Sunday March 26, 2006 was a pleasant sunny day.  It was still cool outside, but darn near perfect for a bike ride.  Bob was thinking about setting up a website for his business and was considering paying someone to set it up and maintain it for a monthly fee.  Pete is really good with websites and with the experience I have gained maintaining the Rochester Hills PCT Bike and Hike club website I’m no slouch either.  We offered to help Bob set up his website and recommended a good service provider. 

During one of our recent discussions with the manager at Hamlin Pub we found out they have wireless internet at the Pub.  We planned to bring one of Pete’s laptop computers and actually design Bob’s website while eating lunch at the Hamlin Pub, which is exactly what we did. 

Pete put his old laptop into a backpack and wore the backpack under his jacket as we road to the Pub.  You almost couldn’t tell he had a backpack under his jacket.  See below for the pictures I took this day with my phone camera. 

We got to the Pub before it was open.  The front door was locked so we went to the back door and just walked in like we owned the place.  The waitresses were still cleaning tables and putting out the trays at each table in preparation for the day’s business.  They looked funny at us as we walked in and finally they said they weren’t open yet.  Bob had gone directly into the bathroom and was still in there when Pete and I walked out the back door.  Before Bob came back out he found the manager and asked if we could hang out if we stayed out of the way.  They are very nice to us at the Pub and because we are regulars they let us sit at the bar and drink diet coke while they got the tables ready. 

Once the tables were ready we took one in a corner near an electrical outlet so that Pete could plug in his laptop.  In just a couple minutes the computer was up and running and we were designing Bob’s website.  I had email the links to a few similar websites that I thought would give us some good ideas of what to do and maybe what not to do when designing Bob’s website.  It was a lot of work and it took a couple hours but by the time we left the Pub we had a great start on the web site.  It turned out to be a real productive lunch. 

We knew we were going to be at the Pub for a while, so Pete decided early on that he was going to try and break the club record for most pops at one lunch.  Bob held the previous record of 8 set during the park to park ride last year.  This day Pete drank a total of 10 which was quite a feat.  Again, we estimate the pops at the Pub to be about 16 oz each since they come in the large plastic cups.  Doing the simple math that is 160 oz of diet coke, or 1.25 gallons or 4.75 liters.  I drank two and a half cups myself which was filling enough.  I can’t imagine drinking a gallon and a quarter.  Our waitress couldn’t believe how many times she had to refill Pete’s cup.  Once Pete finished his ninth cup I told him he could stop now that he was the record holder.  Pete told me he wanted to drink one more just to make an even ten and also make it harder for the next person when they try to break the record.  What I don’t think Pete realizes is no one else is going to try and break his record.  Pete drank the number ten pop amazingly fast and as he slammed the empty cup on the table he yelled out, “Beat that Tom.”  I almost forgot about Tom, I guess Tom might try to break this record.  Pete is still trying to get Tom to make another attempt at the raw egg record.  

The ride home was enjoyable.  We had to make a strategic stop at Wendy’s which is about the half way point for Pete to make a rest stop.  At one point when I was riding next to Pete I think I could hear the diet coke swishing around in his stomach.  

Following are the statistics from this ride, 19.2 miles total, 24.0 max mph, 1 hour and 46 min time on bikes and 10.8 average mph.
David Lindquist