This weekend we rode on Sunday, and we had two new members participate.  It is always nice to have new members, and one of them even broke the gender barrier.  Previously only males have been part of this club, not by intention.  This week we had our first ever female join us on the bike ride.  Bob’s wife Kathy rode with us on the outward half of our trip, and that is enough to officially become a Rochester Hills PCT Bicycle Club member, congratulations and welcome Kathy.  The other new member is my brother Tom.  We had been trying to get Tom to come out and join us for a long time and he finally rode with us.  So, welcome Tom our second new member to join this week.  I am going to have to check the supply of new member gift packages to make sure we have enough to give to each of these new members. 

We rode on Sunday November 28, 2004, the last day of a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  It was a cool and windy day.  The temperature was in the high 30’s when we started and it didn’t get much above 42 ° F by the time we finished.  The wind which was very strong, I estimate gusts around 40 to 45 mph earlier in the morning.  Luckily the wind tapered off a bit and wasn’t nearly as strong in the afternoon.  It was cloudy and we only saw glimpses of the sun for short periods of time.  At least we didn’t get rained on, but a couple times it felt like we might get a little freezing rain or even snow.  Earlier in the week we got about three inches of snow by my house.  When we went to Carol and Barry’s for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday I was surprised to see how little snow there was compared to my house.  The day before, Saturday November 27, I took my son Jonathan and Bob’s son Mark to a soccer referee recertification class that lasted six hours.  These recertification classes can be quite boring and difficult to it through.  So, compared to what I did the day before just being outside was a major improvement and being able to ride my bike made it even better.  Over all it was a perfect day for a bike ride. 

Kathy normally works on Sunday and being home this weekend apparently Bob talked her into joining us for the ride.  The ride to Hamlin Pub is a majority of downhill and this day the wind was coming out of the west, so it was going to be a much more difficult ride on the way home than the ride there.  Bob phoned me and told me Kathy was going to ride with us, but only one way.  He was planning to drive his van to the Hamlin Pub with his bike on the bike rack.  Once at the Pub he was going to leave his van there and ride home so that once he and Kathy finished lunch they could take the van back home.  This sounded like a smart idea for a new member on a day like today.  I told Bob I would go with him if he picked me up and we could ride back together.  I figured this would be a great way to get in a few extra miles.  Even though it is only about 8 miles from my house to the Hamlin Pub it was a tough one way ride after dropping off the van.  Bob and I rode through that strong early wind up hill all the way home.  We got back home around 10:15 am in plenty of time to be ready for the planned arrival time of 10:30 am of Tom and hopefully Barry.  Barry was a bit under the weather so he didn’t come out with Tom, and Tom was running a few minute late. 

Tom’s tires were low on air so I got my little electric air pump out and ready for when he arrived.  Tom has a nice bike rack similar to Bob’s.  Once Tom took his bike off the rack and wheeled it over to my air pump I noticed the kickstand was holding the bike too upright.  I figured I could fix this easily enough just by bending the bar a little.  Well before I knew it I had snapped the bar of the kickstand right off.  A clean break, no way to fix it either, it was trash.  So much for my bright idea of fixing his kickstand.  I knew I had an extra kickstand, but with Bob, Kathy and Pete waiting for us I figured we should install a replacement after the ride.  After quickly putting air in Tom’s tires we were officially on our way.  First stop was Bob’s house where we picked up Kathy and Bob.  I had to take a couple pictures of Kathy, being our first female member, with my camera phone.  I called Pete before I left my house and told him to meet us at Brewster School.  Bob and Kathy were ready when Tom and I got there so without delay the four of us were on our way to meet Pete. 

Pete was circling around the parking lot when we pulled up.  We told everyone of our destination of Hamlin Pub and set off.  It was nice to have a group of five people riding.  One of the places Bob and I thought would be interesting to ride through for the new members was the Mount Avon Cemetery.  Pete didn’t think this was a good idea, but he was out numbered and he had to come along.  Pete was concerned that this route was going to force us to ride up the hill on Rochester Road and this might be too much for our new members.  At the cemetery we paused to check out a few of the older grave stones and look at the statue of Billy Yank.  Pete found a grave stone with the name “Butts” and decided this was a good photo opportunity so Kathy took a picture of the four of us with our butts posed next to the “Butts” grave stone.  I also took a picture of the group in front of the Billy Yank statue.  Pete was right, after going through the cemetery the only logical way to continue on to the Pub was up Rochester Road.  So I have to give Pete credit for having the interest of our new members at heart.  Even though it was a bit tough everyone eventually made it up the hill and we were on our way to the Pub.   

Apparently on the ride Kathy took a minor fall and skinned her knee.  I didn’t even realize that Kathy had fallen until later in the day when she and Bob were over.  Kathy was a good sport and knowing how this club works she even volunteered to have her injury photographed.  A while back Steve took a nasty fall and scrapped up his knee in addition to his hand, see the 6/13/2004 story if you want to refresh your memory on Steve’s mishap.  Steve did a nice job documenting his injury and Kathy wanted to follow Steve’s lead and share her injury with everyone, see a picture at the end of this story. 

The Hamlin Pub was running a special of burger, fries and beer for a reasonable price.  Everyone ordered the special, but only Pete and Tom had a beer.  Bob and I had Diet Coke and I do know what Kathy had to drink, she was sitting at the other end of the table and I guess I didn’t pay attention.  I did remember the burger orders; Kathy had sautéed onions on hers, Bob had cheddar cheese and Tom, Pete and I had swiss cheese on our burgers.  As usual we still haven’t had a bad meal at this place, the burgers were great.  We had a good time just relaxing eating lunch.  We were laughing, telling stories and watching football on the big screen TVs.  Since the Lions played on Thursday, this week they weren’t on Sunday.  We really had a good time at lunch.  We missed Barry and Pete decided we should call him by phone and tell him we wished he was with us.  We each took a minute to say hello to Barry and he must have really been feeling bad because he didn’t sound good on the phone.  Hope you are feeling better Barry.  One thing that might make Barry feel better is he still holds the distinction of being the only first time rider of our club that did not have to take a break and walk even a small portion of the ride.  Kathy had to walk a small part of the hill heading south on Rochester Road and Tom needed to stop for a couple of short walking breaks near the end of the ride after leaving Pete’s house.  But, over all both new members should be very proud of their accomplishment, it is not easy riding with a group of finely conditioned bicyclists as us. 

After lunch Bob and Kathy loaded their bikes onto their bike rack and drove home.  Pete, Tom and I put on our gloves, hats and helmets in preparation for the ride home.  I almost forgot to mention, after lunch when we were outside getting ready to start back home someone noticed Pete had a worm stuck to one of his pant legs.  He must have had that worm stuck there since before lunch.  Only Pete would walk around out in public with a worm noticeably stuck to his clothing.  We knew it was going to be a tougher ride home than the one on the way there.  We took a combination of side streets and bike paths along main roads back toward home.  As I mentioned earlier, the wind died down some what from when Bob and I rode back after dropping off the van.  Even with the wind letting up it was still strong enough to give us a good work out going home. 

On the way home we stopped by Pete’s house to show Tom the putting green.  It also gave us the opportunity for a short break before the final 2.2 miles to my house.  Once we got back to my house I now had the task of finding a new kickstand to replace the one I broke on Tom’s bike.  I have three old bikes hanging from the ceiling in my garage that I just can’t seem to throw out.  They come in handy for spare parts occasionally.  I took the kickstand off my old Murray bike, but it didn’t fit on Tom’s.  Next I took off the rear tire type mount kickstand from the Sierra Madre and it mounted fine on Tom’s bike.  He ended up leaving with a better kickstand than he had when he arrived.    

Following are the statistics from this ride.  The entire ride consisted of the one way trip Bob and I did in the morning and then the two way trip there and back in the afternoon.  I am noting the distance of the one way trip and then the afternoon ride, but all other statistics apply to the whole ride.   One way morning ride 7.7 miles, afternoon two way trip 17.5 miles for a total of 25.2 miles.  23.5 max speed even though I know Pete recorded a faster time at some point, 9.4 mph average speed and total moving time on bike of 2 hours and 39 minutes.

Thanks for checking in.

David Lindquist