaches to the frame. Now I feel considerably more secure about it!

On the way back into town I stopped at Wheels in Motion and put some of the money I had planned to spend on tires toward the purchase of a new water bottle to replace the one I lost earlier this week.

This afternoon I rode a route I call the Bicentennial Loop (because it involves riding along Bicentennial Parkway—on the sidewalk—which runs south from Textile Rd. toward Saline High School). However, I rode in the other direction today from the way I have ridden it in the past, going counterclockwise today, and this had a consequence. My diminished familiarity with the corners of the route led me to take the 90° turn from Woodland onto Industrial in northern Saline too quickly, and so I rolled the trike (onto the grass). It evidently looked much more dramatic than it was, because two motorists passing the intersection just then squealed to a stop, with one lady crying, "OMIGOSH! Are you OKAY?" But I put their minds at ease by hopping back up quickly, flashing a big smile, and two vigorous thumbs-up. This led them to move along ... but not before the other driver commented, "Cool bike! But I think you lost a part of it." When I fell, the computer/odometer popped out of its clip, but I had already seen that, and as I righted the trike, I slipped it back into place.

Evidently the odometer's having been dislodged from the clip loosened it, though, because when I was about 3 miles from home, I glanced down, and was heartily dismayed to find it gone. This is now the second time I've lost one (the first happening on May 22). When I replace it, I'm obviously going to have to be much more careful!

Anyway, this gave me a ride of 10.3 miles, in 1 hour and 7 minutes.

97th ride - 9/2/2015

My ride was cut short this morning. I had hoped, and intended, to do three round trips to Marsh Park, after setting off in mildly foggy conditions; but as I was about two miles from the end of the first, I heard thunder rolling in from the west, and looked that way and it was quite gray and threatening. So, even though it wasn't (yet) raining, I headed for home, and it then began raining (lightly) when I was less than a mile from home. I hope to be able to add some more riding later today, weather permitting. I hated to make this decision, as it will be hot later today—but safety before comfort is a clear priority. So, I ended up with 9.5 miles this morning in 1 hour and 1 minute.

WEDNESDAY EVENING

It was as hot and muggy as I feared this afternoon, but I forced myself to go out and ride anyway. I got to Marsh Park, and was over halfway home when I heard the sickening BANG and whoosh of the right front tire blowing out. I was still almost 3 miles from home, but fortunately had my cell phone handy and so texted Michelle, who was unable to come immediately, so I sat down to wait, and in about 45 minutes she showed up. So tomorrow morning it's back to Jack's Bicycle again! But this afternoon I was able to tack on an additional 7 miles in 41 minutes, for a daily total of 16.5 miles in 1 hours and 42 minutes.

96th ride - 9/1/2015

All things considered, I had a fairly good ride this morning. The mechanical issue that plagued me last night is still not solved—the pedal mechanism is not firmly attached to the main body tube, so that it rotates about the tube. This does not seem to be an issue that I can correct here—it looks to me as if the adjustment somehow needs to be made inside the tube. But I learned how to control it and ride fairly comfortably, finding this learning to take place much more easily in the bright morning daylight than last evening at twilight. It's relatively non-problematic on straight stretches, with the difficulty mostly coming during cornering. So I was able to do consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, for a total of 17.5 miles in 1 hour and 44 minutes.

The only casualty today was that I lost my water bottle. On my old bike, the carrier for it attached to a diagonally slanting body tube, so that it was partly held in place by gravity. But when I transferred it to the trike, I had to attach it to a horizontal tube, which allows it to slide out much more easily. It came out somewhere in the second half of my first round trip, without my noticing it—then during the second round trip, I watched for it carefully, but to no avail.

Also, doing a little mental math, I figured that if I can average today's length of ride throughout the month of September, I'll break 500 miles for the month. I'd say that will be my goal, but I don't know if it is doable since I'll be traveling and unable to ride some days this month.