Still waiting

After falling and breaking my clavicle on Sept. 25, and the October 1 appointment with the orthopedist who severely restricted my activities for the next few weeks while I healed, I was quite hopeful that my follow-up appointment today would enable me to resume most everything, as it has seemed to me to be healing well. However, the Physician's Assistant I saw said that, in the fracture, it had been offset pretty substantially. And the good news was that the x-rays show that it hasn't moved, so I'm on the right course. But it is not all the way healed yet, so, while I'm OK to resume driving (and thus go back to my job for which driving was necessary), I'm still prohibited from riding outdoors until at least after my next follow-up appointment on November 26. She said that riding a bicycle was "most problematic" in the case of a clavicle fracture, and it wasn't entirely clear to me whether she meant that riding causes such fractures frequently, or whether she meant that the patient had to be especially carefuly when at the stage where I am now, not to rush a return.
While this is mildly disappointing to me, I'm most happy about being able to drive (and work) again—and after all, I will concede, that as the old sayings go, "Better safe than sorry" and "Better to err on the side of caution." Meanwhile, being able to drive again will make it much more feasible for me to get back to LA Fitness to ride on the elliptical. And, on days when I absolutely must get outside, I always have the option of walking.  So, all in all, I would classify this as good news. I still plan to take up riding again when I am able to, however—though I admit that it may have to be quite limited until springtime.
The Physician's Assistant also cleared up a mystery for me when I asked about the large lump that developed over the clavicle. I had expected that it would gradually have gone away as the healing took place, but she said that the severity of the break caused a large ball of bone to form asymmetrically around the injury. With time, it will gradually abate somewhat—but will probably never disappear entirely, and that side will always display a difference from the other.

Health update

After my fall last Wednesday, September 25, with the resulting broken clavicle, they told me they wanted me to have a consultation appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, and that took place today at Domino Farms with Dr. Asheesh Bedi. He was very personable, and we had a nice discussion of my situation. I had written a note to him on my laptop, explaining that, "For my job it is critical that I be able to drive. I feel ready to resume that, but only with your approval." He said, however, that mine is what they call a "gray zone" fracture, with some separation of the bone and a decent chance it will heal itself, as most clavicle fractures (the most common fractured bone) do, but also a chance that it won't. And, as regarding driving, he recommended that I wait 3 more weeks before resuming it - I have a follow-up appointment for October 25, at which time they'll do another x-ray. So, all things considered, it is not quite the unmitigated positive news I had hoped for, but at least I know now, and can continue to move ahead.

Michelle often kids me about my "gift of patience." As we were leaving today's appointment, I grinned at her and said, "Well, I guess have to practice my gift of patience."

A further change

Michelle and I had a surprising conversation this afternoon, initiated by her, in which she said that she realizes how much riding means to me, and therefore wants me to feel free to continue—as long as it is with strict limitations. For now, I should do no more long rides on the road (such as to Saline), and should ride primarily off-road on bicycle paths or trails, other than the short route to and from work once my broken clavicle has healed up enough for me to resume. I'm certainly good with that, and grateful to her for this show of mercy—and as far as getting to trails concerned, it isn't as if they are right outside our door (with the exception of the Lohr-Textile Greenway, which begins only a few hundred yards from us), but it is not as if they are inaccessible either. So I am certainly breathing easier tonight.

Changing conditions

In the wake of Wednesday's fall where I fractured my right clavicle, I've been thinking a lot about my cycling, and have come to some difficult decisions. I am concerned in light of the several falls I have experienced over the last few months, and particularly because, with this one, I have a clear mental image neither of the environment that led to it, nor of what I did wrong. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, unable to get up, and someone called an ambulance and away I went.

I have really enjoyed riding very much, but it seems as if it is not a safe mode of exercise for me. So I have listed my bike for sale on craigslist, and am going to investigate the possibility of getting a recumbent bike, which I am told is more stable, or possibly even an adult trike. It's all up in the air at this point—but that's what I'm considering, anyway.

154th ride

Today was a highly disappointing day in my riding career—and even to put it that way is a substantial understatement. After riding to work again this morning, and then working a longer than average workday (until nearly 4:00), I set off to ride to our 5:15 Weight Watchers meeting. I had been planning to ride by way of Saline again, but unforeseen delays in my afternoon work duties ruled out this roughly 13-mile ride for time reasons. So, instead, I planned to ride south on State to Textile, and take it west to Maple, and then back up to the Weight Watchers meeting. But those plans took a detour, when, riding on State, a little south of Ellsworth, I fell. After my August 29 fall and broken rib, I had vowed to try harder to really focus on safe riding. Particularly distressing to me today, though, in retrospect, is the fact that I do not retain a clear mental image of the environment, or of what I did wrong. I am not aware of having taken any chances, or unnecessary risks. But clearly, I did something wrong—someone insisted on calling an ambulance, and they insisted on taking me to University Hospital and on calling Michelle, who met us there.

In the course of treatment through the ER, I was administered a set of x-rays, as well as a CAT scan of my head (since initial reports indicated that I was acting somewhat "goofy"—but then, I think this is just my nature). Pleasingly, the CAT scan came back completely normal—but not so the x-rays, which indicated a rather severe triple fracture of my right clavicle. Upon hearing this, I was happy to note that there was some justification in my having accepted the trip to the hospital (though, initially, I was a bit chagrined that I hadn't found it within myself to get up and keep on riding).

I am happy to have been sent away from the hospital in a nice navy blue sling, emblazoned with a large maize block M.

As I write this, at home some hours later, I am experiencing considerable pain and discomfort in the shoulder. That has increased greatly since the initial event, which was largely pain-free. But as the magnitude of it has set in to my system, it seems to be overcoming me.

In light of all this, it seems almost unimportant to note that I rode roughly 4 miles today, in about 26 minutes.

153rd ride

On another completely gorgeous day to ride, I almost precisely replicated yesterday's ride—all but the last couple of miles before getting home, when I took a slightly varied route. But I rode again to Saline on the way home, for a 13.1-mile ride, and when combined with the morning's ride to work, this gave me 15.2 miles for the day, in 1 hour and 26 minutes.

152nd ride

After giving myself a day off yesterday—a rarity—I was glad to be able to get back to riding today. After riding to work this morning and then working a fairly good full day, I did a long ride to give me my fullest day of riding since returning on September 14 after my August 29 broken rib, going to Saline and coming back up to Ann Arbor by a 12.8-mile route, to total 14.8 miles for the day in 1 hour and 27 minutes.

 

Back in the spring, Doug Franklin and Doug Tidd counseled me, on my rides to Saline, to avoid riding on Michigan Ave. (US 12) and Ann Arbor-Saline Rd., respectively. I have followed that advice diligently since that time. However, today, after careful consideration, I decided to ride a route that included a short stretch on Michigan Ave. My reasons were that it was short (only a couple of miles), and the road there is straight and well surfaced, with excellent visibility, and for the most part broad paved shoulders on which I was able to ride (and also, today, I was riding it in brilliant daylight, at 4:00 p.m.).

151st ride

I rode once more with my friends Kahle Strickland and Dave Palmer this morning, as we did back on the morning of July 4. This time Dave and I both went up to Kahle's house in Brighton, and then we went to ride in the Island Lake State Recreation Area, where Kahle and I have ridden previously. We would all have like to ride farther, but I was somewhat pressed for time, and am also still recovering from my broken rib, so we kept it down today, riding 13.2 miles (to bump me just over 1800 miles for the year) in 1 hour and 11 minutes. We'll surely do more in the future, though!

150th ride

After riding to work again this morning, and then working a relatively full day, I rode to church to do Sunday's projections, and then when I came out to ride home, it was raining pretty good. So I went back in, fired up the computer, and checked the map on weather.com, to discover that the line of showers was just passing by. So I waited a few minutes, and then set off in a light sprinkle (with my flashing lights going) which soon stopped. And by the time I got home I was happy to see that I had done 9.3 miles for the day, in 53 minutes.

149th ride

This morning, I had to forgo riding to work, since I need the car to get to handbell rehearsal at 6:00 today—then I'll pick Michelle up late, since she has to stay at school for curriculum night. After getting out of work on the early side of average, I had hoped to leave at 3:30 and do a 13.5-mile ride to Saline. But at that hour, the Tigers will still in the final stretch of an exciting matinee game against Seattle. So I stayed until they finished it, a little past quarter to four, to take the four-game series from Seattle 3-1, and in the process reduce their 'Magic Number' for clinching the title to 4. (That is, any combination of four Detroit wins and Cleveland losses will guarantee us the Central Division championship.) Now we hope that Cleveland cooperates, so that we can clinch the title at home this weekend before the home fans, in our final home series of the regular season (unlike 2011 and 2012, when we clinched on the road).

Anyway, as a result of this late departure, I did a considerably abbreviated ride, of 7.6 miles in 40 minutes, so that I would not arrive at handbell rehearsal all out of breath.

EVENING

Since my ride this afternoon had to be shorter than I had planned, I was delighted when our handbell rehearsal finished this evening in time for me to work in another short ride before picking Michelle up from her marathon day at school. So I rode the Lohr-Textile Greenway, that broad paved path that parallels Lohr Rd., running down as far as Textile. This replicated my first ride when this journey began, back on January 19. (Though it took me 61 minutes then, as opposed to 29 minutes tonight—so I'm glad to see that I have made some improvement!)

And, given the dramatic decrease in daylight since I last rode in the evening, I was very glad for my flashing headlight and flashing taillight, and to be doing the bulk of my ride off-road. This 5.6-mile ride (in 29 minutes) gave me a total of 13.2 miles for the day, in 1 hour and 9 minutes.

148th ride

Today I rode to work again in the morning, but then had a 5:00 store meeting to attend at the end of the workday. Due to this, I was unable to do a longer ride to Weight Watchers as I usually do, and so rode directly there after the meeting, for a day's total of 4.9 miles in 31 minutes.

147th ride

This afternoon, I did what was easily my longest ride since my fall and broken rib on August 29, and then resuming riding this past Saturday. I rode to work again this morning, noticing that it's really cooling down—my memories of riding to work just before my injury were that it was frequently in the seventies, even at that early hour, but this morning I believe it was 33°! However, I'd better get used to it, if I want to continue to ride through most days this winter, as I hope to.

Then after work, I rode the shorter (slightly) and less demanding of my two routes to Saline. I wanted to hurry because Michelle and I are going to a big concert, and treating ourselves to a dinner date first, and I wanted the chance to spruce up before she got home. Anyway, even with this short(er) route, my daily total was not inconsiderable—11.6 miles in 1 hour and 2 minutes. (Not a very good pace, but at least I met the goal I like to aim for of riding at least an hour a day.)

146th ride

Today was a good day, in that it represented my return to riding to work for the first time since my fall and broken rib on August 29. Going out to the garage to get my bike, I felt a combination of novelty and old familiarity.

After work I felt conflicted—on the one hand as if I could and should do a long ride home via Saline, but on the other hand remembering Michelle's expressed desire that I work back into it gradually and just ride straight home today. Two of my best friends among my work colleagues, Robert and Craig, both expressed the opinion that I should do the shorter ride and let a longer one wait until later in the week. In the end, I compromised, and did a ride slightly longer than a direct route home (5.6 miles vs. 3.4), but less than half the distance it would have been had I gone to Saline. This gave me a total ride of 7.7 miles for the day, in 41 minutes.

The brief stretch I have to ride on State St. south of Briarwood, where drivers are making their way onto I-94, is an area about which Doug Tidd has expressed reservations about me riding it, calling it "dangerous" (particularly in the late afternoon, with people in a hurry to get home from work). Well, it lived up to this billing today. As I was riding in the lane leading up to the ramp onto the freeway, a hurrying, careless drive in a dirty older white 'muscle car' came zooming up behind me, then squealed on its brakes, and swerved to my right around me, the young male driver screaming at me from behind his still-closed window, and throwing me a one-fingered salute. Yet, again I thank and praise God for His protection, and continue to ask Him to help me to employ all the care and good judgment I can in my attempts to ride safely.

145th ride

After Michigan's putrid first half against Akron, I allowed myself to be tempted by the gorgeous weather on this resplendent late summer/early fall day (brilliant unbroken sunshine, and a temperature in the mid sixties) to go out and do my first bike ride in a little over two weeks. The broken rib I experienced in my fall on August 29 is not yet 100%, but it was easily good enough for me to ride easily (and carefully). Michelle said that she was going to go ride, and I asked her if she'd like company. So we did a slow, easy 2.8 miles together through the subdivisions near our home—a route which is familiar to her—and then, when she felt she was done, I went back out and tacked on another 6.7 miles, doing twice a loop that kept me fairly near home, to give me a daily total of 9.5 miles in 55 minutes. Feels great to be back at it!

                    

I got home to find Michigan losing 24-21 to Akron with about 3 minutes left—but I was just in time to see them engineer a touchdown-scoring drive, and then barely hold off Akron from scoring to win it themselves.

SPECULATION

Always SOMETHING. Based on the location and nature of the discomfort I am experiencing from yesterday's fall (mid-chest on the left, and difficulty in both deep breathing and in rotating my trunk), and also based on my memory of the feeling from a fall while running in late May 2006 when I broke a rib, I am going under the assumption that I have done the same now. I was told by the doctor at that time that the only way to be 100% positive was to get an x-ray, but that if money was a factor (as it is now), they would recommend against it, since there is no way they can treat a broken rib—you just have to be patient and wait for it to heal. So now, I am putting my riding on hold for the foreseeable future, and practicing my "gift of patience," as Michelle calls it.

144th ride

After riding to work again this morning, and then working a much shorter day than I wished (getting out just before 1:00), I decided to ride straight home in order to catch the Tigers' matinee contest, and do a long ride (perhaps to Dexter, a 26-mile round trip) after the game. The ride home, however, was unexpectedly adventurous.

The fall-o-meter would have to be reset to 0 days, as I fell not only once, but twice. The first, and more serious one, occurred as I was riding south on State, approaching Ellsworth. I was trying to ride between the curb and a waiting semi-truck, and felt I had plenty of room to do so, but I got a bit too far to the right and hit the curb. This sent me flying, which could have been quite disastrous, of course, but I managed to go off to the right, landing in the grass. After a couple of minutes, I was on my way again just fine.

The second spill was as I was almost home, riding on the sidewalk that connects the housing complex next to ours, to ours. The foliage was quite overgrown, and as I was trying to duck my way through it, with obscured vision, I slipped off the walk to the right, and went skidding down.

In both falls my chain became disengaged from the chain wheel—but I am grateful to Doug for the lesson he gave me on how to rectify this situation a few weeks ago (June 3, as a matter of fact), as it enabled me to continue on my way with no more problem than the need to wash up good to remove the grease from my hands once I got home.

I am noticing since getting home, though, that the first fall, which sent me sprawling onto my back, bruised up my left side (back, chest, and upper arm) pretty good—so perhaps, in lieu of a long ride, I'll just let my 5.5-mile round trip to work suffice for today. Or, as a compromise, perhaps I could "only" do the 12.4 mile trip to Saline and back.

143rd ride

I rode to work again this morning, happy from a small victory that occurred just before I set off. For the last two days my odometer has been resolutely stuck on 0.0, so I decided to get out to the bike a few minutes early this morning and see if I could figure anything out. I noticed a small hinged unit on the front wheel, stamped with the brand name of the odometer/computer. I figured it must be a counter for the revolutions of the wheel—but it was opened so that the hinge kept it away from the wheel. So, deciding to experiment, I closed the hinge, pushing it down to the wheel—and was then delighted to find that the odometer had been restored!

At the end of the day, I was able once again to ride a good ride down to Saline and back up, stopping in at Meijer to pick up a few groceries, and then arriving to note that I had down a 14.6-mile ride today, in 1 hour and 17 minutes.

142nd ride

I wanted to ride today (for the first time) on the broad paved path that runs along (well off) the east side of Platt Rd. between Ellsworth and U.S.12 (Michigan Ave.), so I did a new 15-mile route in order to achieve this. The only disquieting thing was that it meant doing a few miles along Michigan Ave. (against which Doug Franklin has cautioned me) on the way home—but I didn't expect this to be problematic, and it wasn't. The road is broad and well paved along that stretch, and mostly straight and with excellent visibility, and broad shoulders which are largely paved, affording opportunity to ride very far away from traffic. This ride of almost exactly 15 miles took me 1 hour and 19 minutes, and I was freshened by a light rain (of, however, very large drops) during the last few miles.

141st ride

After riding to work as usual this morning, I planned throughout the day to make myself do a long ride home (by way of Saline). But when I emerged, about 4:30, after a longer-than-usual workday, into humid 87° sunshine, my resolve began to melt away. Even during the early part of the ride, before I had yet reached the point where I had to make a firm decision, I continued to waffle about it—but then, I felt it would be OK to cut myself a break today, and not try to be a superhero. So I rode directly home, to settle for a total daily ride today of 5.5 miles in 31 minutes.

140th ride

I left just past 6:30 this morning and rode my now-familiar route to Saline and back. Due to the suboptimal lighting at that time of day (not dark, but certainly far from bright daylight yet) and patches of fog which lay in our area, I was happy to have my flashing headlight (courtesy of my loving sister Marianne) and flashing taillight.

I thought I was making pretty good time, as I did the 12.4 miles in an hour and 2 minutes, and I was thinking that my best previous was about 1:08. But I had forgotten how hard I pushed last week, riding it in 58 minutes. Oh well! Today's was still a good ride.

When our worship schedule changes from 10:00 a.m. back to 8:45 in a couple of weeks, I haven't yet decided whether I'll still try to squeeze in a pre-church ride. With my lights, and my fondness for early morning, it would be feasible—just. But I need to do some more pondering on whether it would be prudent.

139th ride

Like last Saturday, I went up to Brighton to ride again with Kahle Strickland, arriving earlier this week so that we began our ride just about 6:50. (Today, however, we found more bikers and runners in the park.) But, whereas on that previous occasion we confined ourselves to riding in the Island Lake State Recreation Area, today we stretched it out a little more, taking a path that goes beneath I-96 and connects you to Kensington Metropark (one of Michigan's most popular parks, a part of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks system). Kensington contains nearly 4500 acres of wooded, gently hilly terrain, in which there is a nice paved path that gives you an 8-mile loop around Kent Lake. So, all told, my odometer showed a ride of 21.5 miles, in 1 hours 52 minutes. The map here, while giving a good idea of our ride, is not precise, since I don't yet know Kensington well enough.

138th ride

As mentioned in my previous post, written early this morning, a problem with my front brake prevented me from riding to work today. However, unbeknownst to me, my beloved wife Michelle took the bike in to the bike shop during the day today so they could make the (relatively quick and easy) adjustment, and when she picked me up after work, the bike was in the carrier on the back of the car. So, once I got home, I was able to ride after all, and went to church to do my weekly work of preparing the projections for Sunday's worship. I have been going there directly from work on recent Fridays, and then doing a longer ride home, but since the plan was necessarily a bit different today, I elongated my ride to church and then came home afterwards for a total ride of 11.5 miles in 1 hour and 6 minutes.

It was fun, too, that on the way home a driver coming in the other direction passed me, rolled down her window, clapped, and yelled, "GO ALLEN!" With my substandard vision, I couldn't be absolutely positive, but I think this was Michelle's teaching colleague Beth Nazario.

New technical glitch

For some reason unknown to me, my front brake has come unhooked—and, as I am unable to hook it myself, I am driven back to riding the bus to work today (for the first time since early spring) and will hope to be able to get the bike to Wheels in Motion late afternoon today for repair so that I can do a ride this evening and also tomorrow.

137th ride

I rode to work again this morning, and then, following a shorter workday than I like, I decided to come directly home in order to catch the last half of the Tigers' rubber game against the Minnesota Twins (Minnesota won the first game, and Detroit won last night). I have so far ridden 5.5 miles today, in 29 minutes, but intend to go out and do a ride to Saline following the conclusion of the game.

LATER

This afternoon's Tigers contest was a dispiriting affair. After going down 6-2 early behind the guy who is nominally our ace pitcher, Justin Verlander (he won both the league's Most Valuable Player award and the Cy Young Award, given to the league's best pitcher, in 2011—and this is a very rare combination—but this year he has been maddeningly inconsistent), we battled back gamely to tie the game at 6 on a big 3-run homer in the 6th inning. Then, however, we surrendered the decisive run in the 8th inning, and lost 7-6. And this loss was all the more galling because it came to our divisional foes, the Minnesota Twins, and I went to college in Minnesota and lived there for many years, still having many good friends who are avid Twins fans.

Despite this, though, I carried through my plans to ride following the game. A series of minor technical glitches delayed my start, so I chose a slightly shorter route than I had originally intended—but still got in 7.7 miles, to give me a daily total of 13.2 miles in 1 hour and 6 minutes, thus making the daily goal of 10 miles that I like to shoot for.

136th ride

After riding to work again this morning, I experienced a longer than usual workday that kept me from being able to do the long ride after work, to Saline, which I had planned. However, I am not complaining—the long workday was a good thing! Because Michelle and I had planned to meet at the 5:15 Weight Watchers meeting, I had to limit my ride—but even so, was able to squeeze in 9.3 miles, to give me a daily ride of 13.6 miles in 1 hour and 13 minutes.

135th ride

Another fairly typical weekday ride—almost identical to yesterday's (right down to riding home in warm—82°—sunshine). The only difference was that I elongated today's route ever so slightly, in order to stop by Meijer on the way home, and thus rode today 14.6 miles in 1 hour and 13 minutes.

134th ride

A fairly typical weekday ride today—after riding to work this morning and working a relatively full day (over 7 hours), I rode a 12.1-mile route home, by way of Saline, to give me a total of 14.2 miles in 1 hour 15 minutes. The ride this morning was brisk (though not cold) in my short sleeves—but I was sure glad I had them for this afternoon's ride, in bright 82° sunshine!

133rd ride

As the weeks of summer dwindle down to a precious few, I enjoyed another early ride to Saline today before church. Pushing myself real good (wondering if I could break an hour), I did the 12.4-mile ride (by my odometer) in 58:27, really clipping along (for me, anyway) in the calm, crisp morning air.

132nd ride

I was blessed this morning to go up to Brighton to ride with Kahle Strickland. Actually, I was doubly blessed—by both a glorious ride, and by Kahle's friendship. Starting out just a little past 7:00 a.m., we enjoyed riding in early morning sunshine and quiet—riding on the smooth paved roads of the Island Lake State Recreation Area, just east of Brighton, we hardly saw another soul, only a few other bikers and a couple of runners. We took it easy today, easing my way in, and my odometer showed a ride of 13.4 miles, in an hour and 3 minutes. But in the future we hope to chain this ride together with a ride along the path that runs under I-96 and joins it to the 8-mile loop at Kensington Metropark, and then perhaps also sometime to continue on to the small town of Milford.

POSTSCRIPT

Michelle and I did a short ride (1.6-mile round trip) down to Nick's House of Pancakes early this afternoon for a lovely lunch date.

131st ride

After riding to work again this morning, and then a fairly full workday, I rode to church to do my weekly work of preparing Sunday's projections, and then did a long ride home. Setting off from church, I prayed kind of a silly prayer: "OK, Lord, if I've reached Scio Church and Wagner and have at least 6 miles on my odometer for the day, I'll turn on Wagner and head home by the shorter route. But if I haven't reached 6 miles yet, please give me the discipline to keep going all the way out to Zeeb, and then up to Jackson and back to Wagner." When I reached Scio Church and Wagner, my odometer read 5.8—so, even though I was eager to get home, I pushed resolutely onward, and once I reached home, I saw that I had ridden 17.6 miles today, in 1 hour and 38 minutes.

130th ride

After riding to work again this morning, I then worked a shorter day than I like, but they had nothing for for me by early afternoon, so I used the opportunity to do a good, long ride, out to our credit union on the west side of town. I only had to cash a small check, but figured it was well worth the exercise. And along the way, since I went right by Varsity Ford, I stopped to see my friends Rob Worden and Steve Burkett who work in the Parts Department there, and whom I got to know in previous years when we were doing a lot of business with them and I frequently had to go there to pick up parts.

Then on the way home, I stopped in at Meijer (since I was going right by it) to pick up some more fruit, and when I got home I was happy to see by my odometer that today's riding added up to 14.8 miles, which I did in an hour and 24 minutes.

129th ride

After riding to work again this morning—in long sleeves, as they were speaking of wind-chills on the morning news today!—and working a good full day, I rode to Saline and then back up to meet Michelle at our weekly Weight Watchers meeting. My odometer showed the day's ride to be 15.2 miles, which I did in 1 hour 24 minutes.

 

And in a very welcome safety note—yesterday my helmet mirror popped off its bracket when I was at work. I didn't notice it until I had set off on my ride home, and, at that point, I figured, "Well, I'll find it tomorrow—I'm sure it's probably in the file cabinet drawer where I keep my helmet." But today, it wasn't there, nor was it anywhere else I could find. So, riding carefully, but feeling virtually naked without it, I did this route to Saline after work, and on the way to Weight Watchers I stopped at Performance Bike, where I had gotten it, to pick up another. But, alas, they were out! They told me they'd order some and have them in a couple of weeks, but I could not bear the thought of riding without it for two weeks. So, after we got home, I drove over to Wheels in Motion. But I wasn't able to get there until about 7:20, and, unknown to me, they had closed at 7:00. However, one woman employee saw me disconsolately staring in through the window, and she came to the door, spotted my name tag from work, and said, "Allen, is there something specific you were looking for?" I pulled my note of explanation for my facial wounds out of my pocket, and pointed to the empty end of my mirror bracket, and said, "I was hoping to get another mirror." I think she must have assumed that I lost it in my fall, but at any rate, she took pity on me, let me into the store, and I was soon equipped with a new mirror. So I commend Wheels in Motion on their sparkling customer service!

128th ride

After riding to work again this morning (in surprisingly cool weather, that made my short sleeves feel almost too brisk), I worked a good full day, and then rode home by way of Saline again - a 13.7-mile route, that gave me a total day's ride of 15.9 miles, in 1 hour 17 minutes.

127th ride

I rode to work again this morning, and then, after work, I rode what I texted to Michelle would be a medium ride—neither long, like when I ride to Saline (13.7), nor as short as going directly home (3.4 miles). Instead, I chose a 5.6-mile route that was enough to give me a taste of exercise, but not enough to push me very hard. Perhaps a more accurate label would be "medium short." (Or, in musical terms, mezzo forte—medium soft.) Anyway, this gave me 7.8 miles for the day, in 44 minutes—a bit short of what I like to do on any given day.

I was glad to be able to ride at all, however, since rain filled much of the day. In fact, there was a steady, medium-hard rain throughout my ride to work at 7:30, and it left me quite thoroughly drenched. Then the rain was ceaseless throughout the morning and early afternoon, and in fact past noon it was coming down "in buckets," as one of my colleagues put it. However, by 3:00 it had stopped, and by the time I left at a little before 4:00, even a little sun was coming through.

AFTERWORD

My good friend Tom Brown (a science teacher, not primarily a musician) points out my error above, when I said mezzo forte was medium soft; in reality, mezzo forte is medium loud, and I should have said mezzo piano. As I told him, I can only plead a temporary brain fart.

126th ride

I was happy to be able to go out for an early morning Sunday ride to Saline again this week, before church. And although I left at 6:30, it was plenty light enough to ride safely—but I threw on my flashing headlight anyway, just for good measure. Also, the construction at State and Ellsworth has now proceeded far enough to allow me to go that way, which makes the ride more convenient.

The gmaps-pedometer measures this route at about 12.48 miles, and my new odometer on my bike shows it at 12.4, so I was glad to see this near-agreement, and I rode it this morning in 1 hour 7 minutes, with a happy heart, looking forward to a visit from my in-laws today, with whom I am greatly blessed.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT

One more thought has come to me regarding Thursday's fall. When the paramedics were first tending to me, unsure if I might have incurred a head injury, they asked me what date it was. I quickly wrote down, "Thurs. 8/8/13" but then almost immediately grinned to myself and thought, "I should have written down some crazy date way off." Later, though, I realized how spectacularly inappropriate that would have been at the time.

125th ride

Today, two days after my latest falling incident, I chose to ride laps in the circle of our complex. It is not at all that I am afraid to ride on the road—but rather, I just thought a little restraint would be prudent right now. However, I do plan to ride down to Saline early tomorrow, as I have also the last couple of Sunday mornings.

Anyway, riding laps was not the most exciting thing I could imagine doing today. But I made myself do an hour, which my new odometer showed to be 11.1 miles—I believe I did 24 laps (which the pedometer measures out to be just over .46 miles each).

124th ride

I rode to work again this morning (though some of my colleagues were incredulous at this when they saw what had happened to me yesterday), and then after work, I rode to church to do my weekly work of creating Sunday's projections for worship, and then, honoring Michelle's request that I forgo a long ride today, I rode directly home, giving me a total ride of 7.0 miles in 45 minutes today.

A couple of additional notes about yesterday's aftermath. When we were waiting in the ER, Michelle took a picture of my face to document what had happened. But I was strictly forbidden from showing it to anyone, as it is "too gruesome." And, to tell the truth, it does display a very vivid use of color. Apparently, blood to the face is highly oxygenated.

Secondly, as stubble is beginning to protrude through the wounds, it's driving me nuts not to be able to shave. But the two worst place are under my nose, which is severely lacerated, and my chin, which is manifestly impossible to shave because of the grotesque swelling. (It looks rather like I have a staggering wad of chewing tobacco in the lower left part of my mouth.)

123rd ride

Today's ride was much more adventure filled than I wish. After riding to work this morning as usual, my workday reverted to another short one, as I was done by 1:00. So, I decided to do the long ride I had hoped to yesterday, up to the northeastern part of Ann Arbor (Huron Parkway and Plymouth).

Since my route took me very near to the shop where I got my bike back in April (Wheels in Motion), I decided to stop in and have them install an odometer for me. (I had in mind a low-cost analog model, with dials, such as I knew as a boy—but of course nowadays, they are all digitized, small multi-function computers). After that I continued north along Huron Parkway to Plymouth Rd., then west on Plymouth and then Broadway. When I told Doug about this route during our lunch today, he exulted, "You'll get to ride down Broadway Hill!" He was quite right—but neglected to mention what I should have realized anyway, that first I would have to ascend a fairly daunting hill to reach the summit. I continued on Broadway to Fifth Street (as Doug had suggested), south to Madison, and then west as far as Main St. Madison was closed to further travel, so I headed south on Main, and after I crossed Stadium I rode on the walk. "Thereby hangs a tale," as the phrase goes! Doug has kidded me that we should erect a sign in the garage: "X days since the last fall." But today it would have to be reset to zero.

After passing Pioneer High School I was trying to pick up speed in order to climb the significant hill, when, shortly before reaching Scio Church Rd., my front tire went into a sizable rut. It jerked the wheel violently sideways, causing me to lose control and flinging me face first to the paved path. The helmet protected me, of course, from head injury—but, like in my June incident, did not protect my face. I landed fairly hard and incurred a sizable number of lacerations and abrasions. Fortunately for me (thanks be to God for His never-failing protection and mercy) a Huron Valley Ambulance was passing by right after my fall. Another man had first tried to help me, asked if I was OK, and then motioned the ambulance crew over. They were quite alarmed at the appearance of my face, but I told them I was in no pain (this surprised both them and the personnel at the hospital later). Later, as we chatted (with the aid of a pen and notepad they had for me), I asked the two paramedics their ages (32 and 28) - and they were amused when I told them that, though I still feel young, clearly, at 56, my best days are behind me now.

After cleaning me up, they asked if there was someone they could call, and I said, "My wife—but I don't want to worry her." However, I was left with no other option, as I declined their suggestion that they take me to the hospital, and they would not allow me to ride the 3 miles I had left. So they called Michelle for me, and when she pulled up a few minutes later, we soon had me loaded in the car and the bike strapped onto the carrier, and she then insisted on taking me to University Hospital (even though when she asked me what facility I wanted to go to, I said "Millbrook Trail"—our home address.)

So—I am writing this on my bed in the ER at University Hospital (Michelle thought to bring my laptop), with the curtain drawn, while we wait for personnel to become available. I continue to experience no pain, but Michelle says my face is beginning to color up quite dramatically. Oh well—again, I thank and praise God for His care, and note that, even having come short of what I wanted to do today, this 13.4-mile ride gave me 15.6 miles for the day, in an hour and 25 minutes. (My watch strap broke when I fell, but I either remembered to stop the timer, or else the fall stopped it).

122nd ride

This morning I rode to work in a heavy, heavy fog—making me extremely glad for my blinking headlight and taillight. I made it without incident, although after just a few hundred feet my glasses were not usable due to the moisture covering them. I had to bring them down on my nose and peer over the top. As I am exceptionally nearsighted, this would have been unworkable if I were driving a car—but for a bicycle, and particularly on a short route with which I'm very familiar, it did not pose a problem.

Then after work, I had hoped to do a long (13.8 miles) ride to the northeast part of Ann Arbor, and then come back down and end up at Weight Watchers at 6:00 p.m. for our weekly meeting. But another long workday (a good thing, of course!) forced me to change those plans, so I ended up riding a route of "only" 9.6 miles—but at a fast clip (for me), doing about 5-minute miles. Then after the meeting, I rode home, to give me a daily total of 12.7 miles in 1 hour 6 minutes.

121st ride

After riding to work again this morning, I planned to do once more a good, long ride home at the end of the workday. But as the afternoon dragged on in the direction of a second consecutive full day, I began to get drowsier and drowsier—due in large part, no doubt, to my typically poor night's sleep last night (up between 3 and 4, with very little sleep thereafter). I was sent on a 90-minute errand in mid-afternoon (to pick up a tire from our store in Wayne), and when I nearly missed an exit from the freeway on my way back, that was the clincher. I decided prudence would have to trump ambition today, and so rode directly home, giving me 5.6 miles for the day in 30 minutes. "Better than nothing," I told myself—but not much better.

Were I a coffee drinker, I would have stopped somewhere and tanked up before riding home. But that's one habit I've never picked up (yet—maybe when I grow up!). So I just exercised all the caution I could, and was fortunate to make it without incident. And now I'm going to tumble into bed for a bit of a nap before the Tiger game. (Priorities, priorities.)

120th ride

This morning I rode to work again, with long sleeves feeling good (the temperature was just a bit over 50°), and then was fortunate to work one of my longest post-accident work days, clocking a full 8 hours. (It's a little pathetic that this 'normal' length day should seem like a big accomplishment to me—but I am grateful for it.)

After this good day, I decided to dig in and do a good, long ride, and so went down to Saline. This gave me a day's ride of 1 hour 22 minutes, which I'm estimating to have been about 14 miles (as the pedometer is once again not working).

119th ride

I am really enjoying my Sunday morning rides! As the days are getting shorter now, though, I left a bit later than I was a few weeks ago, not going until 7:15. I rode to Saline and back (though by a slightly different route today), for a ride of 11.9 miles in 1 hour 4 minutes, and all the way the lyrics of "Morning Has Broken" were sounding in my head as I enjoyed the quiet early sunshine.

Morning has broken, like the first morning.
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlight from heaven.
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning.
Born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, praise every morning;
God's recreation of the new day.

Morning has broken, like the first morning.
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

118th ride

I chose not to do a long ride this morning in order to spend the time with Michelle, and we highly enjoyed our time together. We rode down and had a breakfast date at Nick's House of Pancakes, a place we've found that we really like a lot, a little less than a mile from us.

Then afterwards, we decided to take our bikes to Gallup Park and ride there. Getting the bike carrier fastened to the car and both bikes securely on it ended up being kind of a comedy of errors, taking us three or four attempts to get it really done right. But I'm glad we persevered, as it was a lovely day for a ride—sunny and pleasantly warm—and once we got to Gallup Park, we did an easy ride down to Parker Mill, where we rested and talked a bit, and then headed back to our car, for a total ride of about 4 miles, in 25 minutes. Along with our ride to Nick's this morning, we did about 5 and a half miles on the day, in roughly 35 minutes—not pushing ourselves in any way, but thoroughly enjoying the time together.

117th ride

Last Friday afternoon, I encountered tire trouble during my long ride, and it eventually resulted in a flat (which I got repaired Saturday morning). I felt today I should "get right back on the horse that threw me" and ride the same ride—so I did. Although my time of 1:27 for the 15.5 mile ride was significantly better than last week's 1:56, it was not as good as I had hoped for—but I'm still glad I did it. That gave me a daily total of 17.7 miles in 1 hour 39 minutes, and pushed me over a total of 1400 miles for 2013—since I got quite a late start this year, I'm wondering now if 3000 miles for the year is feasible. We'll see!

                   

116th ride

After riding to work again this morning, I had planned to do a long ride to Saline on the way home. However, circumstances forced me to change those plans. When I went into the airport to take my by-now usual shortcut through it due to the road construction at State and Ellsworth, I got most of the way through, but then found that the road I needed had been gated off (presumably due to the construction). So, turning around, I went a different way home than I have gone before, in order to tack on the miles I wanted to. This route of 10.8 miles gave me a day's total of 13.0 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes.

115th ride

I was disappointed to need to ride directly home from work today, rather than doing a longer ride. But a combination of factors forced my hand—(1) a longer than average work day; (2) a light rain; and (3) a 6:00 p.m. commitment (our weekly Weight watchers weigh-in). So, back to a longer one tomorrow (one hopes). Anyway, today I rode 5.6 miles in 31 minutes. This gave me my longest month of riding so far—383.7 for July.

114th ride

Today, in equally magnificent weather as yesterday, I did the same ride that I did then in 1:23—to work in the morning, and then home by way of Saline, coming back up Maple Rd.—only today I did it in 1:19 (actually 1:18:35). I was eager to get home, change into shorts, and go read on the patio!

113th ride

 I was happy to be able to ride to work again this morning, and then conclude my work day with a ride which is fast becoming almost typical—down to Saline (on State Rd.) and back up to Ann Arbor (on Maple Rd.), in gorgeous weather—sunny and temperate, but not at all hot, with almost a fall-like cool in the air. This 13.7-mile route, combined with my morning ride, gave me a day's total of 15.9 miles in 1 hour 23 minutes.

112th ride

I went out early again on this Sunday morning, and did the same ride that I did last Sunday—to Saline and back, 12.9 miles in 1 hour 8 minutes—riding hard, and being fortunate to hit all the lights right at large intersections. (Almost said "busy" intersections, but, leaving at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday, traffic was nowhere busy.)

111th ride

As I thought, I wasn't able to do a long ride this morning. Wheels in Motion didn't open until 10:00, when I was there waiting. And it seems I had created a more intricate problem for myself than I had imagined yesterday—not only had the rear tube come out and wound itself through and around the spokes and gears, but some of it had even worked itself inside the axle. So they had to take the axle off, and clean it thoroughly.

However, I don't know whether it was the novelty of the problem, or whether they just took pity on me, but at any rate when he was done, the technician came over, smiled, shook my hand, and said, "No charge"—and I wasn't in a mood to argue.

By the time I got home, I could only work in a brief ride before the reunion (partly in honoring Michelle's request that I keep it short so as not to tire myself out too much). So I set off in a surprisingly cool, light summer rain and did a 5.7 mile ride in 30 minutes, down the Lohr-Textile Greenway, that broad paved off-road path that parallels Lohr Rd., down to Textile (thus replicating my first ride, back in January—though under vastly different climate conditions today!). I'd like to do it again following tonight's Tiger game, and that seems feasible to me since (1) it is not riding on the road, but on a good, paved path; (2) I have both the headlight that Marianne gave me a few weeks ago, and my flashing red taillight. But it depends on how late the 7:00 game goes—I will not set out any later than 10:00 p.m.

110th ride

I rode to work this morning just fine, and after a good full day's work I rode to church to do my weekly work of creating the projections for Sunday's worship. When I left there, I decided to do a considerably longer ride home—one of 15 miles, which took me a little under 2 hours. This was quite slow, but there was a good reason for it.

When I got to about my furthest point from home (some 7 miles away), I could begin to sense that Michigan's blessedly lovely roads managed to suck a considerable amount of air out of my tires. Although neither was flat, pedaling was difficult—increasingly so the further I went. And you might know that this would happen on a day when the two people I would contact for assistance (Michelle, and Doug Tidd) were both out of town! So I knew I was on my own, and just kept pedaling away, slow as it was. It made climbing the significant grade southward on Wagner to Scio Church Rd. (about miles 10 to 12 of the ride) a huge challenge. And needless to say, I had no thought whatsoever of speed. I was just hoping to be able to keep going so that I could make it home.

I almost did make it, although for the last several miles I could both hear a feel a ka-CHUNK with each revolution of the wheel (both front and rear). Then within the last mile, I began to hear a flapping sound also, and about a quarter mile before reaching home, the rear tire gave a limp "pop" like the mild explosion of a balloon, which was precisely what it was. At that point, I was happy to be close enough that it was feasible to walk it the rest of the way home.

Tomorrow, therefore, I won't be able to do my traditional long Saturday morning ride—or, perhaps, any ride at all tomorrow, since we are attending a big family reunion in the afternoon. But I'll at least get it over to the shop in the morning to get it repaired.

Meanwhile, with my rides of both morning and afternoon, I did 17.2 miles today, in a ghastly time of 2 hours 8 minutes.

109th ride

I rode to work again this morning, and, with our Weight Watchers' weigh-in tonight, I wanted to do a long ride after work, and so went down to Saline again before coming back up to Ann Arbor, a ride that Map My Ride measures at 12.1 miles. This gave me a daily total of 14.3 miles, in 1 hour 29 minutes.

The ride back north from Saline to Ann Arbor, on Maple Road, features quite a lot of hill climbing, and after I had finished one daunting stretch (coming up to Ellsworth Rd.), I had to contend with a red light rather than being able to keep going, and the big hill climb had evidently taken a lot out of me. I put down my right leg, but nevertheless topped over (into the grass, away from the road). The driver beside me rolled down his window and cried out in alarm, "Are you OK?" I clambered to my feet as quickly as I good, and gave him a big smile and a thumbs-up. He looked dubious, but nevertheless said, with doubt in his voice, "Well, OK"—and slowly pulled away. At that point I only had a short ride left anyway, and about 7 minutes later I was pulling into our garage.

108th ride

Today I decided to enjoy the sunny but somewhat cooler weather and do a long ride home from work. However, rather than ride to Saline, as I do frequently, I chose to ride to Gallup Park instead, and then come home by a differently, northerly route, skirting the edge of the University of Michigan's North Campus, where I lived and went to school while earning my Master of Music degree in the early eighties. This afternoon's ride ended up being 13 miles, giving me a total ride today of 15.2 miles in a very slow 1 hour 49 minutes.

107th ride

Today was a considerably lighter ride than I like to do. I rode to work this morning, and they were forecasting showers, "possibly heavy," at midday and in the afternoon. At noon, I was hopeful of getting in a long ride home, as there were clouds, but also a lot of sun. However, by the time I left at 2:30, it had gotten a lot darker, and the skies in the west looked quite ominous. So, trying to use discernment and good judgment, when I neared the point where I'd have to decide between riding directly home or going to Saline, the winds were beginning to gather, faint rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance, and "raindrops were falling on my head' (helmet)—"but that didn't mean my eyes would soon be turning red ..." So I decided to cut it short and head home, and, as in confirmation of that decision, the rain began to fall harder thereafter. So this gave me a meager day's ride of 5.6 miles in 35 minutes.

106th ride

This morning I rode to work again, and then experienced another frustratingly short workday, where they ran out of things for me to do by 1:30. I was very tempted to ride directly home and read on our patio (a pastime of which Michelle and I have become extremely fond in recent days)—but instead I chose to make myself do another long ride home by way of Saline. This 13.7-mile ride, in addition to the morning, gave me a good day's ride of 15.9 miles in a relaxed 1 hour 30 minutes. And, although I only have a small zippered pouch on the handlebars of my bike, I managed to figure out a way to stop at Meijer on the way home, pick up a few groceries, and transport them safely home—some in my lunchbox (which I carry hung about my neck), some in that zippered pouch, and one item in a small bag which I was able to hang onto easily for the short ride home from Meijer (less than a mile).

105th ride

This morning I went out early and did a good, long ride so that I wouldn't have to try to squeeze in a ride later in the day. Unfortunately, the gmaps-pedometer is still mot working, so I can neither map my route nor measure it precisely. But I rode roughly the Saline Big Block that I first rode back in April, with three modifications for safety's sake: (1) Because of the ongoing construction at the intersection of State and Ellsworth, I cut through the airport drive (sleepy and unusued on an early Sunday morning); (2) In Saline, to avoid Michigan Avenue, I took the route suggested by my friend Doug Frankling, going on Campus, Industrial, and Woodland; (3) Coming north from Saline back to Ann Arbor, I rode on Maple as Doug Tidd requested I do, rather than on Ann Arbor-Saline Rd.

As the original route is 14.4 miles, and these modifications trim the distance slightly, I'm counting my ride today as 13 miles, in 1 hour 8 minutes .This is a little faster pace than I usually ride, but I was pushing it pretty good today, so this seems reasonable to me.

104th ride

This morning, I did a good Saturday morning ride - not as long as when I like to do a round trip to Chelsea, but substantial anyway, going to Dexter and back (26.4 miles) in 2 hours 34 minutes (slightly faster than when I did the same ride on May 4). And it was with Michelle's acquiescence—since my fall near the end of my ride to Chelsea on June 22, she has asked me to forgo riding to Chelsea for now. But I asked her last night if I might ride to Dexter and back this morning. She declined to answer verbally, but just sort of waved the back of her hand at me as if to say, "Go ahead and do what you please," so I took that as a yes. As she seemed a bit troubled, I didn't think I should press her for clarification. And when I got to Dexter today, it was tempting to press on to Chelsea—but, not having cleared that, I reined in my ambition to wait for another day.

I left home at 6:15, and on the way out, just before 6:30, I was treated to a display of natural beauty. I was riding westward on Waters Rd., about halfway from Oak Valley to Wagner (onto which I turn), when, in the early morning stillness, I saw a female whitetail deer ("do[e], a deer, a female deer") just standing in the middle of the road, watching me approach. When I got to within about 100 yards, she turned and bounded off into the woods. I kept this image with me throughout the next two-plus hours of the ride.

103rd ride

This morning I rode to work again, and after work I rode to church to do my weekly work on creating the projections, and then rode home via Scio Church, Wagner, and Waters. Like the final days of our Colorado stay, the gmaps-pedometer is not working today, so I can't precisely measure the route, but my day's ride was a tidy even 1 hour (actually just a few seconds under an hour), which I'm estimating at about 10 miles. Not the best day for riding, though—oh, it was clear and sunny, but the heat wave is still hanging on, and it was 94° when I rode home this afternoon.

102nd ride

Today's ride was most unusual. It was both considerably later, and considerably shorter, than those to which I am accustomed. As we did not get home from our Colorado vacation until nearly 3 a.m. today, I decided to forego bicycling to work today. Instead, I rode to our Weight Watchers meeting this evening, and had planned to take a 10-mile route there.

However, when I was just under a mile into the ride, it seemed to me that the front tire was mushy and not riding well. I quickly concluded that its pressure must be off from what it should be due to the extreme heat we have been experiencing. (I later felt this was counter-intuitive, as excessive heat should raise, not decrease the pressure.) And when I stopped and looked at it, I thought it looked low. Since I was still fairly close to home, I deemed it best to turn around and go back and pump it up.

However, when I got home, I couldn't be certain that I was connecting the pump to the tire correctly. I should have been able to, as I've done it twice before under the tutelage of my friend Doug, my father in biking, as it were. But I wasn't sure. However, when I began to pump, it showed a pressure of over 100 pounds, and I believe Doug told me mine should be about 85 pounds. (I'll clearly need to see if I can get a little refresher course from Doug.) But, at any rate, it seemed clear to me that the pressure wasn't too low, after all. So, at that point, I modified the ride I had planned to do, and ended up (going to the meeting and then coming home) with a ride of 6.2 miles in a poky 40 minutes.

101st ride

This morning I had planned to wait and ride at 8:30 to do a somewhat longer ride to the bike library to turn in my bike when they opened at 10:00. But, waiting as long as I could, I finally set off at 7:50—nearly 2 hours later than my rides in recent days. It was good that I left earlier than I had planned, though, due to some unexpected extra miles.

I'm such a sentimental sap, that as I set off on the Poudre Trail, it made me a bit wistful to be bidding farewell to my home away from home for the last week. But I rode diligently eastward on the trail, past Shields and past College to Linden St., which I took into town to get some cash from an ATM for our trip home today. However, I had to hunt for about 10 minutes before I could finally find one.

After I did, I went back north on Linden to resume riding on the trail, and then took it eastward still further, past Timberline, to the point where the Spring Creek Trail forks off. Then turning around and heading back into town, I ended up at the bike library after a ride of 1 hour 29 minutes, which I figure to have been about 15 miles.

So, it's been a great week of biking in Colorado—and now we're headed back home, where I'll be very glad to get back to my own bike, but not so happy about the weather, which I understand has been quite sauna like in recent days, as opposed to the sunny and pleasantly warm conditions but extremely low humidity we've experienced out here.

100th ride

I was hoping to repeat today the long (20+ mile) ride I did yesterday, in pursuit of the goal of 100 miles for the week we're out here (I had just over 76 miles last night). But Michelle extracted a commitment from me to do a shorter ride today, since yesterday at Starbucks I was so tired that I "cried like a girl" in front of her and Christy—and, she grinned, "we don't want to repeat that!"

So, this morning, leaving before 6:00 a.m. again, I rode eastward on the Poudre Trail (my penultimate ride on it—for this trip, though I hope to ride on it again in the future)—only as far as Lemay and Mulberry, and then turned around and came back. I had planned to ride the portion of the trail that lies west of Taft Hill (I rode it on Thursday, when we were first here) when I got back there—but the trail was detoured for some reason, onto narrow, winding gravel roads. On these I didn't go too far (maybe half a mile) before turning around and heading back for home, where I finished a ride of 1 hour 14 minutes that I'm estimating to have been roughly 12 miles. So, with 88 miles now in Colorado, I should still be able to make my 100-mile goal, with a moderate ride in the morning, and then the mid-morning 3-mile ride back to the bike library to turn in the bike.

And now, with 100 rides, I have done 1177.5 miles, in 115 hours and 47 minutes.

99th ride

This morning, I left at 5:50 and did my longest ride in Fort Collins—I can neither map it nor measure the exact distance, as the gmap-pedometer is not working correctly right now, but from my riding time of 2 hours 3 minutes I'm estimating about a 21-mile ride, which was roughly triangular in shape. I took the Poudre Trail eastwards (actually, slightly from northwest to southeast in direction); then, the Spring Creek Trail where it forks off, west and slightly south, across the city; and then finishing up back northward on Overland Trail. I found once again that Fort Collins's biking trails are not always well marked, as I got off a couple of times and had to resort once again to heavy consultation of the map to find my way (making sure to stop and then restart my watch every time I stopped riding so that my time would be accurate)—but I eventually made it fine. This ambiguity reminded a friend of mine of a quotation by baseball great Yogi Berra (b. 1925): "If you come to a fork in the road, take it!" (Thanks for reminding me of this, Roger!)

I was disappointed, though, to once again fail to meet my goal of "staying upright" the whole way. As I was riding west on the Spring Creek Trail, more than halfway through the entire ride, just after it passed under College Ave. it came to a sudden detour in a gravel parking lot. It loomed up so quickly that I ended up hitting the folding detour sign, and went down in the parking lot, skinning myself up again (nothing new, but reopening some of Saturday's wounds). A woman rider stopped and asked, in alarm, if I was OK. I nodded vigorously, and fished in my pocket and pulled out my card to explain to her why I wasn't speaking. She chuckled at the part that said I didn't mean to seem rude or unfriendly, but then asked again, "You're sure you're OK?" I reaffirmed this, and then she pointed out that "Your stem in loose" (the connection of the frame to the front wheel). After yanking the crooked wheel back to a centered position, she added, "You need to get to a bike shop and get that taken care of. I don't have a wrench with me."

98th ride

I enjoyed another nice ride on the Poudre Trail this morning, once again riding in the quiet early morning sunlight (having left about 5:55). But, as Daniel is being baptized at the 9:30 service, I deliberately chose a shorter route today, to avoid impinging on our ability to get there unhurriedly, and so finished with 11.7 miles in 1 hour 6 minutes. I'm planning to do a longer ride tomorrow, incorprating both the Poudre and Spring Creek Trails - Reg speculated that it might be in the neighborhood of 30 miles.

97th ride

I rode on the eastern part of the Poudre Trail again this morning, leaving just before 6:00 a.m. again and getting the furthest I have made it yet. But I came just short of my hopes to ride an hour out and an hour back. I got well past the point where the Spring Creek Trail forks off, which I hope to take on the long ride I want to do Monday. When the paved trail ended in a gravel parking lot east of Timberline Rd. and north of E. Drake Rd., in the Environmental Learning Center, I incurred a minor fall when the bike skidded out from under me while trying to turn. I was 51 minutes in at that point, and, as I got a few small scrapes (heel of my right hand, left elbow and knee), I decided it would be a good time to turn around and head back.

On my way back, though, I discovered (not for the first time) that, although the Poudre Trail is a nice ride, it is not uniformly well marked. Though many (most) parts are well marked, there are forks and turns that are not marked at all. I encountered one of these areas on the way back, and was driven (like yesterday) to refer heavily to the map. But eventually I was able to find my way back to the trail, and finished up back at the Loewens' house, completing a ride of 19.8 miles in 1 hour 54 minutes.

When I came in, I was grilled about my boo-boos by both Michelle and Christy, but after I showered up, Michelle bandaged me up nicely.