Sunday June 17, 2007 my youngest son Max’s little league baseball team was in the playoffs and he had a game scheduled for this day at Hart Middle School at noon.  Pete and talked the day before about this game and Pete expressed some interest in watching the game, so we decided to ride our bikes to the game. 

This day was also father’s day and what better way for a father to spend the day other than a bike ride to watch his son play the grand old game of baseball.  I rode over to pick up Pete and was surprised to find out that Pete’s son Paul was also planning to ride with us.  I warned Paul that these games sometimes go long, real long.  Paul said he didn’t mind and was still willing to go with us. 

Hart Middle School is located right across from Stoney Creek High School which is just east of Rochester Road and north of Tienken.  This area is relatively close so it was going to be a short ride.  We took Dutton to the Paint Creek Trail (PCT) and went south on the trail to Tienken and then went straight east on Tienken the rest of the way.  I forgot how easily we can get to this area on our bikes.  As it turned out I actually showed up a little earlier than I needed at Pete’s house.  We were planning to stop and buy carryout lunch at the new Quizzno’s that just recently opened in the new shopping center on the south east corner of Rochester and Tienken. 

Diane was working this morning so she was going to drive up to the game after she got home and changed.  I got a few extra water bottles and put them into the cooler bag we keep in the back of the van so they would be ready when Diane got home.  I also got Jonathan to drive Max to the game so I wouldn’t have to rush him there and then race home to get on my bike and ride over to Pete’s in time to give us enough time to stop for lunch and still get to the game on time. 

This was a really sunny and hot day.  It was one of these days where you start sweating as soon as you walk outside.  It had to be in the low to mid 90s without any cloud cover what so ever.  I had already decided to use an umbrella as soon as Diane showed up for the game. 

Pete, Paul and I made the easy ride to Quizzno’s without any problem.  From Pete’s house this is a short ride, only 3 to 3 ½ miles at the most.  Quizzno’s wasn’t busy and we quickly placed our orders and got our lunches and in no time we were back on our bikes for the short ride to the ball diamond.  We brought extra drinks so our burrito baskets we completely full by the time we put in our recently purchased subs for lunch.  

We rode our bikes right up to the field where Max was playing.  We obviously didn’t bring any lawn chairs with us, so we rode over to the bleachers down the first base line.  We parked our bikes behind the bleachers and climbed to the top row hoping for a little breeze on this hot day.  Pete was thinking before he left his house and he brought a small bottle of sun screen.  I had already lathered up pretty good before I left my house that morning, but I could tell this was going to be one of those days where the sun is very powerful.  I took some of Pete’s sunscreen and put on a little more just to be safe. 

We got to the game a little early.  Max’s team was out taking infield practice when we sat down.  It didn’t take long for Pete to bellow out a few words of encouragement to Max.  Now officially everyone at both fields knew there was a kid named Max playing.  I don’t think Pete’s screaming out Max’s name bothered him too much because Max looked over smiled and waved to us.  I could see there were kids on Max’s team looking over and asking who was yelling out his name.  I guess the good thing about getting to the game early is that Pete got his screaming out of his system before the game started. 

We ate our subs as we sat in the bleachers watching the players get ready for the start of the game.  As I warned Paul the game was very slow in progressing.  They spent too much time between innings.  These games could be much quicker if the players hustled on and off the field and they cut down on the amount of infield practice between innings.  You would think we were waiting for TV commercials or something. 

Diane called to find out if the game started.  I told her it had and Max didn’t start so she didn’t need to hurry.  Well it turns out Max only sat out the first inning and was in the game the next inning and Diane missed Max getting a hit in his first at bat.  Pete asked me to ask Diane to bring some snacks, I did relay the snack request message.  Diane and Melissa showed up a few minutes later.  I went to the van to help carry the extra water bottles, lawn chairs and umbrellas back to the field.  I was glad to get an umbrella, I used it when I went back to sit in the bleachers with Pete and Paul.  I offered them an umbrella as well, but they declined.  They didn’t decline the bag of snacks that Diane brought.  Paul had a small bag of cookies I think and Pete pretty much ate everything else.  Luckily Pete didn’t notice Diane’s lunch she had brought in the bottom of the bag or he may have eaten that as well, then we would have had big trouble. 

It ended up being a close game but Max’s team pulled it out in the last inning.  At the end of the game Max’s coach asked his team to invite their Dads on to the field.  They lined us up on the third base line and then the coach gave each kid a red rose.  Then one at a time each kid walked out to give their Dad a hug and give them the rose.  I told the Dad I was standing next to that this was a really nice gesture, but I would rather have a candy bar instead of a rose.  I gave my rose to Diane and then joined up with Pete and Paul for our ride home.  When I looked down the line of Dads I noticed I was the only one holding a bicycle helmet. 

Pete wanted to stop for a frozen drink and use the rest room at the Speedway gas station at the corner of Tienken and Rochester.  Paul didn’t stop with us he just kept riding straight home. We made the short ride back to Pete’s house easily without incident.   

When we got to Pete’s house we jumped in their pool to cool off.  I only hung around in the pool for a little while before I rode the final 2.2 miles back to my house. 

Following are the statistics from this ride 13.2 miles total, 25.5 max speed, 10.3 mph average speed and 1 hour and 17 minutes time moving on bikes.     
David Lindquist