Friday September 1, 2006 Pete and I both took vacation days from our respective places of employment to do a long bike ride.  And when I say a long ride I mean a very long ride.  We were planning to do our second century (100 mile) ride.  This is the ride that we had originally thought of doing over night.  I was having serious second thoughts about doing a century ride over night.  I was concerned about safety and fatigue.  Pete still thought it was a good idea, but he is the one that changed it to a morning ride when he remembered he had a softball game that Thursday evening.  Gary was planning to do this century ride with us and being that Gary is his own boss he was able to get the day off and he did join us. 

So it was the three of us; Pete, Gary and me starting out bright and early on this adventure.  A 100 mile bike ride takes so long and covers such a large area that it is definitely an adventure.  We started out early with the sun just rising and the air temperature still cool.  Traffic is busy as people are heading to work.  We proceed through mid day with sunshine and cloudy periods, and traffic tapers off during this mid day period before the big rush to get back home.  The temperature warms up some, but it never really got hot this late into the year.  And finally as our bodies are tiring out from many hours of steady pedaling the day is also winding down and we finish about the same time dusk is settling in and sunset is right around the corner.  It seems funny to think we are basically out riding our bikes the entire time most people are going to work, spend their entire day at work doing their jobs and then get back in their cars for the drive back home.  On this day we started right at 7:00 am from my house and we finished 15 seconds before 7:00 pm back at my house.  So, we were out on this adventure for about 12 full hours. 

Gary drove over and picked up Pete and then the two of them drove over with their bikes in Gary’s truck to meet me at my house, our official starting point.  I was really glad to see that Gary was joining us on this ride.  It is always fun to have additional people.  On our last century ride Pete and I spent a fair amount of the ride down in the Royal Oak area and Gary joined us for a good percentage of the ride in that area.  I was surprised when they actually showed up on time at my house at 6:45 am.  I am so used to everyone being late that I wasn’t ready when they arrived on time and they actually had to wait a few minutes for me before we took off. 

I went out the night before and bought Gatorade and snack bars to take with me.  I was in a rush to get ready once they showed up on time that I forgot to bring my snack bars, but I did remember to bring a couple of the Gatorades.  I was better prepared for this century ride than the last one.  I didn’t drink as frequently as I should have on the last ride, this time I vowed not to make this same mistake.  I even put a bottle of Gatorade on my night stand and drank it in the middle of the night to start the hydration process early.  I continued to drink water and Gatorade quite often during the ride.  I drank so much I had to make multiple rest stops more often than normal.  Even though these frequent rest stops were a bit annoying to Pete, it was still the right thing to do.  I stayed properly hydrated which was a big help with keeping my leg muscles functioning. 

Once we left my house we took various side streets south and east until we got to the Macomb Orchard Trail (MOT).  We rode the MOT all the way to its paved end near 29 Mile Road and Van Dyke.  We stopped at the party store at the end of the trail and I purchased the same bonus gallon of drinking water that Pete had gotten the last time we visited this store.  We all filled up our water containers and we continued the ride.  We went back part way on the MOT and got off near Jason’s house and rode down his street on our way to Stoney Creek.  We wanted to include the 6.2 mile circle path around the lake in Stoney as part of our ride.  Pete was out front riding by himself as he tends to do and Gary and I were riding side by side talking when I spotted a group of wild turkey off to our left.  Gary and I both stopped and I pointed out the turkey Gary.  I think it is kind of cool to see wild turkey just walking around.  This prompted Gary to tell me how good turkey is when you cook it by the deep fry method.  I haven’t had the opportunity to taste deep fried turkey, but based on Gary’s explanation I am looking forward to it some day.  Apparently Gary has a large outdoor deep fryer that can hold an entire turkey and he has done this a few times. 

Once Pete looked back and didn’t see us behind him he stopped and waited for us.  As we caught back up we told him we stopped to watch some wild turkey.  Shortly after we started riding around the lake again we saw a sign saying the road and path was closed ahead and violators would be ticketed.  We kept riding on until we got a little further along and saw another bigger sign with the same warning.  Knowing the reputation of the security at the Metro Park we didn’t want to take any chances of being delayed so we turned around and headed back where we came from.  We were better than half way around the lake when we turned around so we ended up actually riding more in this area than originally planned, but no big deal since we were going to be riding all day long anyhow.   

Pete went to  www.gmap-pedometer.com  web site and mapped out our entire route from this day.  So if you are really bored and want to see in detail our entire route feel free to check out this link. 

Having done enough riding at Stoney we exited the park and we went south-east on Shelby.  We cut over to Van Dyke Road to Utica where we took this road south-east until we got to 16 Mile Road.  Our plan was to take 16 Mile Road all the way to the end out at Metro Beach and ride out to the point before heading back.  16 Mile Road has a bike path the whole way so this is actually a nice route to do on a bike.  We met a friend of Pete's from work near Groesbeck..  Pete's friend is also named Pete and his wife Lori and son Dylan.  The whole family was going to ride with us to Metro Beach.  Since they rode over ten miles with us they automatically become members of the Rochester Hills Bicycle Club.  Welcome to our latest new members Pete and Lori.  Dylan is just a young kid, but quite the trooper.  He never complained the whole time, at least I never noticed him complaining.  A long bike ride with a bunch of adults probably isn’t a whole lot of fun for a little kid, but Dylan did great.  But, since technically Dylan was on half a bike attached to his Dad’s bike and pedaling was optional, he does not qualify for membership to the club, like he really cares.  I also want to mention that Dylan appeared to be a Michigan (UofM) fan based on what he was wearing, nothing wrong with that. 

A few miles before Metro Beach we stopped at a Subway to get lunch.  We all got subs to go and we took them with us for a picnic lunch once we got out to the point.  It was only a few miles before we arrived at Metro beach.  We rode on the path out to the point and stopped at a picnic table for lunch.  It was a little windy and cooler out by the water, but still a nice place to take a break and eat our subs.  My legs were getting tired so it was a good time for a rest.  We even sat around for a short time after we were done eating just to allow our bodies a little more time to recover.   

Gary was doing outstanding keeping up with me and Pete.  Gary had a point around 32 miles where his body was sending him signals questioning what he was doing.  I also had a point around 45 miles where my legs got a little sore and I had a short stretch where I had to slow down to allow my legs to recover.  This was almost the same point in my last century ride where I actually hit the wall much harder.  This time it wasn’t as bad and I think the reason it was better this time was because of my effort to stay hydrated.  Once Gary and I both got past our personal physical tests we both did quite well for the rest of the ride.  As usual Pete never did have any problems, at least none that he expressed to me. 

After our short rest stop at Metro Beach it was time to start riding again.  Pete, Lori and Dylan stayed to do some putt-putt golf so we parted company at this point.  It was just the three of us again for the rest of the ride.  We rode the long stretch on the bike path along 16 Mile Road west this time heading back toward home.  We deviated a little getting off the main road and riding through some side streets for a short ways.   

Shortly after we crossed Van Dyke we were riding on a service portion of 16 Mile Road and at one point I had to ride down a curb to get to the other side of the road when the bracket holding my burrito basket broke.  The impact from going down the curb was just enough force to snap the collar type clamp that holds the bracket tight.  It didn’t come all the way off, but it was broken enough so that it dropped down and was dragging on my rear tire.  There was no way to fix this problem.  All I could do was swing the whole thing around so that it was now in front of me resting on the bike frame center bar between my legs.  This was a very uncomfortable position to have to ride, but I didn’t see any other options.  I rode this way for a couple miles before Gary came up with a solution when we made a stop.  We stopped for a minute to get a drink when Gary looked at my burrito basket and then pointed at the empty rack on the back of his bike.  At first I didn’t know what Gary was trying to tell me.  He just kept pointing at his empty rack and making faces at me.  Finally it dawned on me that he was showing me his rack, implying I could un-strap the basket from my broken rack and then strap it to his rack for the remainder of the ride.  This was a great idea and it allowed me to ride normal again, before I was forced to ride kind of bow-legged to clear the basket between my legs.  I just threw away my broken rack in the next dumpster we came across.    

We were at the 78 mile mark when my burrito basket rack broke.  Only 22 miles to go which might not sound like a lot unless you have just finished 78 miles, then 22 miles sounds like a lot.  We also had in the back of our minds that the last stretch home would include a fair amount of hills making the final stretch a real test of mind and body.  

We were planning to ride to the Hamlin Pub for dinner and calling our wives to come out and join us when Pete got a phone call requiring him to get home a earlier than planned, so we skipped Hamlin Pub which turned out fine.   

We continued on west and we were calculating all the way how far away we were to make sure we hit at least 100 miles near my house.  We ended up on Squirrel Road in Auburn Hills because crossing M-59 on Squirrel is safe and easy.  As we rode north on Squirrel Gary kept asking me how many hills were left.  I think we were reaching the limit for Gary.  Gary was still doing a great job keeping up, but I think he was concerned the hills might do him in at the end.  At one point I told Gary there were only four big hills remaining which I think helped his mental attitude.  As we rode toward Oakland University and we were just starting to ride up a small hill Gary asked me if this was one of the four hills, I told him no this was just a slight incline.  Now his metal attitude dropped a little when he asked me how many slight inclines were left.  We were all doing good and Gary was fighting through his concern of the hills and doing outstanding as well.   

As we got past the last big hills and turned the corner onto Dutton Pete checked the time and noticed it was a few minutes before 7:00 pm.  Looking at my speedometer I knew we were going to be very close to hitting 100 miles when we got to my house, so we were no longer concerned about the distance.  Our new goal was to finish before 7:00 pm which would mean we would complete the ride in under 12 hours from start to finish.  As we hit the street leading into my subdivision we were about 0.6 miles from my house.  Pete and I both broke out into a sprint in an attempt to finish before 7:00 pm.  Gary didn’t see the need to sprint this final short distance so he just kept pedaling at a nice pace.  Pete and I were racing through the sub until we got to my house.  Pete checked the time and we pulled into the driveway 15 seconds before 7:00 and I checked the odometer and we were at 100.3 miles.  Mission accomplished. 

Overall it was another long day and a major accomplishment for all three of us.  We sat out on the deck off the back of my house and Max brought each of us a can of beer to drink in celebration.  Pete and Gary relaxed a few minutes before loading their bikes back into Gary’s van.  I only took a couple pictures with my phone during this day, I will post the pictures at the bottom of this page.  

Following are the statistics from the ride, 100.3 miles total, 28.0 max mph, 9 hours and 5 minutes time on bikes and 11.0 average mph.
David Lindquist