14th ride - 5/18/15

Well, the needle on the Adventure-Meter jumps back up today! I decided this morning, with good weather and the trike in good condition, to ride to Saline. Keeping entirely on walks, I went as far as Woodland and Ann Arbor-Saline Rd., which would have made for a round trip of 11.6 miles. However, I had to settle for about 9.7, in an hour ...

Fortunately this happened when I was relatively close to home, but about 2 miles before I got back (at almost precisely the 1 hour mark on my watch), the right front tire went flat. Not the way it was "shredded" last week, but rather, a flapping, off-the-rim kind of flat. Thankful that I had put my bike chain on it last week, I chained it to a Stop sign and started walking.

My knee brace had come apart 2 weeks ago, and I haven't yet been able to get it reassembled, so I was a bit concerned about the length of the walk, but it caused me no problems. Sailing along in the 78° sunshine, I kept sticking my thumb out, but no one stopped. However, when I had made it just over halfway, and was approaching Ellsworth Rd., a woman stopped and asked, "Sir, do you need help?" I had already taken my card out of my wallet and had it in my hand, so showed it to her, and we were soon finishing up the last of the way to my home.

Now I'll get the car, go load the trike into it, and set off for my home-away-from-home in Dearborn again!

In all the times I've been to Jacks Bicycle in Dearborn—on March 28 to research prices and options, then on April 11 to test ride one, and May 2 to purchase it and pick it up, and three times since then for various problems—I've always dealt with Richard, a kindly and helpful older man. But when I had to go back yet again today, I got slightly more assertive. He quickly took the tire apart, and then a different employee put in a new tube and aired it up, at no charge to me. But then I asked Richard, "What do you suppose happened?" He merely shrugged and said, "Bad tube, it looks like." Anyway, at least I'm back OK again—for now.