Wot a weekend!!

Whoo Hoo!
That just about sums it up!

Like all the best weekends this one started on Thursday. Got invited out for a road ride on Saturday by a work colleague (David), so decided I have bloody well better get used to riding on the roads at some kind of pace! So Thursday after work I did a quick change and was out on the fixie by 7 o clock - giving me just an hour before the light would get dodgy. Aimed for approx 20 miles and so headed south on Okemos Road. Dead straight! Try and keep the pace at 19-20 mph but it is a struggle in places, a cross wind takes it's toll and the gentle uphills drain the legs a bit. Turn left on Howell Rd with wind behind me and the pace really ramps! Feel almost like a real cyclist for a bit. Then left again on Meridian Road and I'm heading home - weather looks like it might chuck it down any minute but in the end I escape with nothing more than a few drops. Meridian Road seems to go one forever, no shoulder for much of the way and a pretty pock marked surface makes in interesting. Wind feels like it is more in my face than sideways and the pace drops to mid teens for sections. Over I 96 and all of a sudden the sign for Jolly Road appears. Blimey never though Jolly Road was so up and down! Wind in my face doesn't help but the end is near! Finish with 20.2 miles on the cyclometer and an average of 18.9 mph - solid effort.

Friday (with Saturday on my mind) head out for a repeat of Thursdays adventure - weather is awesome! Sunny so just short sleeves tonight and no hint of rain. Plan is to take it easy but the evening is just too nice. End up with exactly the same average as Thursday.

Saturday and the morning (up here without the family) is directionless! Need order! So I decide it's time the bikes got some TLC. Spend a good hour and a half (probably much to the bemusement of the other hotel guests) out the back of the Staybridge Inn Okemos cleaning both my fixie and my Rockhopper! Oh the beauty of a sparkling hub!

Happiness is a sparkling hub!

Afternoon (after an abortive attempt to bike to Denny's Bike Shop in Okemos - flat bloody tire on the Rockhopper) and its time to head to David's house in Watertown for my fist "proper" road ride in Mi! Windy as a cowboy in the bean sequence of "Blazing Saddles". Riding into the teeth of the wind is a real adventure. But we doggedly stick to the task and cover just over 40 miles at 18 mph average (15 mph into wind and 23 mph with the wind). Beautiful countryside, rolling hills, Life Is Good! Afterwards David and his family invite me to dinner - which is marvelous - then back to the hotel and I watch 24 solo on DVD for about the 6th time. Awesome movie! Makes me homesick big time for the gorgeous trails of Patapsco! But motivates me for Sunday and my inaugural ride with Kevin (Biodegradable Bike) Karpinski!

Sunday 2:30 and after many telephone calls and emails DB and Kevin finally meet in person - both riding Specialized MTBs - just made about 20 years apart (as I am riding my 1986 Rockhopper and he is riding an early naughties Stumpjumper). Head for Charlotte and a new section of trail. When we finally find it (after may missteps and me going over the bars trying to jump a log on the entrance to the first trail we find - I do like to make a good impression) we fins the new trail! It is pretty spot on - not much in the way of obstacles but twisty as a twisty thing and as tight as a nun's bits!

Kevin thru the flowers

Sections were hard to decren as we scooted along. A couple of fallen logs gave me the opportunity to fall off a couple more times and soon it was time to go home - DARN!

Here endeth the first ride!

Still 4 days/4 rides and nice clean bikes! Can't complain - life is treating me well in Mi!

Till Next Time

DB