Friday April 14, 2006 was a holiday (Good Friday) from work, so Pete and I both had the day off.  It was only Pete and I on this ride.  I think Steve was on his way to Florida with his family and Bob had something going on as well that prevented him from joining us. 

Pete had been planning how to mount his new air horn to his bike.  Pete has so many items on his handle bars it is difficult to position everything.  We finally figured out a way to get the horn on using plastic tie straps similar to how I mounted the air horn to my bike.  When Pete was first planning the install of the horn he was pulling at the wires on his speedometer and he pulled the wires apart.  This has been an ongoing problem for Pete for quite a while now.  I couldn't believe he was actually tugging at the wires after al the trouble he had to get them working again after the initial time he broke the wire.  This wire is small and delicate.  It took a while but Pete eventually did get the wire fixed and now he just broke it again.  I couldn't help but laugh when I saw what he had done.  The look on his face expressed how he felt, mad at himself for doing something so stupid.  I quickly took out my phone and too a couple pictures right after Pete broke the wire.  See the end of this story for the pictures of Pete's broke speedometer wire.  In one of the pictures you get a nice view of the special club ID bracelet Tom had made in Mexico.

For a change of pace Pete and I took a different route from one of our regular routes.  The only problem is I can't remember the route so I can't share any detail.  I do remember it was different and I also remember commenting to Pete during the ride that it was interesting riding in an area that we typically don't ride.  My sense of direction is not very good, matter of fact it is horrible, almost non-existent.  I'm sure I have mentioned this fact before, I don't even try to pretend I have a sense of direction, I admit my problem and even joke about it.  One of the nice things about this problem is almost all my bike rides are an adventure.  Once I have ridden the same area or route a few dozen times I start to remember, but it really does take quite a few trips before it starts to sink in. 

We started this ride a little before lunch time and we decided to head to Hamlin Pub for lunch.  I know I have said this many times, but it is worth repeating, you just can't go wrong with Hamlin Pub.  All the meals are good and the service is always fantastic.  Since we are regulars at the Pub they treat us well.  We had a nice lunch and spent a few minutes watching some of their many flat screen TVs located through out the place. 

After lunch we got back on our bikes and rode pretty much straight home.  Nothing special happened on the way home.  Now that Pete has his air horn mounted to his bike he has been using it at opportune moments and surprisingly enough he hasn't used it a few times when he had the chance to startle someone.  He keeps threatening to use it on the trail the next time we come across a horse rider.  I keep telling Pete that using his air horn around a horse is not a good idea, I hope he is just joking.  A lot of time the horse riders turn out to be mounted police and you can't tell right away a mounted police from a casual horse rider.  It would make for a good story if Pete got arrested for blowing his air horn at a mounted police.  I would probably have to get his bike out after it was impounded and I would assume Elaine would get Pete bailed out.  I think I would ask Pete to stay in jail just one night so we would have some additional material for an interesting story. 

We haven't gone north on paint creek trail (PCT) for a long time, I think it is time to plan a ride to Lake Orion on the trail.  There is an event planned for June 3, 2006 near the old Paint Creek Cider Mill.  See the following excerpt of an email I received from  Kristen Myers, Trailways Coordinator, Paint Creek Trailways Commission for information on the event and also some general information about the trail.

I think the event on June 3 sounds fun, I am planning to ride to this event, so any one that wants to join me is welcome.  Tom and Barry, this would be a good day to come out for a ride.

I guess I got a little off track, but I was pretty much done with the story from this ride anyhow.  Following are the statistics from this ride, 17.0 total miles, 22.5 max mph, 1 hour and 32 minutes time moving on bikes and an even 11.0 average mph, another decent paced ride.
David Lindquist