Today’s ride was a last minute decision and only three of us went; Bob, Pete and myself.  It was cold, temperature in the mid 20’s when we started and it was also windy.  The wind chill factor made it feel even colder.  It was partly sunny/cloudy without any rain or snow.  The weather predictions, especially Jim Miles the night before, were to have at least 6 inches by Sunday morning.  Well, there wasn’t any snow when we started around 10:30 am and by the time we finished around 2:00 pm we still hadn’t seen any rain or snow.  So, another perfect day for a bike ride.  It did snow a little that night, but it didn’t start until around 7:00 pm. 

Pete and Bob were both saying their legs and feet were cold after a while.  I had on two pair of socks and my “dri-fit” tights under a pair of wind pants.  My feet and legs were very comfortable the entire ride.  I also had two pair of gloves; one thin pair under a pair of decent ski gloves and my fingers did get cold on the way back.  It is amazing the effect of wind, I am going to have to get a pair of wind proof gloves for future winter rides.  Based on Jason’s recommendation I also have been using long sleeve “dri-fit” shirts to keep the moisture away from my skin, this is also helping keep me warm.  This high tech “wicking” fabric is really nice and functional, it actually does as advertised. 

As mentioned in the write up of yesterday’s ride Pete got a new bike, which will make the rides easier for him.  Bob also got a couple new gadgets for his bike; a cell phone holder attached to his handlebars and a rear zipper topped tote mounted above the rear wheel.  No problem with leftovers at lunch now, Bob will be able to fit at least two and possibly three doggy bags in that tote.  I also got a couple bike items as Christmas gifts; a Bell speedometer, rear rack and light up spoke reflectors.  Thus far I have only installed the speedometer and I used it for the first time on this ride.  It is a clever device and as long as I don’t forget to reset it each ride I will now be able to report some key statistics from our rides.  Starting and ending from my house we went 24.1 miles, average speed of 10.9 mph, maximum speed of 26.1 mph and traveling time of 2 hours and 17 minutes.  Even though we might not look like it, this is a high tech bike club, improving each week.  So, if you get an invitation to join us you might want to jump all over it because once we are full you might be sorry. 

We are also going to start having theme rides starting in the spring.  Like a Hawaiian ride where we all dress in Hawaiian clothes and near July 4^th a patriotic ride where we all dress in red white and blue and mount flags to our bikes.  We will give plenty of notice so you can plan to attend, stay tuned. 

This week we went north on one of our favorite routes, PCT to Lake Orion.  There were quite a few walkers and joggers and even a couple other bikers out on the trail.  We took the steps just before the end of trail heading to Hamlin Pub.  The pub wasn’t open yet so we headed up Lapeer road to see if a new restaurant had moved into the old Boat House that closed a while back, the answer is no.  Having killed enough time we went back south this time our intent was to go to the Sagebrush Cantina for lunch.  We had a good lunch, I got two ala-cart chicken enchiladas (minus onions), Bob got the super burrito with pork and Pete got two bean only enchiladas ala-cart.  Bob has a unique way of eating his burrito, he orders it dry and removes the soft shell and dumps the contents onto his plate and just throws out the shell.  If you have never eaten here before the super burritos are huge, about the size of a football, and they are good.  The diet coke here is very good as well. 

After finishing lunch we went out to unlock our bikes and head home.  Pete is always in a hurry and as soon as he is ready everyone else is supposed to be ready and moving.  Bob and I were getting ourselves organized and Pete already started heading down the sidewalk when he noticed we hadn’t left yet, so he stopped to wait.  It just so happened that Pete stopped right next to a pick up truck parked in the street with two dogs inside.  The dogs were small terriers of some sort and they started barking at Pete right away.  Pete could have moved either direction to put some distance between him and the truck but he just stood there staring at the dogs which caused them to bark even louder and at a faster pace.  Those poor dogs didn’t know what was going on, it had tuned into a contest of Pete staring and dogs barking.  I must give Pete some credit he never did bark back at the dogs.  So, he is showing some self control in his older age.  I think it he may have gain some maturity with his new high tech fancy bike.  Those dogs sure got excited, I hope they weren’t the type that lose control, otherwise their owners might have found an unpleasant surprise in the front seat. 

The rest of the trip home was a nice ride, again the wind was cool.  Once you get off the trail onto Dutton heading towards Pete’s neighborhood you have to go up the steep hill on Dutton Road.  Pete was feeling spry at the end of this ride, he put his new bike in low gear and decided to test it out climbing the hill.  Bob and I followed right behind.  Pete got much further up the hill with his bad knee than ever before, so the bike is definitely a big improvement.  I got about 2/3 of the way up which is further than I had ever done so I decided I might as well keep going.  I am proud to say that I did make it to the top without stopping, so the club now has a second member with the distinctive title of "King of the Hill".  After getting up the hill we just headed home.

David Lindquist