20th ride

As the seemingly never-ending rain that plagued us last week has moved out, I was able this morning to resume my goal of riding to work each day, leaving at 7:30 for the 2.4-mile ride, to get me there easily before my 8:00 start time. And after work, wanting to meet my goal of riding at least an hour a day, I did a more extended route than usual, going down State to Textile, then west past Lohr (where I usually turn) clear over to Ann Arbor-Saline Rd., and then up home. This gave me an 11.8-mile afternoon ride of about 72 minutes - still not terribly speedy, but much better now that I can pedal on downhill stretches (with the new bike), and I look to continue to improve.

The beginning part, south on State St./Rd., was a challenge. Most of it is gradually uphill, and I was going into what seemed a ferocious headwind (though, in reality, it was probably not all that fierce). The new bike, though, with all its working gears, helped me meet the challenge.

As I neared our home, I did a short side trip to stop at Performance Bike. In my ride yesterday afternoon, my taillight, which I had attempted to put on the new bike, rattled off. I heard the light when it struck the pavement, and was able to stop and find it, but I could not find the mounting bracket. So I had prepared a note at work to explain this, and the staff at Performance Bike was extremely helpful. They replaced the light free of charge, and when I grinned and said I was "tool challenged," they gladly agreed to put it on for me. (While doing this, they found the old mounting bracket, which was still on the bike - a good illustration of why Michelle and I call me Blindo.) Also, during today's ride, I reached up at one point and inadvertently knocked my mirror off of my helmet. In the wind, it quickly blew aside into the high weeds, and when I went back I was unable to find it. So I did at least enrich the coffers of the bike store by buying a new mirror.