On Sunday December 12, 2004 I had the pleasure of doing an early morning breakfast ride with Pete and Rich.  Yes, I did say Rich.  Rich has been very busy over the past few months and this was the first ride Rich has done with the club in quite a while, welcome back Rich.

Pete and I both needed to be back by 10:30 am so we planned to start out early.  We intended to ride to the Greek Island for breakfast and ride a bit more after we ate.  We figured if we started out around 7:45 am it would give us plenty of time to get in a nice ride and still be home by 10:30 for our other commitments.  Pete and I planned to meet at Brewster at 7:45 am.  I was leaving my house when Pete called to say he was running a few minutes late.  I just kept going past Brewster planning to meet him somewhere between his house and the original scheduled meeting location.  I was almost to Pete’s house when I saw him heading toward me when I received a call from Rich.  I was glad to hear that Rich wanted to join us.  I told Rich and that Pete and I would just head back to Brewster and meet him there.

I haven’t mentioned the weather yet.  It was snowing when I opened the garage door.  There was maybe an inch on the ground when I started out, and it was coming down at a steady pace.  The temperature was right around 30°F so it was sort of a wet snow.  The flakes were the small fine type that tend to pile up quickly.  I knew it was going to be a fun ride going through the snow.  Diane was heading out for her first day of her new job and we were both in the garage when I opened the door.  She took one look out side and said are you still going to ride in this snow.  I replied yes, aren’t I lucky.  She just shook her head and mumbled something about me being a geek.  If enjoying bike rides no matter what the weather is the definition of a geek, then I guess I qualify.  There was something special about riding in the snow last year that I am actually looking forward to doing it again this winter.  In addition to using my thin hood/hat I also broke out my visor cogs.  Having experienced riding in the cold and snow last year I think I have a pretty good handle on how to dress and what to wear to be comfortable.

Pete and I met Rich at Brewster and the three of us took off headed for the Greek Island.  This is the first experience for me riding my Trek in the snow.  This bike has thinner tires than what I had before and they have a tendency to slide a bit easier.  After just a few minutes I was getting the hang of how fast I could go around corners and how to compensate while sliding.  Again, once you get used to riding in the snow it really isn’t that difficult.  

On the way to the restaurant Pete made the proclamation that he was going to establish a new record for all us bike club members to shoot for in the future.  Pete knew a downhill was coming up on one of the side streets and he announced he was going to go for a speed record in snow.  I can’t remember all the qualifying elements Pete attached to this record, but I will attempt to list the ones I can remember.  1.) at least 2 inches of snow on the ground in a natural state.  2.) With glasses or goggles fully fogged or snow covered greatly inhibiting vision.  3.) With snow currently falling.  Before Pete took off he understood the danger involved in what he was about to attempt.  He yelled something else back to Rich and I related to, “If I don’t make it …”   I couldn’t make out exactly what he said, but I think it was something along the lines of, “If I don’t make it, Dave you can take your pick of any of my pinball machines”.  I thought that was an awful nice gesture for Pete to be thinking about giving me his pinball collection if he somehow didn’t make it through this foolish speed ride on the snow covered streets.  Well, I am on one hand happy to report that Pete did not fall and he made his attempt without incident.  He ended up going 23.7 mph, which might not sound real fast, but let me tell you under those conditions it is actually quite impressive.  Even though on this day I held back and did not ride with Pete at these speeds I do plan to destroy this record in the near future.

Shortly after Pete’s speed ride we arrived at the Greek Island and the three of us all had the breakfast special, with two diet cokes and one regular.  We had a good time at breakfast, it was good to catch up with Rich.  Rich has recently completed a rather extensive safety course in preparation for some day becoming one of those ski patrol safety guys.  Pete noticed the sign on the wall for the breakfast special stated Saturday through Sunday.  This really bothered Pete, he asked the waitress if we could have the breakfast special today, she told us yes.  Then Pete asked her what day you couldn’t have the special.  She looked confused and Pete tried to explain to her that Saturday through Sunday was actually everyday and why didn’t the sign just say everyday.  I could see this conversation was going no where so I finally just started ordering my meal to change the subject.  When we arrived there was only one other customer in the  restaurant, so we got our meals very quickly.   The food was good and after relaxing for a while it was time to leave.

Originally we planned to ride further before heading home, but with the snow still coming down and about two and a half inches on the ground we decided to head straight home.  Riding in the snow is always a bit more of a workout than normal.  I took a few pictures with my camera phone and I will post them at the bottom of this page.  On the way home we were riding past Adams high school and there were a few large orange cones in the parking lot.  Rich had the idea of weaving in and out of the cones as we rode through the lot, kind of like an obstacle course.  It was fun trying to maneuver our bikes around the cones while at the same time not falling due to our tires sliding in the snow while making tight turns.  We all did quite well with the cones, but Rich had the misfortune of running into a curb that was hidden due to the snow.  Rich took a tumble, but he got right back up without any major injuries.

Pete stopped by my house before heading home to pick up a pinball thumper bumper top that I had restored the painted graphic.  Pete and I had recently worked on a pinball machine that he is getting ready to move out from his house.  The day before Pete and I went to a game room auction held in Lapeer this time every year.  We didn’t end up buying anything, but they had a really cool moose head that I was dying to bid on.  We didn’t stick around long enough to get a chance to bid on the moose head.  Pete did take a picture of me and the moose head and it is posted below as well.

Following are the statistics from this ride; 10.3 total miles, 18.2 max mph (Pete’s new snow max speed 23.7 mph), 8.2 average mph and 1 hour 15 minutes total time moving on bikes.

Thanks for checking in.

David Lindquist