76th ride - 7/31/2015

I was planning a very long ride this morning ... perhaps four round trips to Marsh Park ... and it was going fine except for one thing. My chain was rattling, and I remembered that when I rode with Kristian on Wednesday, he noted that, too, and said that it was due to being dry and I needed to add some lube to it. I was concerned today with possibly damaging it if I continued to ride without addressing this, so I stopped after a single round trip, and plan now to make a journey to Wheels in Motion as soon as they're open, to pick up some lube (they open at 10:00, and I rode today at 7:45, so finished well before 9:00). I hope then to add some more riding later this morning—for now, I have 9.5 miles for today, in 1 hour and 4 minutes.

75th ride - 7/30/2015

This morning I rode consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, for a total of 17.5 miles in 1 hour and 55 minutes. This pushed me over 1000 miles for the year, and also took me over 400 miles for the month of July—a better month than any I achieved in 2013, when I was riding my regular bike so heavily.

Also, when a big Caterpillar front-end loader passed me early in the ride, I couldn't but smile and think of my grandson Danny grinning wildly, hopping up and down, and yelping with joy, "DIGGER!"

74th ride - 7/29/2015

For my first ride back in Michigan after a week away, I did a round trip to Marsh Park this morning with Kristian (9.5 miles) in a hour and 3 minutes. And I was glad to pass Doris Granum at one point, and hear her call out something about being glad to see I was back, knowing from this that she must have been following our trip on Facebook. Today's ride really did me in, and I can only shake my head in wonder over how, at one point, I had hoped to make three consecutive such trips my 'norm' for July. But I guess all I can do is keep working at it.

73rd ride - 7/28/2015

Well, I rode the trike down to the Bike Library this morning and turned it in, thus bringing to a close this chapter of my riding activities. I covered the 4.8 miles in 35 minutes, which is hardly great, but is nevertheless a significant improvement over the course of the week we've been here. And this gave me 78.3 miles for the week we were here, as opposed to 92.5 in 2013. It's a whole new ball game now, though, so I'm OK with the drop off.

Now we have a busy day ahead—cleaning up and packing, meeting Christy for lunch, then driving to Denver, turning in our rental car, and shuttling to the terminal for our 4:00 flight back to our beautiful state of Michigan!

72nd ride - 7/27/2015

This morning was the last big ride for me here in Colorado on this trip, so I wanted to do a good one. (Tomorrow I have to return the trike to the Bike Library by 9 a.m., so I'll just ride it the 4+ miles down there.) I rode the Spring Creek Trail east to the point on the far northeast part of the city where it joins the Poudre Trail, and then rode the Poudre up to LeMay, before turning around and returning to Christy's. This allowed me to ride part (though not much) of the Poudre, which I had ridden quite a bit when we were here back in 2013, so it was nice to reacquaint myself with this old friend.

In 2013, my longest ride here was one day when I did 21 miles, and on another day I rode 19.8—but that was a whole different experience, being on a regular bike, than this year's gearless trike. Today I left at 6:15 a.m. and rode 16.3 miles in 2 hours and 1 minute, for my longest ride here this year.

Today's ride featured two challenges. Heading out, I was riding east into an intensely bright sun, which nearly blinded me on several occasions—but fortunately, I was able to keep from ever running into anyone or running off the trail. And coming back, the trail's underpass under Centre Ave. was blocked, due to high water. The marked detour took you up a hill, and around a little circuit—back the underpass, headed the other way! After making this circuit a couple of times, and finding no way out of what computer programmers call an infinite loop, I took Centre south to Rolland Moore, and that west to Shields, south to Swallow, and in to Christy's house (all on walks and bike lanes), encountering nothing but smooth sailing.

71st ride - 7/26/2015

I had a good Sunday morning ride today. Still shuddering over my memories of toiling gearlessly up the hills on the trail yesterday. I decided to do a route in town today, near Christy's house—so I mapped out a big 6.2-mile rectangle, which I did twice, and rode on walks for much of it, though I had to ride in the bike lanes on occasion. This, however, I judged to be an acceptable risk, riding early on a Sunday (I left about 6:15), and had no trouble whatsoever. In fact, I was able to enjoy the reverse of yesterday's conditions on a portion of the ride—the northbound stretch on Taft Hill Rd. between Harmony and Drake was almost entirely downhill! So, anyway, my totals for the day are 12.4 miles in 1 hour and 18 minutes.

It was also heartening when, early in the first loop, a runner spied my t-shirt, grinned broadly, pumped his fist, and yelled a familiar, "GO BLUE!"

I figure I have one more day to ride on the trail here—tomorrow—and will force myself to do that. Then Tuesday morning I have to have the trike back at the Bike Library by 9 a.m., so I'll leave here around 8 to do the leisurely 4+ miles down there.

70th ride - 7/25/2015

This morning I felt especially challenged on the hills, and having no gears. It felt on uphill stretches as though I were pedaling through concrete. So I eased off a bit, and only did an 8-mile ride (in 54 minutes), turning around at Harmony Rd. on the trail and coming back, which was considerably shorter than I had set out to do, at 6 a.m. It would be nice to make the excuse that I was tired from our long day yesterday and a short night, but I don't think that would be fair or accurate, as I am always such a morning person anyway. It was also a challenge because the seat keeps shifting cockeyed, as well as sliding down to an ergonomically disadvantaged low position, and I haven't tools with me to adjust it. Oh, I am grateful for the opportunity to ride here—but I will be heartily glad to get back to my trike!