trike-ab-trike-2020

2020 mileage:   2480.9 After yesterday being unable to get my trike back from Wheels in Motion until early afternoon, by which point it was already well up in the 80s, I decided not to ride. So this morning I got out early, and began at 6:00, when it was 61° and already nicely sunny. It climbed to 79° by the time I finished, over 3 hours later, but was very enjoyable weather in which to ride. I did a round trip to Matthei Botanical Gardens, for 31.2 miles in 3:09. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2449.7 Our phenomenal weather continues. This morning I left at 6:30 a.m. in spectacular 83-degree sunshine, and the temperature actually dropped some (thankfully) over the course of my ride. Doing another round trip to Baker Rd. (20.2 miles in 2:05), I was fine except for one small incident. When descending the hill on Stadium Blvd. approaching Pauline on the outbound leg of my trip, my brakes wouldn't slow me sufficiently. Consequently I was unable to negotiate the sharp turn where the sidewalk is offset, and ended up tipping the trike. In the tumble I fell on the right brake cable and broke it. I was completely uninjured, but concerned about needing to ride the remaining 16 miles with only my left brake working. But I prayed about it and took it easy, and made it just fine. 1:30 UPDATE I took the trike to Wheels in Motion this afternoon for repair of the brake; they are currently so backed up that I was told it would be two w...

2020 mileage:   2329.5 This morning I was lazy, and instead of riding at 6:00 as I had hoped, I didn't actually get started until slightly past 6:30. And then I  compounded that laziness by scaling back the ride I had planned to do. On Saturdays I generally prefer to ride over to the east side of town, to at least loop around St. Joseph Hospital if not to continue clear on up to the Matthei Botanical Gardens. Today I was going to ride up to Matthei ... but as I went out, I realized that what I really wanted to do today was to spend more of my time on music (both composition and piano practice). So instead, I settled for riding the Platt.Packard Square (13.7 miles in 1:21). It had rained overnight, but the rains had stopped, and though it remained solidly cloudy, I stayed dry, in temperatures that ranged from 69° when I started to 71° when I finished.

2020 mileage:   2315.8 Today's ride was another round trip to Baker Rd. I began in 76° cloudy conditions, and the temperature climbed to 79° by the time I finished. In addition, the sky began spitting very light rain at me in the last couple of miles.

2020 mileage:   2395.6 I went out at 12 noon today in 76° sunshine (thankfully, not too humid) and rode another round trip to Baker Rd. (20.2 miles in 2:15). It may sound somewhat boring that I ride the same route so often (40 times out of the 94 days since i was able to resume it on March 24 after winter finally ended for us, or 42.5% of the days)—but I don't find it to be boring. Rather, I have developed a degree of comfort in knowing what to expect, and also in being able to compare to other rides. For instance, "I'm doing a little better today than yesterday! Guess I'll push it a little more.", or, "I'm pretty slow compared to the best ride I've ever done on this route!" One unfortunate feature of today's ride was that at one point on the way home, when my battery cord pulled out of my phone, and I stopped to fix it, I paused MapMyRide as always, but then forgot to restart it for a few minutes afterward. By the time I discovered it, I...

2020 mileage:   2375.4 Today I began at 11:45 in pleasant conditions—moistly cloudy, with occasional breaks in the clouds, and a bit of breeze (16 mph from the west northwest), but a 70° temperature that climbed to 73° by the time I finished. I rode a round trip to Baker Rd. once again today, completing 20.2 miles in 2:24. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2355.2 Good ride today. though it was slightly slower than I like. I did another round trip to Baker Rd., for 20.2 miles in 2:19. Leaving at 11:00, the temperature was much more tolerable today than yesterday—68° when I began, and 72° when I finished, all under a mix of sun and clouds, while I contended with a healthy (but not crippling) wind of about 12 mph from the NNW. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2335.0 II could not ride early today, as is my preference, since I had a 7:00 a.m. Zoom meeting (with the Monday morning men's devotional group in which I participate), and then since they had spoken of the possibility of morning rain, I chose to wait and ride at midday.  BIG mistake. The rain never showed up, but the heat did, and as a consequence I had to ride in summery heat and humidity for the first time this year. When I began, at 11:45, it was 78°, and that climbed to a sultry 83° by the finish. I rode another round trip to Baker Rd. (Dexter), for 20.2 miles in a slow time of 2:28. I was, however, rewarded with some beauty to lift my spirit, seeing this and several other patches of wild flowers along the sidewalk paralleling Jackson Ave. just after I had reached Baker Rd. and started back east toward Ann Arbor. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2314.8 Went out about 6:15 this morning and rode another round trip to Baker Rd., covering the 20.0 miles in 2:20. It was 65° when I began, and up to 75° when I finished, under mostly cloudy skies that blessed me with just occasional very light showers a couple of times. And I'm happy also to have reached anther mileage milestone today -- now over 2300 for the year. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2294.8 Since is the day of maximum daylight in the year, I wanted to get a good, early start -- and I think 5:20 qualifies! 😎 It was a day when flexibility and adaptability to shifting plans were necessary, however. I set off intending to ride to Matthei Botanical Gardens, and got about 2/3 of the way fine ... but after traveling the Gallup Park Pathway to its eastern end at Dixboro Rd., I found further progress impossible. A locked fence prevented proceeding (though a pack of teens on bikes following me ignored it, and went around it). So not seeing the mentioned detour, I decided to head for a loop around St. Joseph Hospital, and climbed the sizable hill up from that point. But when I got to the top, I found the marked detour, and also recognized where I was and that I was, in fact, quite close to the trail that goes up to Matthei. So I went that way, turned around, and started back towards home.  Rather than going back the way I cam...

2020 mileage:   2264.4 We remain caught in an outstanding weather pattern -- I began my ride this morning at 6:30 in clear 61° sunshine, and when I finished it was up to 73°. (Once again today, high temperatures this afternoon necessitated an early ride.)  It was relatively modest in length, however, and quite slow. I rode the Packard/Platt Square, and added one loop in Stonebridge, to give me 16.3 miles in just a few seconds over 2 hours even. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2248.1 I was lazy this morning, and got off to a late start (7:00), but then enjoyed a good (but slow) ride in absolutely glorious weather -- sunshine and 56° when I started, climbing to 81° by the end! (An early ride ws essential today, as it's supposed to reach 85° by 3:00!) I did another round trip to Baker Rd., free of any incidents or problems, save a speaking that I could hear in the right rear and which I'll need to keep an eye on in upcoming days. I'm having a minor surgical procedure soon (not yet scheduled), and it will then keep me from riding for 3 or 4 weeks. I'm hoping the timing works out so I can take the trike to Jack's (the dealer, in Dearborn) to have them check it over good while I'm unable to ride, and perhaps they can diagnose the squeak, too. Anyway, today's ride was 20.3 miles in a sluggish 2:24. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020 mileage:   2227.8 It's been a difficult and challenging week. After a good ride on Sunday, I was feeling inexplicably lazy on Monday and took a rest day. Yesterday I went out at 5:30 (I absolutely LOVE the extended daylight at this time of year), and began by doing my weekly airing up of my tires. But the first one I tried behaved puzzlingly ... with every stroke of the pump, it emitted a mild back HISS and expelled some air. I couldn't solve the mystery, and so had to take a second straight day off ... and by late afternoon, the tire was completely flat. Today my good friend Dan Cogan came over to help me out. Dan is a retired lawyer, a photographer, and an avid cyclist. He discovered that the valve stem on that tire had gotten bent somehow, so that the pump could not connect to it securely. When he changed the tube, putting in a new one with its new stem, the problem was solved. Afterwards, I did a very modest ride, just grateful to be back at it again. I did a r...

2020 mileage:   2217.8 IToday again presented lovely conditions for a spring ride.  When I began a few minutes before 6:00, though the daylight was still somewhat pale, the skies were clear, with a temperature of 45°. This was, of course, a little on the cool side, but I much prefer such weather to the heat of summer. However ... a few days ago I finally put away my gloves for the season. Yet, had I worn them this morning, I certainly wouldn't have felt they were excessive, especially during the chilly first half of the ride (particularly when I had to ride through sprinklers). My hoodie also felt just right, although my legs kept warm from pedaling and were perfectly fine in shorts. I did another round trip to Baker Rd. (20.2 miles in  2:14), and am happy to report that today's ride was blessedly incident-free. I also reached a couple of milesointes (of milestones (of sorts) today. I went over 2200 miles for the year. And, following today's ride, there ...

2020 mileage:   2197.6 I had wanted to do an early ride this morning. However, plagued by tiredness and laziness stemming from being up in the night (as always), I didn't get started until the shamefully late hour of 6:45. 😎 Despite this sloth, however, I had a relatively good ride, going over to loop around St. Joe's Hospital and from there heading to downtown Ypsilanti before returning home. This gave me 26.6 miles in 3:11. The ride was not without its frustrations, however. For one thing, my battery cord kept inexplicably pulling out of my phone—and this must have happened eight or nine times! I kept stopping, pausing MapMyRide, and patiently and painstakingly  digging the battery out of its pocket in my neck pouch, removing the phone also,   plugging it in, turning the battery back on, replacing both pieces of equipment ... each time this happened, of course, any momentum I had built up was squandered, and then i'd end up having to do it aga...

2020 mileage:   2161.0 Another SPECTACULAR June day for a ride! It wasn't supposed to get too hot today, so I got some good composing done this morning, and waited till midday to ride. When I began at 11:30, it was in 69° sunshine (that rose to 72° by the time I finished). I rode again a round trip to Baker Rd., and today augmented it slightly by two additional brief stretches. On the outbound leg of my trip, when I reached Zeeb Rd., I turned right (north) and rode the sidewalk and trail until it ends at Ann Arbor-Dexter Rd., and then turned around and returned to Jackson Ave. After continuing on to Baker Rd. as usual, I turned around and came back, and this time when I reached Zeeb I also turned right, although this tie of course it took me south. I could only go a shorter stretch in this direction before the sidewalk ended,,but before i got there and turned around, a blue vehicle that I recognized pulled in front of me at a crossing, blocking my way and necessi...

2020  mileage:  2 136.7 Today's ride featured my earliest start of the year—and was therefore my favorite. 😎 We're coming into a stretch of time I just love, with the earliest daylight, and today this allowed me to start at 5:30, about 25 minutes before sunrise, in pale early light and 58° conditions with a light touch of wind,. In these blissful circumstances, I rode another round trip to Baker Rd. (20.2 miles in 2:19), at a pace that was by no mans awful, but was still discouraging to me. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020  mileage:  2 116.5 Exhibiting greater discipline today, I was able to my ride started at 6:00 a.m. today, under solid cloud cover. It was 76° at that hour, and the temperature rose to 79° by the timeI finished. I knew I'd be riding into a 14 mph wind from the southwest, too, on my outbound first half, but at least after I reached Baker Rd. and turned around to come home,, I had it at my back. I reached a new mileage  milestone for the year today, too, exceeding 2100. I continue to hope that I can make 5000 miles for the year -- although the long recent layoff while my trike was being repaired undoubtedly hurt, it's still feasible, I think, though a big June will clearly be necessary. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020  mileage:  2 096.3 As the temperature this afternoon is supposed to approach 90°, I really felt I needed and wanted to ride early. But I was lazy and didn't get out as early as I wanted to (6:00), but beginning until just past 6:30. It was lovely riding weather, though—56 at that hour (up to 72° by the end), and partly cloudy, Once again today I rode a round trip to Baker Rd. (20.3 miles in 2:12). I have done that ride on 30 of the 78 days since weather allowed me to resume it this year (on March 24), or 38.4% of the time. Those numbers took a hit recently when my trike was at dealer being repaired, and I could not ride from May 27 through june 5. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride.

2020  mileage:  2 076.0 We are enmeshed in an absolutely glorious stretch of weather right now. This morning I left at 8:30 and rode another round trip to Baker Rd. (20.3 miles in 2:18), in bright unbroken sunshine— 60° when I began, 73° when I finished. Link to (Relive) video of today's ride

2020  mileage:   2055.7 It feels SO good to be able to ride again now! I went out this morning at 6:15, and did another round trip to Baker Rd. (20.3 miles in a slower time of 2:27).  I was slowed ever so slightly by my chain coming off as I was going down the big hill on Jackson Ave., leading to Zeeb. That is a spot where I'm normally able to make considerable gains on my average speed, but today was quite different as I had to stop to fix my chain. Still, though, the weather was lovely .... sunshine throughout, and 50° when I started, climbing to 68° by the end. https://www.relive.cc/view/vLqeNXj9Ldv

2020  mileage:   2035.2 What a thrill I experienced yesterday afternoon, when Jack's Bicycle in Dearborn called me to say that my trike was ready! The last time I had ridden before taking it in to be fixed was on May 26. After that ride, I had to do 13.66 miles per day for the rest of the year in order to  reach  my new goal of 5000 miles for the year. But with my long layoff, as the days remaining in the year decreased while my mileage held steady, I saw that figure creep up steadily until this morning, it was at 14.31 miles/day! But after my big ride this morning (27.2 miles in 3:05), it dropped to 14.25, and now I can keep chipping away at it steadily (I hope). It was an absolutely perfect morning for a ride -- sunrise was at 5:59, and when I began at 6:00 a.m. it was sunny and 61° (a wonderful temperature that climbed to 78° by the time I finished). I rode over to and looped around St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. That is a meaningful destination for me, a...