48th outdoor ride of 2022 - Wednesday, 6/29/2022

2022 mileage: 2928.9

I didn't ride yesterday, as I had to go back to the dealer (Jack's).

Today was kind of a funny, unscheduled yet busy day. I had to take the car for an oil change first thing this morning, and when I got home Michelle was still asleep, so I spent some time composing. Then I crawled in for a nap ... just as she was getting up!

The Tigers' game in San Francisco is at 3:45 today (our time). So, fitting in a ride around all these constraints, I did a round trip to Marsh Park (9.8 miles) in 1:16. I also saw Doug Franklin doing his daily walk, on the trail as I finished up (about 1.2 miles before getting home).

Relive video of today's ride

47th outdoor ride of 2021 - Monday, 6/27/2022

2022 mileage: 2919.0

Today is a beautiful day for riding, and I set off at 12:20 under 72° sunshine. EXCEPT ... I'm tempted to say (playfully) that I enjoyed a healthy wind today. But wind is the bane of cyclists, and there was nothing whatsoever enjoyable about battling that 15 mph wind out of the northwest.

I had been hoping to do my 20-mile ride to Baker Rd.; but between the wind and a grinding noise in my chain that has me planning to take it to the dealer tomorrow, I scaled those plans back considerably, riding a loop on Pauline Blvd., a route that took me significantly less than half of what I had planned ... 7.5 miles, in 59 minutes.

Relive video of today's ride

46th outdoor ride of 2022 - Friday, 6/24/2022

2022 mileage: 2911.5

I'm coming to the end of another week that's been light on riding. Wednesday, I chose to take the day off, as I went hiking with my friends Tom Brown and Tom Clark at the Fox Science Preserve. I'm shown here with Tom Clark , standing in front of a boulder that the sign proclaims to be a 2.4-BILLION year old chunk of the Canadian Shield, brought down here and deposited by the glaciers.

And yesterday, though I rode -- a LITTLE -- I didn't do a blog entry about it. It was very frustrating, as I set out to ride the Packard/Platt Square, but only got 4 miles into it before mechanical trouble beset me. The plastic chain tube that shields it broke free from its fasteners, and migrated forward into the gear wheel, stopping me. I had nothing with me to use for repair, so I had to text Michelle to come get me.

Today, operating under the theory that you should as soon as possible "get back up on the horse that threw you," I rode the route I set out to do yesterday (the Packard/Platt Square), problem free, for 13.5 miles in 1:43, under a unbroken blue sky, going from a temperature of 74° when i began, at 9:00, up to 80° when I finished.

Relive video of today's ride

45th outdoor ride of 2022 - Tuesday, 6/21/2022

2022 mileage: 2894.0

This morning I was eager to get my ride done, as it was to heat up quite a bit this afternoon. I began at 9:45 and rode a single round trip to Marsh Park, augmented just slightly by a loop through Bicentennial Parkway on the way home, for a total of 10.9 miles in 1:26.

Originally I had wanted to do a longer ride. However, on the way out I realized that this would not be prudent. Our printer died last week, and we ordered a new one that was to be delivered either today or tomorrow, and I didn't want to miss it.

Relive video of today's ride

44th outdoor ride of 2022 - Monday, 6/20/2022

2022 mileage: 2883.1

I decided to give myself yesterday off, in honor of Father's Day. Today, getting back to it, I couldn't ride until this afternoon, when it was already 84°, so I settled for a single round trip to Marsh Park. I saw my friend Jim Alvey, too ... about a mile before I finished, he WHOOSHED right by me, as my energy was badly flagging by that point.

Relive video of today's ride

43rd outdoor ride of 2022 - Saturday, 6/18/2022

 2022 mileage: 2872.9

Thursday I could not ride, as I had to take my trike to Jack's for repair of a dragging brake; yesterday I couldn't ride because of a goofy schedule for Michelle, and my need to work around that. So today, I was glad to get back to it, and rode the Platt/Packard Square (13.5 miles) in 1:41 on a GLORIOUS morning -- 53° when I began at just past 6:30, and up to 59° when I finished.

Christy and I were going to ride together at 7:00, but I woke to a text from her that she had been up through the night with a "wicked" headache.

Relive video of today's ride

42nd outdoor ride - Wednesday, 6/15/2022

2022 mileage: 2859.4

Beautiful morning for a ride, beginning at 7:30. At that hour, it was 69° and sunny, and climbed to 82° by the time I finished. But I'm sure glad I got it done early, as it's rising to over 90° this afternoon.

Also, this afternoon my brother is taking me to Tiger baseball game (as a belated birthday gift).

My left wheel is squeaking quite a bit, and it's slowing me down significantly. I always try to hold myself to a minimum average speed of at least 8 mph. But today, on a round trip to Marsh Park (10.1 miles), the best I could do was 6.8 mph (a slow ride of 1:29).

Relive video of today's ride

41st outdoor ride of 2022 - Tuesday, 6/14/2022

2022 mileage: 2849.3

Recent days have NOT been good ones for me in riding. Last Friday I woke in the morning with INTENSE pain in the joint f my left big tee. This seemed to be an exact repeat of the bout of gout I had had back in 1997, and my doctor prescribed some pain medication for it on Saturday, which ended up being highly effective and helpful.

Today I did my first ride since Thursday, going 13.5 miles in a slow time of 1:55 as I rode the Packard/Platt Square in cloudy, moderate conditions around 70°.

https://www.relive.cc/view/v7O9BLwLMQ6

40th outdoor ride of 2022 - Thursday, 6/9/2022

2022 mileage: 2835.8

Today I left at noon and rode the Platt/Packard Square (13.5 miles) in 1:41, completing the ride that Christy and I set out to do on Sunday, but couldn't complete because my brakes died. Conditions were gorgeous today, too—67° at the start, up to 70° when I finished, and mostly sunny skies.

Relive video of today's ride

39th outdoor ride of 2022 - Wednesday, 6/8/2022

2022 mileage: 2822.3

Today I cut myself a HUGE amount of slack. This morning I just stayed home working on a book I am writing. It's a memoir .... so very many people have urged me to write my story, that I've decided to buckle down and get it done. We'll see, though, whether or not it's considered publishable.

In the first half of the afternoon, I watched the Tigers play, getting a heartening victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete a 2-game series sleep.

Then I went out about 3:30, and just went down and rode a single loop in Stonebridge, as I used to do years ago with Kristian Frikke-Schmidt when I was just beginning to ride.

I'm glad I kept it short, though, because just after I got home it began to rain. This ride of 5.4 miles in 40 minutes is about the shortest ride I've ever allowed myself, but I figured it was better to go out and at least do a short ride than to cave in and do none at all.

Relive video of today's ride

38th outdoor ride of 2022 - Tuesday, 6/6/2022

2022 mileage: 2816.9

After being unable to ride yesterday because of having to take my trike to Wheels in Motion for their 11:00 opening and then leave it for several hours for my brakes to be repaired, I felt as if I should do a more substantial ride today to help make up for it. But I was tired, and making good progress on a writing project that currently engages my attention, and consequently allowed myself to settle for a quite modest ride (on a cooler day than we have been enjoying recently: 63° and cloudy)—a single round trip to Marsh Park, for 9.9 miles in 1:10.

Relive video of today's ride

Monday, 6/6/2022

2022 mileage: 2807.0

I had to get my brakes fixed today, and that meant loading up the trike and taking it over to Wheels in Motion (in town, thankfully, rather than needing to haul it to the dealer, Jack's, in Dearborn). Since they don't open until 11 a.m., and I had to leave it for several hours, I didn't get home till just now (4 p.m.), and on top of that it is now beginning to rain a bit. In light of all this, I'm thinking I will take today off, despite the extended daylight at this time of year. But at least I'm all ready to go tomorrow!

37th outdoor ride of 2022 - Sunday, 6/5/2022

2022 mileage: 2807.0

Today was a day that almost could have been calamitous, but thanks be to God for His protection, it wasn't.

Christy came over to ride with me this afternoon (following the Tigers' 10-inning to the Yankees, meaning that they were swept in all three games in New York this weekend), but her joining me was far from calamitous -- rather, it was a great joy. We set out to ride my frequent 13 and a half mile square route, and in beautiful conditions were enjoying the ride, well past the halfway point, when the calamity struck.

My right brake has been hanging up and not working for several days, and I foolishly delayed, as the left one was doing fine. This was a strategy that worked for me ... until today, when the left one failed too. I was just approaching the intersection of Platt and Ellsworth, and I squeezed for all I was worth, and nothing happened. Fortunately I was going slowly at the time, and no traffic was coming, so I was able to roll out into the road and turn right for a short ways until I could turn around and return to Christy. To say that she was concerned would be an understatement ... but, knowing the route, and where I'd need to take special care, I elected for us to keep going for a couple more miles.

Then, however, we decided to have Michelle come and pick me up, so the necessary communication took place, and that all happened smoothly. At that point, Christy only had about three and a half miles to go in order to return to our home and her car.

In light of the fact that I survived the ride today, it hardly seems significant to note that I rode 9.9 miles in 1:20. Tomorrow I look forward to taking the trike to Wheels in Motion and getting the brakes FIXED.

Relive video of today's ride

36th outdoor ride of 2022 - Saturday, 6/4/2022

2022 mileage: 2797.1

I didn't ride yesterday, having a much more important use of my time to keep me busy. Michelle took her students on their annual outing to Cedar Point, and I went up to Lansing to have lunch with John. This is something that's been kind of a tradition for us in the past, but we've had to let it go the last two years due to COVID.

This morning, I began at 7:30, and rode the round trip to Baker Rd. in brilliant sunshine, 53° when I began, up to 66° when I finished, and clocked 20.2 miles in 2:35.

Relive video of today's ride

35th outdoor ride of 2022 - Thursday, 6/2/2022

 2022 mileage: 2776.9

Late this afternoon, with my heart soaring, I rode after the Tigers' game. You see, they are in the Central Division of the American League, which is currently led by the Minnesota Twins. This week we hosted them in a 5-game series, the last of which was today. After trailing for most of the game, Detroit got a 2-run homer in the 8th inning, so that we won a comeback victory, 3-2, and also took 4 of the 5 games in the series.

Despite the joy I felt, though, I did not do a very notable ride. In outstanding conditions (73° and sunny) I rode a single round trip to Marsh Park, for 9.9 miles in 1:12.

Relive video of today's ride

34th outdoor ride of 2022 - Wednesday, 6/1/2022

 2022 mileage: 2767.0

I did a short ride this morning, husbanding my energy because we are going to East Lansing tonight for a concert by the St. Olaf Choir, of which I am an alumnus. For decades they have toured during February, but this year's tour had to be rescheduled due to a campus spike in COVID.

I ended up riding (in a slow and desultory manner) just a round trip to Marsh Park, for 10.1 miles in 1:20.

Relive video of today's ride