Monday November 6, 2006 Pete and I both took a vacation day from our jobs to do a  bike ride and also work together on a Bally Old Chicago pinball machine.  Pete had an associate through work, we'll call him Tony, because that was his name.  Tony had been talking to Pete for a while about getting a pinball machine for his finished basement.  Tony even came over to my house one night to look at the games I would consider selling.  Tony really did want any of the games I was willing to sell, but he was interested in my Old Chicago game.  I really didn't want to sell that game, so when Tony asked how much I wanted for it I gave him a pretty high price.  I figured the high price would allow me to keep the game.

Well it turns out Pete found another Old Chicago game from another pinball friend of ours, Carl.  Carl had a Old Chicago game in kind of rough shape he was willing to sell to Pete for a reasonable price.  The plan was for Pete and I to fix up the game together and then split the profit once we sell it to Tony.  We really didn't make much money, but we had a good time hanging out together working on the game.  If you factor in the hours we put into the game our hourly rate would actually be embarrassing.  But, we certainly didn't do it for the money, we did it for the self satisfaction of saving an old worn out pinball machine and restoring it and bringing it back to life.   As part of this pinball project we needed to order some replacement parts from Steve Young in New York.  We figured if we called in our order during lunch of our bike ride then the pinball project could become part of the ride story.  Enough of the pinball project, I'll finish this subject after I write about the ride we did this day.

We started our ride mid-morning.  I know Pete likes to sleep in when he gets a chance so we didn't start out too early on our vacation day.  Pete had some business at the Post Office, so we decided our first stop on this bike ride would be the Post Office near the Library.  We rode one of our regular routes toward downtown Rochester and eventually the Post Office.  Once we got there I waited outside while Pete when in to take care of his business.  While I was waiting another guy rode up on his bike and parked it near me.  Before he went in he stopped to talk to me for a couple minutes.  This guy appeared to be a very serious bike rider.  He had a nice Trek road bike that had retrofitted for commuting.  He had a medium size saddle bag hanging from the handle bars.  He also had larger saddle bags on both sides of his rear tire.  He had quite a bit of storage.  It looked like he rode his bike where ever he needed to go.  He seemed like a hard core bicyclist.  One of our conversations was about my hybrid bike, my Trek 7200.  The serious biker was curious how I liked this style of bike.  I told him for the type and amount of riding I do it was perfect.  He was very curious about my air horn.  I showed him how I mounted it and the fact that it was refillable.  I could see the wheels spinning inside his head, this guy could definitely appreciate the need for a loud horn.  He also looked at the Cateye light and speedometer I also have mounted to my handle bars.  He had the same speedometer and asked how it worked for me.  I told him I was very satisfied with both the light and speedometer. 

Shortly after the serious biker went into the Post Office Pete returned and it was time to continue our ride.  On the way there we agreed to have lunch this day at our favorite place, Hamlin Pub.  So, our next destination was the Hamlin Pub for lunch.  It was close to lunch time and it would take us a few minutes to travel the couple miles south we needed to go to reach the Pub.  We stayed on the sidewalk of Rochester Road all the way to Hamlin Road.

We brought our part supply list of the parts we needed for the Old Chicago pinball game we were fixing.  Like I said above we planned to phone in our order from the Pub.  Pete used his cell phone to call Steve Young's place the Pinball Resource.  The line was busy every time Pete called.  Pete tried two or three times, but could never get through.  Pete  ended up having to place the order later by the internet. 

We ended up having a nice relaxing lunch before the second half of our ride.  On our way home we stopped at the Home Depot on Avon Road.  I can't remember what we needed at the Home Depot, I just remember that we stopped there for something. 

One more stop on the way home.  Pete had an idea to make a computer key board with grass growing out around the keys as a joke for a friend.  We stopped to scoop up some hydro-seed that had been sprayed around the Vietnam Memorial just south of Avon on Livernois.  While Pete was getting his hydro-seed a guy came walking over toward us.  At first I thought this person was going to ask Pete what he was doing and maybe ask us to leave.  But, it turned out to be this guy who seemed like he might be a little slow.  He was asking us about riding our bikes.  He told us he was out of work on disability.  He said he wanted to ride a bike but his balance wasn't too good anymore.  I told him about a new style of bike out now called flat footed bikes.  I figured this would be a perfect bike for someone like this.  I doubt he ever checked into a flat footed bike, I think he was lonely and he just wanted to make conversation with us.  He acted very interested in what I was telling him, I hoped he did get a bike.  I think bike riding is good for everyone.

After Pete got his hydro-seed we headed home.  We split up at our regular spot.  I headed to my house and Pete to his house.  Pete drove over to my house a little while later and we did spent some more time working on the Old Chicago pinball game.  The game ended up turning out great and Tony was very happy with the finished product.  I have to admit we did a nice job and the game really played fantastic.

Following are the statistics from the ride, 17.1 miles total, 22.5 max mph, 1 hour and 35 minutes time on bikes and 10.6 average mph.
David Lindquist