May has been a slow month for biking, everyone is just too busy.  Hopefully we will all get back to riding on a regular basis soon.  On Sunday May 7, 2006 Pete and I did a morning ride.  It was a very nice day for a ride and I am glad Pete and I decided to go. 

Similar to last Sunday I rode over and picked up Pete at his house.  From there we rode over to Greek island to get our regular breakfast special.   

After breakfast we both agreed to ride for a while before heading home.  We headed over the Clinton River Trail and hopped on it heading west.  We stayed on this trail all the way to Squirrel Road.  This trail is slowly becoming more passable.  The large stones are imbedding themselves into the ground and more and more people are using the trail all the time which also helps get it groomed.  We came across an older couple walking their dog heading east.  It still amazes me how many people we come across walking dogs.  There is no question in my mind that dogs are good walking companions.  If it wasn’t for their dogs hundreds and thousands of people would probably never leave their house.  

At Squirrel Pete and I got off the trail and headed north along the bike path parallel to Squirrel.  This is a nice area to ride.  I always enjoy riding in this general area.  There is something about the elevation and the wide open feeling I get when riding my bike in this part of Auburn Hills.  It always seems a little strange going through the down town area of Auburn Hills on a Sunday, it is like a ghost town.  Downtown Auburn Hills has been fixed up real nice over the past couple years, which makes the empty feeling even stranger. There are also a couple nice up hills and down hills along this stretch.  I think we hit our maximum speed just before the long wooden bridge.  At one point on the east side of the road the bike path goes over a swampy area and there is a fairly long wooden plank bridge that connects the black top sections of the bike path on both sides.  We usually hit this wooden bridge around 25 to 30 mph depending upon whether we are just coasting or not.   

Once we got near Oakland University we decided to ride on to the campus and ride around there for a little while.  We actually covered a lot of the campus just riding around.  We rode down the main drive right up to Meadow Brook Hall and we rode around the mansion toward the golf course behind the building.  We rode along next to the golf course for a while.  We also rode along the main circular rode that connects the main buildings of the campus.  Oakland University has a lot to offer and it is a very pleasant place hang out.   

After a rather complete tour of Oakland University we left the campus headed for home.  This turned out to be an enjoyable ride .  

Following are the statistics from this ride, 21.8 miles total, 27.0 max mph, 2 hour and 3 min time on bikes and 10.6 average mph. 
David Lindquist