trike-ab-trike-2019

2019 mileage: 2367.0 On another hot day today, I set off on my ride at 6:00 a.m., intenditng to do another round trip to Baker Rd., but those plans changed. It was already 72° at that early hour, up to 78° when I finished. On the way home, I took a modest shortcut, coming south down Maple Rd. to come in to our home "the back way" (via Oak Valley and Waters), but I got waylaid by a problem. Shortly after I passed the library, out in front of the relatively new senior apartments, I began to hear a WHUFF WHUFF in my front left tire. I was not aware of any calamitous episode that would have caused a flat, but sure enough, that's what it was. So I stopped, examined the tire, and plucked this screw out of it. Upon chaining it up, I called Michelle for a ride, and since I was only about a mile and a half from finishing the ride anyway, I was soon home. This is the week for flats, though! Michelle and I visited my Mom in the hospital in Jackson yesterday, and as we we...

2019 mileage: 2349.2 Today is supposed to get HOT and HUMID, so I rode early, leaving at 6:00 to ride another round trip to Baker Rd. When I began, it was already 67°, and up to 78° by the time I finished. The ride went relatively well overall, but featured two anomalies worthy of comment. First, my MapMyRide app was petulant again. On the way home it slipped into Pause mode again in the vicinity of Zeeb Rd., and cost me about a mile in my stats. (It took me a while to detect it, because while approaching and crossing that busy intersection, all my focus is on the traffic, rather than listening for the app's vocal feedback). Still, though, despite this shortcoming I was able to get a reasonably accurate Relive video. (It seemed fitting, though, that for the creation of the video, I chose their music sample named Glitch. 😊) Secondly, on the way home as I was passing in front of the post office on Stadium Blvd., about four and a half miles from home, my chain came off. Thi...

2019 mileage: 2328.9 Because of schedule considerations today, I chose to shorten my ride, and just did a round trip to Marsh Park, augmented by a single loop in Stonebridge. Took my time about getting going, too, not leaving until just before 7:00, when it was 65°, cloudy, and very humid, with a lot of water on the ground from rain during the night. MapMyRide was acting funky again today, too. It slipped back into Pause mode a couple of times during the opening minutes of my ride, costing me about 7 tenths of a mile on my stats, but worked OK thereafter, giving me a reasonably accurate Relive video. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2019 mileage: 2316.0 This was the first outside ride I've done since the episode on Saturday when my seat bolt broke, throwing me off to incur a nice case of road rash. So, today was a little bit like climbing back onto a horse that had thrown me -- but I managed it successfully, leaving just a few minutes before 6:00 a.m. and riding once more a round trip to Baker Road. And summer weather (though still a bit cool) seems at last to have truly arrived—it was 66° when I began my ride today, and 71° when I finished, with lovely unbroken sunshine throughout. Not quite sure why, but MapMyRide shows a route of only 19.5 miles (rather than my usual 20.3), accomplished in 2:23. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2019 mileage: 2276.5 Today's ride was a really wild adventure. I set off at a late hour for me on a Saturday, not getting started until a few minutes past 8:00 a.m. It was, however, a lovely morning for a ride, with a temperature of 57° (up to 64° by the time I finished). I was planning to ride again to Baker Rd. ... but my plans changed. Just over a quarter of the way into the total ride I hoped to do, I was preparing to turn off of Hilltop Drive and start down the big hill on the bike trail that parallels Jackson Rd.—when the metal of the clamp holding my seat on snapped, and the trike went out of control and flipped, sending me sprawling and giving me a nice case of road rash on the inside of my left elbow and the base of my left thumb. I feel so incredibly fortunate, though, about the timing of this incident—that id didn't happen after I had begun down that big hill. Also, had it happened then, I would have been isolated ... but where it in fact occurred, was right in ...

2019 mileage: 2271.1 Having been out of town for a couple of days, today I felt fortunate to be able to do my first rtide since Tuesday. It was rather modest in terms of mileage, but for good reasons. Michelle was out of town with our car this afternoon, so I went early this morning for a limited piano practice session at our church.  Then I left at 11:00 a.m., in 62° sunshine (up to 76° by the time I finished, a bit past 4:00) and rode to our former church (Westminster Presbyterian) for some additional piano practice. After I left the church, I rode downtown to the Pretzel Bell for a special event about which I had learned on Facebook -- "Play Hooky, Watch Michigan." This was a gathering to watch Michigan's 2:00 game against Texas Tech in the College World Series. With a comfortable Michigan lead, I left before the game was finished, and am now home, with Michigan up 10-3 in the 6th inning. I had 8.9 miles, ridden rather slowly in large part because of my need to ex...

2019 mileage: 2262.2 Since Michelle and I are leaving at midday today to go up north for a little mini-getaway, I needed to get my ride done early today. So, grateful for the early light in June, I began at 5:45, and rode another round trip to Baker Rd. - 20.2 miles in 2:25. I love riding in the early morning hours, and witnessing the day waking up. It was, however, cool enough when I started (59°) so that a long-sleeve shirt felt just right. Up to 63° by the end of the ride, however. And it's supposed to near 80° this afternoon ... but by then we'll be long gone. I have no video of today's ride, however, because MayMyRide malfunctioned once again. At least it gave me variety and presented me with something new this time. When I reached the midpoint of my ride, and turned around at Baker Rd. to come home, I paused the app to text loved ones, as I always do. However, instead of just pausing it, it shut off as though the ride were finished ... I noticed this only when ...

2019 mileage: 2242.0 After taking yesterday off (Father's Day, and our nephew's birthday party to attend), today I got back to it, and rode another round trip to Baker Rd. The weather was tolerable—60° when I left at 10:45, and 68° when I finished, in cloudy conditions. On the way home, I took a very modest shortcut in the last quarter of the ride, totaling 19.9 miles in 2:15. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2019 mileage: 2222.1 This morning's ride, which I began at 7:00 a.m., felt cool, in gray and breezy conditions, though at 63° it was certainly very tolerable. And at least the rain, which had been mentioned as a possibility, largely held off (though I did experience a very few light drops). However, my MapMyRide app once again malfunctioned, slipping inexplicably back into pause mode four times within the first five miles of my ride. I thereby lost roughly half a mile from my stats, though I know from past rides of this route that I did 20.3 miles, and I reckon it to have taken roughly 2:30. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2019 mileage: 2201.8 Today was another lovely day for riding, although jinfintesimally less idyllic than earlier this week. There were a few clouds today, increasing throughout the ride, and a slight (but not bothersome) wind of 12 mph from the WSW. I passed by another sign today (for an auto glass company on Jackson Rd.) that absolutely cracks me up every time I ride by it. (Evidently my sense of humor has a low threshold.) When I began, at 8:45, it was a comfortable 54° with that light breeze, and the temperature climbed to 68° by the time I finished. I rode again today to Baker Rd., and was pleased to reach another mileage milestone for the year today—2200.  However, I am mildly dismayed to find that, since I resumed my rides to Baker Rd. on April 6, following the winter, there have been 70 days, and I have ridden to Baker Rd. on but 24 of them, or a paltry 34.29%  . I certainly wish that figure were higher, but I guess at this point I can do nothing abo...

2019 mileage: 2161.9 Today was another lovely day for riding, although just a smidge less perfect than yesterday. The temperature range was identical (66° when I began about 9:30, and up to 75° when I finished just past noon), but there were a few high, wispy, thin clouds today as opposed to yesterday's brilliant unbroken blue sky. However, today was also another day when MapMyRide malfunctioned. Somehow, it inexplicably slipped back into pause mode during the first few minutes of my ride, and I lost nearly 2 miles before discovering this and being able to get it restarted. So this affected not only my stats for the day, but also my Relive video, which is created from the MapMyRide data. Nevertheless, I pushed on and rode another round trip to Baker Rd., doing 20.3 miles in 2:30.

2019 mileage: 2141.6 I took Sunday as a rest day, as I frequently do; and then yesterday, I also took a rest day, due to a crowded schedule (including numerous errands), and extreme weariness. So I was especially glad to get back to it today, on a spectacular day for a ride. The temperature was mild and springlike (66° when I began, just past 10:15, and up to 75° when I finished), and we had a rare, bright sunny day. With the surrounding Great Lakes and all the atmospheric moisture, Michigan has as exceptionally high percentage of gray days ... my daughter like to speak of us as living under the 'Permacloud.' 😎 So, I enjoyed a leisurely round trip to Baker Rd. and back, turning in 20.3 miles in 2:34. The only notable peculiarity of the ride was that as they were paving the intersection of Scio Church and S. Main on my outbound ride, I couldn't cross there and had to ride the sidewalk down Scio Church to 7th St. instead, and from there up to Stadium, where I could resume...

2019 mileage: 2121.3 I just LOVE the extended daylight we enjoy at this time of year, as it allows me to do very early rides, in keeping with my body clock. Today' sunrise was at 5:59, and I began my ride just a few minutes past 6:00, in 56° weather (up ro 69° when I finished) that made riding in shorts and t-shirt feel extremely comfortable. Last night Michelle and I went to Saline for a movie and dinner, so I wanted to ride there again today, and went to the far west end of town, where the sidewalk ends, and then on the way back went to Marsh Park before returning home. This gave me a nice ride of 20.9 miles in 2:37. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2019 mileage: 2080.4 After taking Sunday off as a rest day, I could not ride yesterday, as calamity befell me. During an early morning men's devotional group in which I participate at church, the display of my laptop was damaged. When I took it to the Apple Store later in the morning, expecting repair, I was told that parts were no longer available for the 2012 computer, so ever since I've been working on gaining confirmation that my insurance company will cover the acquisition of a new one before I go ahead with this pricey move. This morning I rode again a round trip to Baker Rd. (Dexter), leaving at about 8:30 in mostly sunny 54° conditions that had climbed to 70° by the time I finished a bit past noon. This gave me 19.9 miles in 2:29. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2019 mileage: 2060.5 I am so happy to have had the opportunity to ride with my good friend Kristian Frikke-Schmidt today. Back in the spring of 2015 when I first got my trike, we rode together near daily for several months. But in recent years we have not been able to do that. This picture of him is from when he arrived at our home this morning, having ridden the 2 miles or so from where he lives. We rode to Marsh Park, and then on the way back did also a loop in Stonebridge, where we used to do nearly all our riding back in 2015. I had hoped to go farther, but had to "wimp out" (as I put it to him), due to pain I was experiencing. When I rode to Wheels in Motion on Tuesday for repair of my brake, my left thigh brushing against the frayed cable opened up a wound. By today it had scabbed over, but brushing against the (now repaired) cable opened it up again, saddling me with quite intense stinging. Anyway, this gave us a ride of 12.7 miles in 1:33. Link to (Re...