Metro Grand

Today was the day Judy and I were going to try to do 50 miles for the first time this year at the Metro Grand. How did we do? Well, first of all, it ended up to be 47 miles for us since this year we didn't lose the car. By the time we started, the temperature was in the mid 50's and we had bright sun. For once I was humble enough to take what I thought would be too many clothes. I wore everything: tights, long sleeve shirt, jersey, and jacket. It's hard to believe that 60 degrees is so chilly so soon after winter.

The news of the day was the wind. SW Michigan is flat and it gets flatter the closer you get to Ohio. We biked within sight of the Fermi plant cooling towers, so we were pretty far south. When it's flat and you are in farm land, there is nothing to block the wind. The forecast called for 10 mph winds. It was 18-20 mph and from the east. This meant that the first 13 miles we rode against the wind. We were crawling: 10, 11 mph. We were praying for hills, anything to block the wind. We did have the wind at our backs later for 9 miles which was nice, but we were dog tired. We have a lot of work to do to be ready for the PALM.

One thing we were able to practice was crossing railroad tracks. We crossed about 10 sets: good, bad, and very bad. One set had bolts sticking over an inch above the tie. They looked like they could tear the tires off of trucks. You are supposed to cross railroad tracks at a 90 degree angle. That keeps your wheel from getting caught in the gap next to the rail. Frequently used rails are slippery especially if wet or greasy. You can easily fall. One of our good friends broke her hip carefully crossing railroad tracks. If that isn't enough there are the trains themselves. One innocent set of tracks in the middle of the park today had an oncoming train. We took no chances and walked a lot of the tracks.

Training for PALM: April

While the weather for the first half of April was horrible for biking, gardening, and baseball, there can be few complaints about the last half. For one thing, all the rain happened during the work week and all the sun was on the weekends. I was able to ramp up by biking. I'm riding with the frequency I want (typically 3 times a week) but not the distance. At least I can sit on a bike seat for significant periods of time. And Judy had the first flat of the season (at the end of a ride, a mile from home) so we've gotten that out of the way. Last weekend we went with Kevin to see "Gone With The Wind" on Friday and then rode 37 miles with him on Saturday. Both took about four hours with intermissions and both left us pretty tired. This weekend is the Metro Grand ride in SW Michigan. We will be trying to go 50 miles for the first time this year. It will be in the 60's and there will be pancakes.

I want to remind those of you registered for PALM that you can add/drop meals and bus rides until June 1 and there is no penalty. Carson City, Millington, and Almont are small towns and it may be difficult to get food there. Consider getting the meals for at least these cities. In reality the meals on PALM are community events. They are the times when you can see everyone who is on the ride and talk to them. Consider getting some meals just for that.

Currently we have 4 buses going from St. Clair to Spring Lake on June 23 at the beginning of the ride. The buses hold 56 people and we have 224 people signed up. There will be some cancellations, but there currently is very limited seating (that is, no seating: 4 times 56 = 224) on the June 23 buses from St. Clair to Spring Lake.

Time to start to do

Finally we are getting our first streak of 70 degree days and, amazing, it's falling on a weekend. I'm going to be able to bike two days in a row for the first time all year. Up to now the most I've been able to do is talk about doing things. Now I can actually do them. One of these things is gardening. I've been to garden club meetings, now I have to actually plant things. Or in my case now I have to get my yard in shape so that I can plant things. I was looking in the back of my garage as a place to plant some more vegetables. What a mess that is. All vines and tree saplings. But because of the emerald ash borer, it now has sunlight. Better get to work.

Wait a minute, now it's 70 degrees and I can go bike riding. Not only is it 70 degrees but there is no wind. I can go as fast as I can. Unfortunately I'm not in shape. On a day when I can bike as much as I want, I can only hope to go 30 miles. (I can tell you that the frogs are in full voice even in the middle of the day. It must be close to prom time. ) I'm looking at the 10 day forecast and there's some more bad weather coming, but the ratio of good days to bad days is much better. It's time for us all to get our training in. We can figure out where we put the lawn mower later, some time in the middle of the week.

Where is spring?

By last Saturday I was desperate. No biking since April 3. The explanation I heard on the radio was that this year March had 61 days. I tried to think that maybe we just traded two weeks in March with two weeks in April. It wasn't working. Since I couldn't bike, I went to a 5 hour gardening class by Earthworks Garden in Detroit. Even that had to be held mostly inside. On my way home, I passed two twenty year old women riding bikes with very under inflated tires. I have a bike pump in my car, so I rolled down my window to tell them that I could pump up their tires. Now think about this from their point of view. While riding by the Cass Corridor, a guy in a car asks you whether he can pump up your tires. What could you expect their response to be? They live there. They let me pump up their tires. One of the bikes hadn't been out since last fall. I told them my sad story: no biking. They sympathized and said that riding with air in their tires was a lot easier.

Sunday it was sunny. Cold, but sunny. Windy, but sunny. I bent the 50 degree rule and went out for a ride. I arranged it so that I went into the wind at the start so that I could gauge how far I could go. I rode through neighborhoods so that the houses could provide some windbreak. I was able to get 20 miles in and it wasn't too bad.

On Tuesday, my normal biking day with my buddies, it was sunny and it got into the 60's. It was pretty pleasant. Should I wear tights? (I've been told that professional bike riders wear something over their knees until it gets into the 70's. It helps their knee joints.) Nah. It's warm and the sun is shining. I took a rain jacket because there was some rain in the west, but I didn't put it on. One thing about where I bike (Detroit and southeastern Michigan): while there are no hills, there is wind. We started out with the wind. Then some clouds rolled in and the temperature started going down. By the time I turned into the wind to come back, I had the rain jacket on and I was cold. Where were my tights? By the end of the ride, the temperature was in the low 50's and the wind was a steady 15-20 mph and another lesson was learned.

Training for PALM: March

As I mentioned previously, my goal is to start riding three times a week, to start at 20 miles, and to work my up to be able to do 50 miles on one of the rides. You may ask, how is it coming along? Not so good. I rode only three times in March, each for 20 miles. Not very impressive if you remember how much warm weather we've had. (I consider anything over 50 degrees warm enough to ride.)

We're still at the point where we can't pick the days we want to ride, we have to ride on the days that we are allowed to ride. I do a Tuesday night ride with a group of friends all through the summer. We bike by old Tiger Stadium, Mexican Town, the Ambassador Bridge, Renaissance Center, Belle Isle, Eastern Market, and Wayne State. I never plan riding based on the weather forecast. I won't start riding if its raining, but it's got to be raining first. Last Tuesday it was supposed to rain but it wasn't raining when left work to drive down to meet my friends. Then it started to sprinkle. Well, in Michigan it can sprinkle and stop so I kept on going. Then it started to pour. In Michigan when it rains hard, it doesn't rain long so I kept on going. Then it started to mix hail with the rain. It was so loud in my car I thought I was going to have stop under a bridge. In Detroit all the expressways are built in ditches so that stopping wasn't going to be a good idea, so I kept going. It didn't do any good. It rained until dark and we couldn't ride. The thing was Monday was a beautiful day. It was in the 70's and the sun was shining. I should have biked then. I forgot that this time of year I don't get to chose which day to bike on. As I'm writing this, the sun has come out. The forecast is for rain. I'm going to go out riding right now. Get it while you can.

Registration update: I sent out a new batch of confirmation letters. We have 729 people registered so far with 22 more still to be registered when the problems with their applications are resolved. Our cutoff date this year was March 1 so it's taken a whole month to get caught up. Thank you for your patience.