9th ride - 5/13/15

Another big "adventure" day. I did my longest ride yet since restarting —15 miles, in a leisurely 2:03. I rode North on Maple Rd. up to Jackson Rd., and then west on Jackson out to Zeeb. I wouldn't have done this had I not been able to ride on walks almost the entire way, except for a brief stretch of Jackson east of Wagner Rd. But this was OK, as there are bike lanes there.

On the way home, when I was almost back I passed a small pond with a man sitting on the bank, fishing. He had ridden his bike there, and when he saw my trike, he called out, "Cool bike, man!" I wished very much that I could have chatted with him a bit, but I merely threw up my hand, and called out, "Thanks!" (Which I think was intelligible.)

Then, however, as I continued on, when I got within about a quarter mile of home, my right front tire blew out. The day we picked up the bike at Jacks in Dearborn, I had asked, "What if I have a flat?" However, I had already been so challenged by learning how to fold and unfold the cycle for transport, Richard merely grinned and told me, "That'll be a lesson for another day!"

I was awfully glad this hadn't happened when I was miles from home. So, I picked up the rear wheel, and began awkwardly walking it towards our condo. A few minutes later, however, an older man pulled up and asked, "Do you have far to go? Can I give you a lift?" As it turned out, he was a fellow rider, and he had a Ford Explorer whose big rear cargo space allowed us easily to lift the trike and roll it in. So, very grateful for his help, I was soon home at our garage.

I figured I'd take the flat over to Dearborn for repair/replacement—but, though I was sure that the wheel must come off, I couldn't see how to do it. So I figured I'd fold the whole thing up and take it over there. I got one of the front wheels ("outriggers") folded, but couldn't get the other one to release. So, in a sequence of text messages with Michelle just now, we agreed to get it after she gets out of school, and then I'll head to Dearborn, as they're open until 6:00.

WEDNESDAY EVENING

I took the trike to the dealer in Dearborn late this afternoon. although getting it there was a challenge. Neither Michelle nor I could get the wheel removed, nor were we able to fold it it up to get it in the car. However, we found by experimentation that we were able to get it in with only one wheel (the other one) folded.

Once I got to the dealer, they were astounded at the condition of those two front tires. They checked, and found that the front end was badly out of alignment, and that, they said, was "shredding" the tires. So they realigned it and gave me two new tires, all free of charge.

Then when we went to load it in the car, Richard, the person who has been helping me on each visit there, could not get that wheel folded either. He worked on it for nearly a half hour, and eventually went into the store and got their top mechanic, and the two of them disassembled the joint and examined it carefully, diagnosing the problem and eventually coming to the solution of taking the pin inside the store and grinding it down slightly so it would move freely. This worked, but by the time they got everything done and the cycle reassembled, it was well past their closing time.

When I got back to Ann Arbor, though, I was able to reassemble it OK, so, it appears that for now, "problem solved."