26th ride of 2016 - 2/29/2016

I tend to get things stuck in my head (passages of music, or verbal phrases) and then repeat them over and over. This is especially true while I'm riding, and today's fodder was a bit of doggerel from the childhood of my dad (b. 1907).

I am participating in a Monday morning men's small group at our church, and today we began a reading of the Gospel of Luke. A consideration of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) reminded me rhythmically of this poetic couplet I heard Dad recite many times, listing the names of the four youngest siblings in their large farm family, along with the name of the family pony:

Loyle, Evelyn, Dale, and Von—

Saddle up Old Major and we’ll ALL hop on!

At any rate, this has been churning through my thoughts all day, and with it I went out and fought the elements this afternoon. Waiting until 1:45, the temperature had gotten up to 46°, but a stiff wind (20 mph), which was, of course, a great pleasure to ride through, brought the wind-chill down to 39°. However, by the time I finished, it had climbed all the way to 49°! (I didn't, however, suffer heatstroke.)

Because of the wind, I allowed myself to be content with a single round trip to Marsh Park today, finishing the 10 miles in a slow time of 1 hour and 12 minutes.

25th ride of 2016 - 2/28/2016

Today's ride was a spectacular one, under glorious sunshine. When I began, at 1:00, it was 52°, and when I finished it was 54°. I wanted to take full advantage of the weather, and hoped to ride consecutive round trips to Marsh Park. But as I rode, I found myself eager to get home and begin to work out a new praise song that had begun germinating in my head during worship this morning. So, in the end, I gave in to that urge, and settled for a single round trip, completing the 10 miles in 1 hour and 4 minutes.

Also, in the warmth, the mountains of snow from the 8+ inches we got earlier in the week were disappearing rapidly, leaving portions of the ride quite wet. Even though I was nowhere unable to negotiate it, I returned home with my pants, coat, glasses, and the gloves I had fortunately thought to wear, quite soaked and muddy. It reminded me of a quotation from a letter by my favorite author, C.S. Lewis:

“I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious, provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience etc. don't get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal think is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.”

24th ride of 2016 - 2/27/2016

As I wanted variety today (inexplicably), I went down to ride in Stonebridge. That is the subdivision a little over a mile from us that Michelle recommended to me last spring when I began riding; it has a nice paved loop (almost two and a half miles), fairly flat terrain, and extremely light traffic. I did almost all my riding there for the first few weeks after I got my trike last May, but then I discovered the trail to Marsh Park, and switched almost exclusively to that.

I was thinking I'd try for a longer ride today, but even though the sunshine was bright and abundant, it was cold enough at 39° to dampen my enthusiasm, so in the end I settled for two loops—a total of 8 miles (with the trip down there and back) in a desultory one hour even.

23rd ride of 2016 - 2/26/2016

I did a good, full workout at LA Fitness today midday, so I wouldn't have had to ride outside. But, as I hadn't since Monday, due to weather, I wanted to, with our relatively mild weather in advance of this weekend's warmup (forties tomorrow, and possible fifties on Sunday). So I set off at 2:30 in 30° conditions (with a wind-chill of 22°), intending to ride my 'Figure 8' route, one which used to be my most frequent running route. This would have been 4.5 miles—pretty paltry compared to my 10-mile round trips to Marsh Park, but still acceptable to me in light of today's already completed session at LA Fitness.

However, today's ride was not adventure-free (though it was, thankfully, danger-free). In retrospect, I should have ridden the trail to Marsh Park instead. I got off to a good start, but when I reached Joe's Crab Shack, I came upon a lengthy stretch of uncleared sidewalk. After halting and pondering my options for a minute, I turned around in Joe's parking lot and headed back, figuring I could modify my route and still ride the majority of what I had intended. However, the sidewalk was less cleared than I had expected. At one point, near a Buddhist Tibetan Learning Center that Michelle and I pass while walking (called JewelHeart) I ran into a heavy patch of snow that stranded me, so that I had to unclip from the pedals, stand up, turn the trike around, and head it back to the clear portion. I was able to get out to the road for a short stretch, intending to get back onto the walk at Oak Valley and Ellsworth. But plowed up snow where the walk met the road made it impossible for me to get through, so I had to stay on the road for another short stretch, until I was able to get back up onto the sidewalk again. Fortunately, this all went smoothly, and I finished a challenging ride of 3.5 miles in 29 minutes.

22nd ride of 2016 - 2/22/2016

I had hoped to do another longer ride today, to give me two such consecutive days. However, as the temperature has fallen back to a more expected level for this time of year (38° for this afternoon's ride), I decided to stay with my self-imposed 40° threshold and just do a single round trip, completing the 10 miles under gray skies in 1 hour and 2 minutes.

The day did, however, provide one encouraging step ... I exceeded 200 miles for the year. And whereas it took me the entire month of January to make my first 100 miles, this one went by considerably faster, even with our vacation to Jamaica for 6 days.

21st ride of 2016 - 2/21/2016

Today I sailed along easily, going for distance but never really pushing myself for time. I rode consecutive round trips to Marsh Park (for the first time since February 7), and was happy to see a time of 1:51:13 when I finished, as my record is 1:50:25.

It has cooled considerably from yesterday's astonishing 60° sunshine, and clouds have moved in as well. However, we are still experiencing unseasonable warmth for Michigan in late February: when I began today's ride, at just past noon, it was 43°, with a wind of 13 mph bringing the wind-chill down to 36. And when I finished, about  2:00, it had descended to 42*, with a 7 mph wind making the wind-chill 38.

The Lohr-Textile Greenway, the asphalt trail on which I do the vast majority of my riding, is marked by two boulders that bear plaques commemorating its two phases of construction. In my blog on Feb. 8, I included a picture of the second, but forgot to photograph the first on that day's ride. Here are the two - first the one I showed previously, that is on the south side of Textile Rd. roughly halfway between Lohr and State:

And then here is the first one, which is located on the east side of Lohr Rd., roughly halfway between Ellsworth and Textile. Its date is June 9, 2012, well before I began riding my trike, and about the time that my friend Doug was beginning to work me into riding a bike.

20th ride of 2016 - 2/20/2016

After not having been able to ride since Feb. 11, I was awfully glad to be able to get back into it today. Michelle and I were in Jamaica Feb. 13-18, and I'm also pleased that we seem to have been able to bring some of the warmth back with us (though not the beach). Here is what we had to endure, with a temperature around 80°.

Today the riding conditions were splendid—bright 60° sunshine (though with a healthy 22 mph wind), and, not wanting to waste the weather, I had hoped to do consecutive round trips to Marsh Park. However, as I was coming back from the park, it seemed to me that it would be more prudent to ease back into riding, so I settled for a single round trip, completing the 10 miles in an even hour (well, 5 seconds over).

19th ride of 2016 - 2/11/2016

Today was a wholly unsatisfactory day of riding, in terms of measuring myself against the standards which I like to meet. For one thing, the Polar Vortex, with which we became so uncomfortably familiar last winter, has returned, so even though I really really wanted to ride outside after not having done so since Monday, when I went out at noon it was 16° with a 2° wind-chill. Quite honestly, I was more than a bit nervous, or even afraid, of riding down to Marsh Park and maybe having mechanical trouble out in the brutal cold ... so I decided to stay in our complex and ride laps (each one is .47 mile).

I hoped to ride 21 loops for the equivalent of my 10-mile ride to Marsh Park, but fell short even of that. I kept it up for a while, but eventually caved in after 11 laps (5.2 miles), which I did in a slow time of 36:12. Better than nothing, I guess ... but not much.

18th ride of 2016 - 2/8/2016

When I went out at 1:20 to ride today, it was 40°, with a wind-chill of 35°. But by the time I finished, at almost 2:30, it had warmed all the way up to 41°!

I rode again my 10-mile route, of a round trip to Marsh Park with a concluding loop in our complex, completing it in a little under 1 hour and 3 minutes.

Along the asphalt trail I ride, the "Lohr-Textile Greenway," there are two large commemorative boulders placed, marking the two phases of construction on the project. I forgot today to photograph the first one, but this picture shows the second, located on the stretch along Textile Rd., roughly halfway between Lohr Rd. and State Rd. The date which it indicates, November 18, 2015, is one on which I rode a single round trip to Marsh Park, in 55 minutes (this was before I began adding on the loop in our complex to make it 10 miles).

17th ride of 2016 - 2/7/2016

When we got home from church today, it was sunny and almost springlike, and I strongly considered packing up the trike and going to ride at Hudson Mills Park in Dexter, along the West River Trail into the village itself, as I did one time last June (a round trip of about 10 miles). But then I realized that today's temperature probably exceeded my self-imposed 40° threshold for doing more than one round trip to Marsh Park, and since the temperature is supposed to dip back down the next couple of days, I decided to take advantage of the 'warmth' and stay home to ride my familiar trail yet again.

So I ended up doing consecutive round trips to Marsh Park for the first time since December 23. Clouds moved in during the ride, and it was a challenge, but much more so mentally than physically—as I neared the turn-around point to start the second one, I had to really fight off the tendency to pack it in and tell myself than a 10-mile ride was good. And it would have been good, but I want to continue to grow and improve, so I'm glad I pushed myself to do that second one today. With the concluding loop in our complex, this gave me 18 miles, in a new record time (by about a minute) of 1:50:25. It was 41° when I started the ride, and 46° when I finished.

I find myself mildly dismayed to be at 'only' 158.4 miles over a month into the new year. But then, I remind myself of how fortunate I am to have been able to ride at all this winter, enjoying the mild conditions—and I remind myself, too, that it's 158.4 miles more than I had at this point in 2015!

16th ride of 2016 - 2/6/2016

Michelle is working the Solo & Ensemble Festival today (one of her responsibilities as a director.) After dropping her off at Pioneer High School early (7:00 a.m.) for that, and then coming home for a quiet morning of reading, I went out to ride at 11:30 in chilly, but nice, conditions—bright 32° sunshine with a wind-chill of 25° at the start, and by the time I finished it had warmed up slightly, to 34°, but the wind picked up a little, too, dropping the wind-chill to 24°. I rode my usual winter 10 miles, in 1 hour and 1 minute.

15th ride of 2016 - 2/5/2016

For those who have begun reading my blog more recently, and may not have seen my trike, here is a picture Michelle took of me on it at Hudson Mills Park in Dexter, on the day I bought it—Saturday, May 2, 2015.

This afternoon's ride was in lovely conditions that seemed almost springlike—bright 34° sunshine, with a wind-chill of 26° (only a very mild breeze). So, I didn't exactly sprint, but pushed myself along in a pretty good time of 1 hour and 3 minutes for my 10-mile ride.

14th ride of 2016 - 2/4/2016

Well, winter is clearly back. That much was quite evident from the gray gloomy skies under which I rode early this afternoon, with light snow and a temperature of 30° (wind-chill of 22).

The weather slowed me, as I did my 10 miles in 1 hour and 8 minutes. But despite the weather, it was a great joy to ride with my newly stabilized seat—the wobble that has plagued me since early last summer now entirely absent, due to this week's repairs. For that, I have to thank the capable help of Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn, as well as last week's diagnostic assistance of my friend Doug Tidd, who is the one that got me started riding, after all (back in 2012).

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

I had hoped to ride today, after getting my trike home from the dealer in Dearborn. However, by the time I got back to Ann Arbor, got Michelle, and we got home and I assembled the trike, it was quarter to six, darkness was quickly descending, and it was quite windy—all of these conditions combined to convince me to let it go for today, especially since I went to LA Fitness and worked out this morning.

However, the GREAT news is that, for the first time in many months, there is no more wobble to the seat! They put on a new seat clamp and a new seat frame, the old ones having become damaged by insufficient tightening early on when I had and wasn't yet sufficiently familiar with it, and it just continued to worsen over the months (I'd say, probably since last June). It seems awfully odd (but awfully nice) to have that wobble all gone now, and I'm really looking forward to my ride tomorrow.

13th ride of 2016 - 2/1/2016

When I went out at 1:00 today, the bright sunshine made for exquisite riding conditions. At 39°, with only a very mild breeze bringing the wind-chill down to 33°, early in the ride I was almost seduced into trying for a second round trip to Marsh Park, which I haven't done since December 23. But before I got even halfway to the park, I realized my fingertips were tingling, and decided it would be prudent to stick to the original plan, limited by my self-imposed 40° threshold.

Yesterday I decided not to ride due to rain most of the day ... and I didn't ride on Saturday because I was gone to the men's retreat from our church. So I was glad to get back on the ball today, even though I only did the single round trip to Marsh Park plus my usual concluding loop in our complex, for my customary winter ride of 10 miles, in 1 hour and 4 minutes.