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.

96th ride

My plan this morning was to ride an hour east on the Poudre Trail (the opposite direction from the way I went yesterday), then turn around and come back. I left just before 6:00 a.m., and did fine for a while; but somewhere just after the Trail crosses Shields St. (I believe), I came to an unmarked fork, and ended up directionally challenged, taking the fork which petered off into the end of the trail amidst a welter of city streets. By copious consultation of my Bike Trails map from the bicycle library that also shows most city streets, I was eventually able to find my way back to the trail—but not directly, as I did some meandering and eventually got back to Shields and ended up going north on it all the way to Wilcox before discovering where I was, turning, and coming back down to pick up the trail again. Consequently, I cannot map my route, but I got as far east as Mulberry and Lamay before deciding to turn around at the 50-minute point. Without all the looping on the way home, my ride was significantly shorter, and I finished in 1 hour 23 minutes, which I believe to have been roughly 14 miles.

I did, however, reach a conclusion about Taft Hill Rd. As I turned from the trail onto it, nearing the end of my ride a bit north of Vine, and climbed the killer hill, I decided that must be why it got its name. Though I say it is a "killer" hill, it wouldn't really be so bad at all on my bike at home, with it's three chain wheels and nine gears. But this ride from the bike library, while quite serviceable, is an entirely different story with its eight gears. Two other pieces of equipment I miss from at home are my "Incredibell" (the name of wuich caused Michelle to roll her eyes), which would have been nice to signal others with on the trail; and the small rear-view mirror attached to my helmet. I keep finding myself wanting to check it out here—but there's just open space where it should be.

95th ride

Today was a big day in my development as a bicyclist, with my first ride outside of the great state of Michigan! Ft. Collins, Colorado, where we are now vacationing, has a bicycle library, and this morning we went there and picked up a bicycle for me as well as a helmet and lock ("at no charge—we insist!") As I rode, I discovered Ft. Collins to be an extremely bike-friendly city, with not only the bike library but also a plethora of bike lanes to support this conclusion.

I was unable to ride yesterday, when Michelle and I flew to Colorado to visit Christy's family. I had hoped to, and had plans to pick up my bike from the Ft. Collins bike library, but they close at noon, and the lengthy delay in our flight meant that we just got in too late to make it—so I had to wait until today.

This morning, though, after we had breakfasted, we went down there, and while Michelle and Izzy walked around outside exploring, Christy accompanied me into the Cafe Bicyclette to help 'translate,' and I was soon outfitted with a nice red bike with 8 gears, as well as a helmet that fit my oversized head. I first tried the largest he said they had, and that was a bit small, but when Christy then asked him if they had any larger, he said no, "but these models over here tend to fit a little larger—let's try one!" And with that, I was in business.

I rode from that location in Old Town to the Loewens' house—an easy 3-mile ride that took me 18 minutes, pedaling slowly. Michelle and Christy have both exhibited concern over my adjusting to the altitude, but I experienced no difficulty whatsoever, and hope later today to do some riding on a nearby trail that Christy has highly recommended.

- LATE AFTERNOON -

Mid-afternoon today, I went out and rode the western part of this nearby trail that Christy has recommended—the Poudre Trail

(pronounced POO-der), named for the nearby river. I first got Reg to draw up a small map for me—in part for my benefit, and largely because Michelle wanted to drive to a couple of points along the way to check in with me and make sure I was doing OK (and act as photographer, too, I was pleased to learn once I was out there).

It was warm (94° and sunny), but went fine with the water I brought along, and I ended up with a 7-mile ride in 41 minutes.

94th ride

I rode to work again this morning, and then after work, though I had intended to do a longer ride, I went directly home. This was because I have a couple of evening commitments—our weigh-in for Weight Watchers, and then our men's small group at church which has been meeting monthly since summer 1996. We usually do our weigh-in on Wednesdays, but since tomorrow doesn't work for our schedule, and it's a necessity for us to weigh in each week, we decided on tonight. Anyway, these plans, in conjunction with a considerably longer than average work day (until nearly 5:00), made me decide to do this. And, although the ride this morning was fine, I began this afternoon in dry weather, but a light rain began during the ride, and built steadily in intensity until, by the time I got home, it was coming down quite hard. I ended up with a total of 5.6 miles for the day, in 32 minutes.

93rd ride

Yesterday I did not ride—I had hoped to ride to Westminster Presbyterian in the evening to do my weekly data entry work, but the time we got out of 5:00 worship at Zion Lutheran, the hour was late, and my energy was nonexistent. So I decided to wait and do it after work today.

I rode to work this morning, and then after work set off for church. But partway there, the skies opened up in a ferocious torrent that attacked me savagely. I was riding on the walk, as Michelle prefers, and with the heavy rain I was unable to negotiate one sharp corner and went down (without injury). This would have been no problem whatosever—except that my cell phone, which I carried in my shirt pocket, slid out, and I didn't discover it until several hundred yards later, at which point it was raining even harder. So I decided to wait and go back for it after the rain stopped (some 40 minutes later). "Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles"—when I went back, I first was able to find it, second was pleased to see that it had not landed on the pavement to be run over by a passing car but rather was nestled safely in the grass, and third, that it seemed to be still fully operational! I praise and thank the Lord for this. I have since found, though, that there are problems with some of the keys that I use for texting (which is my primary use for it), so it is currently buried in a bowl of rice, from which I hope to retrieve it back to normal tomorrow.

But in the meantime, I was able to ride 7 miles today, though rather slowly due to the weather conditions, finishing in 48 minutes.

92nd ride

 In light of my fall on my return from Chelsea on June 22, Michelle has asked me to forgo for now riding to Chelsea, and confine my rides to the Ann Arbor/Saline area. (The fall was semi-worrisome—not at all worrisome to me, but I can understand how it would be to those who care about me, and especially Michelle after I called her to ask for a ride and she pulled up to see an ambulance there.) So I honored that request while still getting in a good workout this morning by first riding to Gallup Park, then riding the 15+ mile route of Dave Palmer's that he and Kahle Strickland and I did on Thursday morning to get our holiday off to a good start, and then riding home. This gave me a total ride of 31.8 miles, which I did in a leisurely 3 hours, 2 minutes, leaving home at 6:00 a.m. and doing the vast majority of the ride while seeing no one at all.

I had been slightly concerned about my ability to find all the twists and turns of Dave's route, which is still not highly familiar to me. However, I experienced no difficulty at all in this regard, having made up a map first and taken it with me. And the minor seat height adjustment I made last evening proved beneficial. I suspect I may not be quite done adjusting it yet, but will let it go for a little while now.

It was funny, too—as I was nearing home, coming west along Packard between Platt and where Eisenhower forks off, I was quasi-racing with a young fellow in his twenties, riding and pulling a small cart with grass clippings in it and some tools like rakes. (He evidently works for a lawn service.) He was riding in the road, and I was on the walk, as Michelle prefers I do when possible. As we parted ways, he waved and said, "Thanks—that was inspirational!" I smiled and waved, though inside I bristled a bit, thinking, "Do you mean because I'm so old?"

91st ride

I rode to work again this morning, and then after work rode to church to do my weekly work of creating the projections for Sunday's worship. Afterwards, I lengthened my ride home slightly, goint about 5 miles rather than the 3 or so that it is if I go directly home. But still, this was a far cry from the 13.5-mile ride I had intended to do. But as I rode along, I began to sense that one of the reasons that my riding is more wobbly than it should be, and my pedaling less powerful, is because my seat remained too low (even though it had been adjusted upwards very slightly on two previous occasions). This positioning meant that I was unable to get full leg extension, and the legs eventually began to cramp up a bit. So I felt it would be prudent to come up and make another slight upward adjustment before doing a long ride, and that's just what I did.

 

Anyway, between the morning and afternoon rides, I had a daily total of 9.3 miles (just a bit short of the 10-mile minimum I like to aim for), in 59 minutes.

90th ride

I was absolutely delighted when my friend Kahle Strickland contacted Dave Palmer and me yesterday and asked if we wanted to ride with him this morning. We met at Gallup Park at 6:45 a.m. and rode a route that Dave often rides, being in his part of town. I had hoped to do more with Kahle after we completed the loop—he pushed on, but I was spent after a good workout of 16.9 miles (1 hour 38 minutes) on a ride that included a fair number of hills and several stretches of dirt/gravel roads, which, though I am not used to riding on, I was able to handle fine. This was a great way to start the holiday (which would have been my Dad's 106th birthday—he always amused me by relating how impressed he was by all the fireworks and parades in his honor when he was a boy)—and it was made even better when I first hopped on the scale, as I do each morning, and found that I weighed the least of any day since the summer of 2009.

It was very clear to me that both Kahle and Dave could easily outride me both on the numerous uphills and in terms of overall pace. However, they very kindly made allowance for my elderly weakness, and never evidenced one word or gesture of complaint. Altogether, for me, they were very pleasant riding companions—but I'm not entirely convinced they'd say the same about the slow guy bringing up the rear! And during the ride, I got some good mental exercise, too, by setting myself the task of memorizing our route, on roads I did not know, so that I could map it out when I got home.

89th ride

Today was as short a workday as the past two days have been long. Since I was told I could go shortly before noon, I decided to do a long ride again, and rode the same route I did yesterday—though in a slightly better time. The 13.7-mile route gave me a daily total of 15.9 miles again, but in a time of 1 hour 25 minutes, which works out to just over a half minute per mile faster than yesterday. (I think, though I cannot be 100% certain as I had to estimate yesterday's time.)

88th ride

I was glad to experience today the second of my two best consecutive days at work since I returned to Firestone late last August, having clocked over 17 hours between yesterday and today. Thus buoyed up, I did a long ride home, going down to Saline. I do not have an exact time, as my wrist bent back at one point midway through and pushed the button to stop my watch—but, from the ride's distance of 13.7 miles, and my normal riding pace, I expect that it took me approximately 80 minutes, for a daily total (including the ride to work this morning) of 15.9 miles, in 1 hour 32 minutes. And it boosted my total mileage for the year to over 1000, in just under 99 hours.

I chose a route to Saline different than the others I've ridden since the road construction at State and Ellsworth forced me to change my route. The one I chose today—through the airport, and then back out to State—enabled me to meet the objective I sought (namely, of riding the majority of the way to Saline on State). As a large part of my work duties include shuttling vehicles to and from the airport, I had checked it out, and knew this would work easily and well.

87th ride

Today was another good example of the manic-depressive nature of my work hours, leaning to the manic side today. We had a 5:00 store meeting, and I was kept extremely busy from my 8:00 a.m. start right until the meeting began. Then, when I was ready to leave at 6:00, I would have considered going straight home anyway. The weather made it a sure thing.

Although I rode to work at 7:30 in fine weather, about mid-morning the rains began, and were fairly steady most of the day. By the time I left, the rain had almost stopped—but there was enough of it to dissuade me from my original plan to ride to Saline. So, instead, I went straight home in a light rain, coming to a light total ride for the day of 5.6 miles in 34 minutes.