Saturday Sep 8, 2007 Pete and I did a short bike ride with an alternate purpose. 

If you are a regular follower of the bike club you know that Pete and I collect and restore old mechanical pinball machines, specifically models from the early to mid 70’s.  We also like to help out friends who have pinball machines, usually when they need help to solve a tricky problem.  Pete has gotten really good at trouble shooting games and we both enjoy restoring.  Our friend Rick who lives nearby off Crooks Road has a few games in his basement, and we visit Rick every once in a while to help him fix a game.  Rick is a great guy and throws great pinball parties.  Rick really appreciates our help and he always invites us to his parties. 

Recently Rick sold a Flipper Clown pinball machine to someone at Pete’s work.  Apparently Pete told this person that he would make sure the game was in good working order if he bought it from Rick.  So, Rick and Pete had an agreement that Pete would come over a couple times and help get the machine working good.  This day was one of the days Pete agreed to go over to Rick’s and work on the game.  Pete asked if I wanted to join him and we would go over on our bikes to get in a short ride as well.  Sounded like a good idea so I told Pete count me in.  One of the good things about Rick is he has a large assortment of spare parts and a great set of tools, so we don’t need to worry about bringing our pinball tool boxes on our bike.  We actually joke with Rick about his spare part collection, he has the most pinball spare parts of anyone we know. 

Pete and I met at Brewster school early in the morning, I think it was around 8:00 am or shortly after if I remember correctly.  It is a short ride to Rick’s house, about 5 miles from the school.  We got there quickly and Rick was ready for us.  We worked for a couple hours.  We replaced parts and rebuilt all the pop bumpers on the game.  We also did a few other things and even did some cleaning of parts and playfield.  Once we reached our own designated time limit it was time to leave.  We made good progress, but Pete will have to schedule another visit to finish up a few remaining items. 

The ride home was direct and even though it was the same distance it was harder because it was slightly up hill.  We didn’t stop anywhere for anything to eat on this ride which is really rare for one of our bike rides.   

It was a little cool when we started out in the morning, but by the time we headed home the temperature had warmed up to the point where I didn’t need the windbreaker that I had worn earlier as my outer layer. I put the windbreaker in my burrito basket for the ride home. 

Following are the ride statistics from this day.  11.5 miles total, 21.5 mph max speed, average speed 10.3 mph with time on bikes of 1 hour and 6 minutes.
David Lindquist