Saturday December 16, 2006 was a perfect day for a bike ride.  It ended up being just me and Pete again.  Maybe this spring or summer we will be able to talk some of the old regular riders into getting back into riding again.  I guess it is OK just riding with Pete, but it is always more fun with more people joining us.  

Pete must have had a rough hockey game or too much fun out relaxing with his fellow hockey players after their game Friday night out at the Moose Preserve.  Pete wanted to sleep in a little so we didn’t start our ride until late morning.  I rode over and met Pete at his house and from there we headed south toward downtown Rochester.  By the time we got to Rochester it was lunch time and we were both hungry.  We stopped at Penn Station for something to eat.   

At Penn Station you order your sub at the cash register and give them your name.  They write your name on the receipt and after you pay they give you a cup for your drink.  Typically I fill up my drink grab a few napkins and then go find a table to wait for my sub.  Pete started the tradition of giving a funny or strange name when ordering as a joke.  It is always fun to sit at the table listening to one of the employees walk from behind the counter yelling out a strange name.  The joke is probably on us, I imagine people are laughing at us thinking that is actually our name.  Either way it gives me and Pete a good chuckle each time we pull this stupid stunt.   

Today Pete used the name Rafer and I choked and used a repeat name, but one of my favorites, Roscoe.  Pete and I starting talking about something and before we new it time had gone by and our subs were ready.  One of the young girls that works there was walking around calling out Rafer.  Pete didn’t notice and even I didn’t notice right away that she was calling out Rafer.  After a few seconds she got a little louder as she continued to call out Rafer.  Finally I noticed, but Pete didn’t.  I didn’t say anything right away and I just sat back and waited to see what was going to happen.  There weren’t many people in the place so it shouldn’t have been this difficult for this poor young girl trying to pass out this one sub.  Finally Pete noticed and raised his hand as she continued to call out Rafer.  She gave us a funny look and I think she figured out what was going on when she went back behind the counter to pick up the next sub and saw the name was Roscoe.  This time she walked right to our table and looked at me and said I assume you are Roscoe.  I responded yes and took the sub from her.  I’m glad she had a good sense of humor and didn’t mind our goofy nature. 

Needless to say lunch was very good.  After lunch we rode over our local bike store, Rochester Bike Shop.  Pete wanted to do some Christmas shopping.  He picked up a couple items for his son Paul.  One of the items even came gift wrapped, you can’t beat a pre-wrapped item from the bike shop.  While Pete was doing his shopping I looked around at the new bikes.  They sure have some nice ones, but I can’t justify a new bike.  My Trek 7200 is still functioning quite well and is all I need for my type of riding.  I just don’t really need a new one.  I keep looking at bikes with disc brakes which I’m sure work very well.  I noticed it was mainly the mountain bikes that had disc brakes, must be there isn’t much demand for disc brakes on road or hybrid bikes. 

After shopping at the bike store we got back on our bikes and started the ride home.  We didn’t make anymore stops on the way home.  Another nice lunch and bike ride, not a bad way to spend a couple hours in the middle of the day on a Saturday.  

Following are the statistics from this ride, 12.4 miles total, 20.5 max, 1 hour and 13 minutes of ride time with an average speed of 10.1 mph.
David Lindquist