This weekend the club did two rides.  One on Saturday August 21, 2004 and a second on Sunday August 22, 2004. 

On Saturday Bob, Rich and I attended.  It was around lunch time and Bob had ridden over to my house to see if I wanted to do an easy ride somewhere to get lunch.  Not very often do I turn down an opportunity to ride, and this occasion was no different.  Again, the weather was perfect, even a bit cool for mid August.  Bob wanted to get a light jacket for the ride, so we headed back over to his house.  We noticed Rich out mowing his lawn and decided we should at least stop by and ask Rich if he wanted to go.  Rich hadn’t ridden with the club in while and he was up for the ride and lunch.  He just wanted to finish a section of his lawn and told us he would be ready in about 20 minutes.  Bob took this opportunity to whip up a salad he was in charge of bringing to a get together that night.  I just hung around Bob’s house watching the Olympics on TV while he made the salad.

Rich has been busy this summer and he just recently got back from a trip with the Boy Scouts to Isle Royale National Park in northern Lake Superior.  Sounds like they had a good time even though they had a few cold days and a few days of rain.  They also had some nights with clear sky, which must be a beautiful sight from that part of the world. 

With no particular destination in mind the three of us headed out of our neighborhood in search for somewhere to each lunch.  I suggested the Penn Station sub place and that is where we headed.  We had a nice ride cutting through side streets to get to Second Street where Penn Station is located on Rochester Road.  The subs at this place are very good, I prefer them over Quiznos.  After lunch we again made a nice easy ride home.  The total distance for this ride was about 13 miles. 

I celebrated a birthday this past week, and I was lucky enough to get a few bicycle related presents from friends and family.  One of my gifts was a new Cat Eye speedometer that I installed onto my most recent new bike.  This speedometer gives all the same pertinent information as the old one that I lost out at Addison Oaks Park when it vibrated out of its holder.  A nice feature of this Cat Eye device is it actually snaps into place into its holder, so hopefully it will be much more difficult for it to fall out.  I will again start reporting the statistics from each of our rides.

On Sunday August 22, 2004 we decide to do a morning ride.  Bob and I were the only ones available this day.  Again we didn’t have any specific plans in mind.  And, again the weather was perfect in the low 60s when we started and in the mid 70s when we finished.  The sun was out in force making it feel warmer that the actual temperature.  We decided to head north this day and Bob wanted to check out Gunn Road east of Adams.  Once we were on Gunn I was reminded this was the way we took to Addison Oaks, a ride a while back that Bob did not attend.  After talking about it we decided to follow that same route back to Addison Oaks.  We took Gunn all the way to Orion Road and then went left on Orion.  We had to ride in the street on Orion since there aren’t any bike paths.  Traffic was light and even though we avoid the street when ever possible, it wasn’t bad.  We were only on Orion a short distance until we got to Lake George Road.  It is a pretty steep uphill on Orion before you get to Lake George.  We turned right on Lake George and followed it for a few miles.  The majority of this road is dirt and there are quite a few ups and downs on this road as well.  Once we got to Stony Creek Road we changed out plan again.  We decided since there isn’t anywhere to eat at Addison Oaks we should head over to Lake Orion and we turned left on Stony Creek Road.  Again, due to the lack of bike paths we had to ride in the street, but this road has a nice 3 ½ foot of extra road surface to the right of the white line on the right side of the lane on the west bound direction.  It was easy to ride in this little extra area of the street and not have to worry about being in the way as cars passed by.  We stayed on this road until we came into downtown Lake Orion.  We were going to stop in at CJ Village Café, but it was too crowded.  We notice a place across the street we had never tried before, Poppyseed Deli & Coffee.  We went into the Poppyseed and were pleasantly surprised to find they have a nice selection at reasonable prices.  I got a breakfast sandwich that consisted of honey ham, scrambled egg and mild cheddar cheese on a croissant, it was very tasty.  Bob ordered a deli sandwich; turkey, mild cheddar with lettuce and tomato on French bread.  The French bread was thick and fresh and Bob’s sandwich was very good as well.  They have a few tables outside and that is where we sat while we ate.  Apparently there was a motorcycle poker run happening in town, many nice motorcycles rode past as we ate our sandwiches.

Still very little progress on the rebuilding of the Sagebrush Cantina.  It appears nothing has happened since they cleaned up the area, no evidence of new structure.  I think it will still be a while before it reopens.  I had heard rumor that it was going to reopen in November 2004, I don’t think this is possible from where it currently stands.

After lunch we took the trail back home.  Since soccer season is coming up and Bob and I have decided to coach our sons, Mark and Jonathan, RYSL team again, we decided to go check out some of the soccer fields for potential locations for practice.  We stayed on the PCT to Rochester Park and ended up riding over to McGregor Elementary school.  The field looked good and I think we will try to sign up for this location.  From here we rode back past the Village Shopping Center on Adams and stopped there for a rest.  Bob’s sandwich was too big to finish earlier and he put half in his burrito basket when we left the Poppyseed.  We split the leftover half a sandwich while taking a rest at the Village.  From here it is just a short two miles home.

Following are the statistics from this ride; average speed 10.1 mph, maximum speed 25.5 mph, total distance 27.8 miles for a total riding time of 2 hours and 45 minutes. 

Thanks for checking in.

David Lindquist