Bike Ride Sunday April 17, 2005
Sunday April 17, 2005 was a perfect day, temperature around 70 by mid afternoon.  It was a bit cloudy without threat of rain and the sun did peak through a couple times.  Without a doubt this was a perfect day for a bike ride.  This week there were four of us that rode.  Joining me were Bob, Pete and Steve.   

I picked up Bob at his house at around 10:50 am and we rode over to Pete’s house just a little after 11:00am.  Next we rode over and picked up Steve at his house.  Our plan this ride was to head north on Paint Creek Trail (PCT) and have lunch somewhere in Lake Orion.  Normally this time of year the trail is questionable for riding.  This spring is starting out very dry and the trail is actually dusty it is so dry, very unusual for this time of year. 

Going down Dutton Road toward the trail was a bumpy ride.  Needless to say Dutton, being a dirt road along this stretch, it was very dry as well.  The road hasn’t been graded in a while and the surface has a severe wash board texture.  It was hard to find a smooth path on Dutton.  Once we got on the trail Bob took off setting a good pace.  I had to pedal hard to catch up to him.  Steve and Pete were close behind.  Watching my speedometer I am sure we averaged over 13 mph on the way to Lake Orion which is a good pace considering the majority of the route is slightly up hill.  There were a fair amount of people out walking, jogging and biking the trail this day, but not over crowed by any means.  There must have been a horse rider or two out before us, even though we didn’t actually see the horses we saw a lot of evidence that they had been there earlier. 

On the way to Lake Orion we decided to eat at the Poppy Seed and Pete called his friend Rick to see if he wanted to meet us for lunch.  Rick lives in the Lake Orion area.  Pete and Steve hadn’t eaten at the Poppy Seed before, but I think after lunch they both agreed with me and Bob that this a good place for a sandwich.  We had fun sitting on the leather couches while we ate our lunch.  Rick did show up just shortly after we started eating and we visited with him for a while.   

I noticed Steve had a new little pouch for holding his camera that was hooked to his belt.  I commented to Steve that it looked like he had a nice new camera case.  Steve told me it was a holster type case.  He then proceeded to tell me how the holster originated from the Cowboy and that everyone still has a part of a Cowboy inside.  He also told me that Cowboys have been around forever.  When I asked him what he meant by forever he told me that scientists have just recently found evidence of Cowboys existence during prehistoric times.  According to Steve apparently archaeologists have found large iron belt buckles dating back into prehistoric times.  Apparently these prehistoric Cowboys were even ahead of the Iron Age and we also are told that dinosaurs were often depicted on the face of these large prehistoric belt buckles. 

We were also laughing at stories Pete and Steve were telling about some jokes they recently played on someone Pete knows from work.  Apparently this guy recently moved into a new house and Pete and Jason helped him move.  Steve dressed up and played the part of the worst new neighbor you could image.  Steve just showed up carrying a paper plate of seven Girl Scout cookies and introduced himself as a neighbor.  He invited himself in and proceeded to insult everyone especially the homeowner while he got in the way helping unload the truck.  Even though I wasn’t there I know Steve well enough I can picture the event as if I saw it first hand.    

Steve did take a few pictures and when he forwards them to me I will post them to share.   

I had a turkey and cheese sandwich on focaccia bread, Bob had the Monster on white bread, Pete had a Dagwood on wheat bread and Steve had an Italian sub with roasted peppers.  All the sandwiches were very good, but we were disappointed that the carbonation on the pop dispenser was not working properly so all the pop tasted a bit flat.  Hopefully they will have their pop machine fixed soon, this is the type of thing that can destroy a place. 

After lunch we rode with Rick to his subdivision before getting back on the trail.  Rick rode his bike the short distance from his house to meet us at the Poppy Seed.  Rick must have a nice bike because he has the fancy bike shoes with clips that hook onto the pedals.  Apparently Rick is still getting used to the bike shoe clips because he told us he took a fall on his short ride over when he couldn’t get his feet unhooked from the pedals properly.  Too bad Steve wasn’t around, we never like to see anyone fall, but if it has to happen it is nice to get a picture for memory sake. 

Once we got on the trail for the ride home Pete was out front and like Bob on the way, Pete started out at a fast pace.  I was the last one to get on the trail and when I finally caught up to Bob I asked him where Pete was.  He told me that Pete was way ahead.  He was so far out front I could barely tell it was Pete.  I enjoy a good pace while riding so I set out to see if I could catch Pete.  It was hard work and for a couple stretches I was averaging 20 mph, but I finally did catch him.  We slowed the pace down a little and then after a few more minutes Pete wanted to stop and rest for a minute.  We pulled off to the left side and I was surprised when Bob pulled in right behind me.  I didn’t even realize that Bob was that close behind.  Just a minute or so later Steve pulled up and we were all together again.  I estimate for the two or three mile stretch we averaged around 16 to 17 mph. 

After our rest Bob was the first one riding again and he got out in front.  Pete Steve and I started out together and we rode together for the rest of the trail until we got to Dutton.  When we headed west on Dutton we could see Bob was already near the top of the hill.  I thought I would try riding up the hill as well, but there was so much car traffic I had to keep moving over to the right into the bumps and it was too difficult trying to ride up the hill in the bumps so I got off and walked the rest of the way up the hill.  Bob not only rode up the hill he kept on going on Dutton right up the second hill which I don’t think anyone in our club has ever done.  Now we have a new accomplishment that we can strive to complete. 

I rode with Steve and Pete through the neighbor hood and continued on with Pete after Steve pulled off at his house.  Shortly after Pete turned off on his street and I headed back to Dutton to head home.  Bob called and he told me he was at Brewster so I met him there for the rest of the ride to our neighbor hood.  The ride today was a real good workout, I really enjoyed this ride.   

Following are the statistics from this ride; 23.4 total miles, 21.5 max speed, 11.3 average mph and 2 hours and 3 minutes total time moving on bikes.

David Lindquist