2018 mileage: 1928.5
Yesterday, though I perhaps shouldn't have, I allowed myself to be lazy and just spent the time composing instead. So today I was glad to get back to it. This morning I took my time about getting going, but then left at 7:50 and rode a round trip to Dexter (Baker Rd.)—20.5 miles in 2:40. It was a glorious summer morning, brightly sunny, and warm but not hot: 66° when I began and 79* when I finished.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Saturday, August 11, 2018
67th ride of 2018 - Saturday, 8/11/2018
2018 mileage: 1908.0
I took yesterday off in order to rest and augment my chances of enjoying last night's baseball game between the Tigers and Twins in Detroit, which I attended with my close friend Tom Brown (with whom a game each summer is an annual tradition for us dating back to 2010). The picture below is one that a fellow attendee took for us shortly after we arrived in our seats.
At any rate, I was eager to get back to my riding routine today. I composed early on, and waited a little longer than I like to on Saturday mornings, in order to let it warm up, and when I began at 9:30 I was rewarded with sunny skies and a 67° temperature (that climbed to 82° by the time I was done, about 11:30). I rode consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, and tacked on a loop on Interfirst Drive during the second, for a ride of 20.1 miles in 2:28, to put me over a new mileage milestone for the year.
I took yesterday off in order to rest and augment my chances of enjoying last night's baseball game between the Tigers and Twins in Detroit, which I attended with my close friend Tom Brown (with whom a game each summer is an annual tradition for us dating back to 2010). The picture below is one that a fellow attendee took for us shortly after we arrived in our seats.
At any rate, I was eager to get back to my riding routine today. I composed early on, and waited a little longer than I like to on Saturday mornings, in order to let it warm up, and when I began at 9:30 I was rewarded with sunny skies and a 67° temperature (that climbed to 82° by the time I was done, about 11:30). I rode consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, and tacked on a loop on Interfirst Drive during the second, for a ride of 20.1 miles in 2:28, to put me over a new mileage milestone for the year.
Thursday, August 9, 2018
66th ride of 2018 - Thursday, 8/9/2018
2018 mileage: 1887.9
Since my planned meeting at Panera with Christy and the kids yesterday didn't work out due to her illness, we tried again today -- and with better results! I left home at 7:00 a.m. (63·—up to 75° when I finished) and rode to Panera, where I was greeted upon their arrival with excited sprints toward me and hugs from the kids. We had a nice, unhurried breakfast together, following which Christy took the kids to their individual pursuits (Izzy doing a camp called "Kids on Canvas" at Emerson, and Danny to Sunshine Special at his preschool. Then she was planning to enjoy a quiet, solitary day.
After they left, I continued on west to Dexter (Baker Rd.) as I did yesterday, before returning home. This gave me a ride of 19.4 miles in 2:24.
For the benefit of newer readers of this blog, I will explain something I have mentioned before (last year, I believe). Michelle, my wife, asks (very understandably, given my medical history) that I stay off the road with my riding, and on sidewalks and trails. To my great good fortune, it is possible for me to get clear to Dexter by riding on a sidewalk that runs alongside Jackson Rd. west clear to Baker Rd. (Sadly, though, I cannot get into town by staying on sidewalks, and am thus prohibited from visiting my daughter and grandchildren at their house. 😦)
This round trip is nearly 20 miles.
Since my planned meeting at Panera with Christy and the kids yesterday didn't work out due to her illness, we tried again today -- and with better results! I left home at 7:00 a.m. (63·—up to 75° when I finished) and rode to Panera, where I was greeted upon their arrival with excited sprints toward me and hugs from the kids. We had a nice, unhurried breakfast together, following which Christy took the kids to their individual pursuits (Izzy doing a camp called "Kids on Canvas" at Emerson, and Danny to Sunshine Special at his preschool. Then she was planning to enjoy a quiet, solitary day.
After they left, I continued on west to Dexter (Baker Rd.) as I did yesterday, before returning home. This gave me a ride of 19.4 miles in 2:24.
For the benefit of newer readers of this blog, I will explain something I have mentioned before (last year, I believe). Michelle, my wife, asks (very understandably, given my medical history) that I stay off the road with my riding, and on sidewalks and trails. To my great good fortune, it is possible for me to get clear to Dexter by riding on a sidewalk that runs alongside Jackson Rd. west clear to Baker Rd. (Sadly, though, I cannot get into town by staying on sidewalks, and am thus prohibited from visiting my daughter and grandchildren at their house. 😦)
This round trip is nearly 20 miles.
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
65th ride of 2018 - Wednesday, 8/8/2018
2018 mileage: 1868.5
I anticipated a sweet treat on my ride this morning. Having arranged to meet Christy, Izzy, and Danny at Panera (on Jackson Rd., just east of Zeeb) for a light breakfast, I dug out at 6:30 (just minutes past the time of sunrise) and left in 69° very weak sunlight. (I finished at 74°.) The ride went fine, and my heart soared, as I had my Devotional Music playlist going on Spotify on my phone. But when I got to Panera, I got a message from Christy that she had a migraine and was feeling extremely ill. She said something about coming for a few minutes anyway, but I told her to stay home and rest.
Upon leaving Panera, I continued west to Baker Rd., figuring as long as I was out that way anyway, I might as well complete this good ride, returning home having done 19.3 miles in what my phone said was just a few seconds under 2 hours. But this was wrong, and credited me with too fast a ride.
The app I used to track my rides, MapMyRide, calls out vocal feedback (overall speed, current speed, split speed -- that is, the speed for your most recent mile), and I have it set to call these out every tenth of a mile. I have grown to be quite dependent on this vocal feedback as a motivational factor. But for some reason, inexplicably, in the second half of my ride, that app slipped back into pause mode a couple of times this morning, and I didn't discover this for a couple of minutes when I realized I was no longer getting the vocal feedback. So my overall time was less than it should have been. A big clue to this was after I discovered the problem and got it started again, and it told me a split time of over 1100 miles per hour! 😎
I anticipated a sweet treat on my ride this morning. Having arranged to meet Christy, Izzy, and Danny at Panera (on Jackson Rd., just east of Zeeb) for a light breakfast, I dug out at 6:30 (just minutes past the time of sunrise) and left in 69° very weak sunlight. (I finished at 74°.) The ride went fine, and my heart soared, as I had my Devotional Music playlist going on Spotify on my phone. But when I got to Panera, I got a message from Christy that she had a migraine and was feeling extremely ill. She said something about coming for a few minutes anyway, but I told her to stay home and rest.
Upon leaving Panera, I continued west to Baker Rd., figuring as long as I was out that way anyway, I might as well complete this good ride, returning home having done 19.3 miles in what my phone said was just a few seconds under 2 hours. But this was wrong, and credited me with too fast a ride.
The app I used to track my rides, MapMyRide, calls out vocal feedback (overall speed, current speed, split speed -- that is, the speed for your most recent mile), and I have it set to call these out every tenth of a mile. I have grown to be quite dependent on this vocal feedback as a motivational factor. But for some reason, inexplicably, in the second half of my ride, that app slipped back into pause mode a couple of times this morning, and I didn't discover this for a couple of minutes when I realized I was no longer getting the vocal feedback. So my overall time was less than it should have been. A big clue to this was after I discovered the problem and got it started again, and it told me a split time of over 1100 miles per hour! 😎
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
64th ride of 2018 - Tuesday, 8/7/2018
2018 mileage: 1849.2
After being unable to ride each of the last two days, today was another day where I was awfully glad to be able to get back on the stick. After a morning devoted to composing, I left at noon in 77° sunshine and rode a round trip to Dexter (Baker Rd.) -- 19.4 miles in 2:28. It was up to 84° when I finished, and was tolerable, but I wished for my water bottle. However, it fell out of the (horizontal) cage again, sometime during the first half of my ride, so I'm headed to Wheels in Motion now to pick up another replacement ... the 8th or 9th I've had to buy in the last two years.
After being unable to ride each of the last two days, today was another day where I was awfully glad to be able to get back on the stick. After a morning devoted to composing, I left at noon in 77° sunshine and rode a round trip to Dexter (Baker Rd.) -- 19.4 miles in 2:28. It was up to 84° when I finished, and was tolerable, but I wished for my water bottle. However, it fell out of the (horizontal) cage again, sometime during the first half of my ride, so I'm headed to Wheels in Motion now to pick up another replacement ... the 8th or 9th I've had to buy in the last two years.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
63rd ride of 2018 - Saturday, 8/4/2018
2018 mileage: 1829.8
I'm having a problem with my rear tire losing air too quickly. Both yesterday and today when I went out to ride, it was virtually flat. I was able to pump it up enough to ride, but this made me wary of pushing myself too far, so I scaled back my hopes for riding two round trips to Marsh Park today, doing one instead. This 10.2 miles took me 1:17 on a gorgeous morning for a ride -- sunny skies, with relatively low humidity, and 62* when I began at 8:15, 74° when I finished.
I don't know for sure yet, but I suspect the valve is failing. I don't know if I can get the work done here in town; if not, though, it will mean a trip back to the dealer (Jack's_ in Dearborn. My schedule for the rest of today rules it out, and they are closed tomorrow, so if I have to go, it'll be Monday morning.
I'm having a problem with my rear tire losing air too quickly. Both yesterday and today when I went out to ride, it was virtually flat. I was able to pump it up enough to ride, but this made me wary of pushing myself too far, so I scaled back my hopes for riding two round trips to Marsh Park today, doing one instead. This 10.2 miles took me 1:17 on a gorgeous morning for a ride -- sunny skies, with relatively low humidity, and 62* when I began at 8:15, 74° when I finished.
I don't know for sure yet, but I suspect the valve is failing. I don't know if I can get the work done here in town; if not, though, it will mean a trip back to the dealer (Jack's_ in Dearborn. My schedule for the rest of today rules it out, and they are closed tomorrow, so if I have to go, it'll be Monday morning.
Friday, August 3, 2018
62nd ride of 2018 - Friday, 8/3/2018
2018 mileage: 1819.6
The last two days, I've been unablee to ride, as Michelle and I were on grandparent duty—very happily so—that occupied substantial chunks of our days. So I was happy to get back to it today, and left at 10:30 a.m. in gorgeous summer conditions (mostly sunny, and 74°, up to 83° when I finished) to ride a round trip to Dexter (Baker Rd.). This 19.4-mile jaunt took me 2:12.
Link to (Relive) video of today's ride
The last two days, I've been unablee to ride, as Michelle and I were on grandparent duty—very happily so—that occupied substantial chunks of our days. So I was happy to get back to it today, and left at 10:30 a.m. in gorgeous summer conditions (mostly sunny, and 74°, up to 83° when I finished) to ride a round trip to Dexter (Baker Rd.). This 19.4-mile jaunt took me 2:12.
Link to (Relive) video of today's ride
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