8th ride

I stopped this morning at Performance Bike to pick up some items I needed -- a cable and lock for the bike, a tire pump, and a small pouch to strap onto the handlebars to enable me to carry my cell phone, wallet, and keys.

I am more grateful to my friend Doug for the loan of the bike than I can say, but at the same time, I am looking forward to getting my own sometime later this spring.  The biggest drawback of the one I am using now is a problematic rear gear wheel, which will not allow me to downshift into a low gear so that I can pedal on downslopes. The pedals simply rotate too quickly, and, as I learned the hard way early on, my feet fly off the pedals out of control. This means that on virtually any downhill grade, I have to coast, keeping my hands on the brakes in order to avoid going too fast. While this is not unpleasant, by any means, it is certainly not conducive to fitness, or burning calories.

I gave blood this morning (for the 125th time), and had considered riding to the donor center. But, as it is 6 miles away, and I would have needed to ride home following giving blood, plus I didn't yet have a lock for the bike, I ended up feeling it would be prudent to wait on this until a later occasion.

Today in 50-degree sunshine, I rode comfortably in my biking shorts, but it was cool enough so that my Detroit Tigers jacket felt good. I traveled a 9.4-mile route (the longest I've done so far) that I'm calling the Big House-Stone School loop. Much, but not all, of it followed routes I have run, and I continue to be grateful for this opportunity while missing the running itself indescribably. This took me north on Ann Arbor-Saline Rd./Main St. to renowned Michigan Stadium (nicknamed the Big House by legendary ABC broadcaster Keith Jackson), where I turned right on Stadium and took it to Packard, and then followed Packard southeast to Stone School Rd. I then rode Stone School south past Pheasant Run Apartments, where we lived from December 1993 until we bought our condo in the spring of 2004, to Ellsworth Rd., and then followed Ellsworth west back to our home.

One useful bit of information I've picked up is that in order to negotiate intersections easiest, I need to ride loop courses in a clockwise direction (as I have always done).