67th outdoor ride of 2023 - Thursday, 8/31/2023

2023 Mileage: 3255.1

I chose to take a day off yesterday, and spent my time composing and reading instead. Today, then, it was good to get back to it. I left at 8:15 in 48° sunshine, and my t-shirt, while manageable, made me aware that it's about time to change my riding wardrobe.

I rode the Platt/Packard Square, and it went nicely, with one exception. As happened a few days ago, the cord connecting my phone to my battery pulled out of the battery at some point; consequently, the phone died a little over a mile from home, so my video is not quite accurate all the way to the end. Since this is evidently becoming a thing for me, I'll need to make a mental note to watch for it from now on.

This gave me a ride of 13.6 miles in 1:40.

Relive video of today's ride

66th outdoor ride of 2023 - Tuesday, 8/29/2023

2023 Mileage: 3241.5

This morning's conditions for my ride were almost identical to yesterday's. At 66° when I began at 9:00 (rising to 74° during the ride), and under calm and unbroken blue skies, it was again as near to perfect for riding as a day could be. I rode a round trip to the west end of Saline (about a mile past Wellers).

However, when I stopped to take the above picture, the MapMyRide app on my phone, even though I paused it, instead terminated the workout. So I had restart it for the second part of the ride. This meant I had to calculate my average speed when I got home. But I'm happy to report that, while I try to maintain an average speed of at least 8 mph (which I can't always do), today I did this long ride at an overall average speed of 8.3 mph.

This gave me a ride of 15.9 miles in 1:55.

Relive video of today's ride (first part)

Reive video of today's ride (second part)

65th outdoor ride of 2023 - Monday, 8/28/2023

2023 Mileage: 3225.6

Today was the most glorious day for riding that I can remember. At 66° when I began just past 11:00 (rising to 74° during the ride), and under calm and unbroken blue skies, it was as near to perfect for riding as a day could be. I rode the Packard/Platt Square.

This gave me a ride of 13.5 miles in 1:47.

Relive video of today's ride

64th outdoor ride of 2023 - Sunday, 8/27/2023

2023 Mileage: 3212.1

My younger sister, Marianne, has been visiting us for the last couple of days. It was WONDERFUL to see her, but she had an early flight out of Detroit this morning, and since I am always up early anyway, I made a point of it today so that I could back up her alarm clock. She had to leave our home at 5:30, so I slipped out of bed at 4:30 to ensure that I'd be able to check on her at 5:00, per her request.

Following Marianne's departure, I had a nice session of composition, working on a new choral piece I just began yesterday. Then I began my ride at 7:00.

I rode in magnificent early sunshine. But it was easy to tell that fall will soon be here, as the temperature was 52° when I started, and 60° when I finished. I'll take that any day over the excessive summer heat!

In these pleasant conditions, I rode the Platt/Packard Square, as Textile Road, which had been closed last work for work at the railroad crossing between Lohr and State, is now open once again.

This gave me a ride of 13.6 miles in 1:41.

Relive video of today's ride

63rd outdoor ride of 2023 - Friday, 8/25/2023

2023 Mileage: 3198.5

In the early nineteen-eighties, when I was studying for my Master of Music degree in choral conducting at the University of Michigan, my wife at the time (Deb) and I attended Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, and during the 1981-82 year, I served as choir director there. The organist was Dolly Collins.

Fast forward to 2023. Dolly lives in Saline, and we are Facebook friends. (She is STILL organist at Trinity.) When she saw the pictures I posted early this week about riding to Saline, she suggested that I should stop in for a visit sometime. So we arranged that for today, and I left at 10:00 this morning and rode the six and a half miles down there, for a splendid visit. (I carried my laptop along in the bag that is hooked to the rack on the back of my trike, to enable us to converse.)

Sadly, though, I experienced issues with the MapMyRide app that kept me from getting an accurate time, and hence my speed in the video looks abysmal. When I first got to Dolly's, I forgot to pause it for the first 10-15 minutes. And then, after I did get it paused, somehow as we visited, it slipped out of pause mode, and when I went to turn it on as I was ready to leave, I saw that it was already running.

Anyway, this gave me a ride of 13.9 miles in 1:50.

Relive video of today's ride

62nd outdoor ride of 2023 - Tuesday, 8/22/2023

2023 Mileage: 3184.6

Like yesterday, I rode a round trip to the center of Saline today. But whereas yesterday I rode west olong Woodland, and then south along Ann Arbot St. returning north to Woodland on Maple Rd., today I reversed that and started out by coming south along Maple. When I say "along," I mean of course that I ride on the sidewalk beside the road, as Michelle has expressed her desire that I stay off the road. Even though it's perfectly legal for cyclists to ride on the road, her preference is extremely understandable in light of the plague of distracted drivers that besets us, and I am happy to honor her wish.

This gave me a ride of 13.1 miles in 1:40.

Relive video of today's ride

61st outdoor ride of 2023 - Monday, 8/21/2023

2023 Mileage: 3171.5

I took yesterday as a rest day, like I frequently do on Sundays. Today, because of work at the railroad crossing on Textile Rd. (between Lohr and  State), I could not ride my usual ride. So this week I will be riding to Saline instead, and this morning rode a round trip to the center of town there. It was 70° when I left (just past 9:00), up to 78° by the end.

This gave me a ride of 13.0 miles in 1:43.

Relive video of today's ride

60th outdoor ride of 2023 - Saturday, 8/19/2023

2023 Mileage: 3158.5

Today I waited until late afternoon, and then rode the Platt/Packard Square, beginning at  4:15 in 77° sunshine.

This gave me a ride of 13.5 miles in 1:41.

Relive video of today's ride

59th outdoor ride of 2023 - Friday, 8/18/2023

2023 Mileage: 3144,9

Today I had to pick up a book from the library, and since there are sidewalks all the way there, I decided to ride over. However, since it's only 3 miles straight there and back, I decided to take a less direct route (past the Big House [past Michigan Stadium].\

Going this way seemed excessively hilly—in fact, it seemed as though there were more uphills than down, even though this is logically impossible.

This gave me a ride of 7.5 miles in 1:01.

Relive video of today's ride

58th outdoor ride of 2023 - Thursday, 8/17/2023

2023 Mileage: 3137.4

This morning, in conditions that were almost a duplicate of yesterday (except less sunny), I rode the same route (a loop), but in the other direction—the Packard/Platt Square.

It was also nice to see Doug Franklin again, on his daily walk up from his home in Saline, about a mile and a half before I finished.

However, the cord connecting my battery and the phone stayed plugged in to the phone, but somehow came out of the battery at some point, and because of this my phone ran out of power and shut down less than a mile from home. Thus, my video is nearly, but not entirely, complete.

This gave me a ride of 13.5 miles in 1:45.

Relive video of today's ride

57th outdoor ride of 2023 - Wednesday, 8/16/2023

2023 Mileage: 3123.9

Today was a brilliant, spectacular day for a ride (one might even say perfect). When I began at 10:00, it was under a bright blue sky, with a temperature of 68° (that climbed to 78° during the ride). I did the Platt/Packard Square.

Additionally, I experienced a huge, huge joy, when I came across my friends Ron and Donna Cundiff. I first met Ron during a ride quite a few years ago (I want to say around 2015 or so). Then after they were married in early 2016, I had the pleasure of making Donna's acquaintance, too.

They winter in the south, and even up here during the summer, our paths haven't crossed in several years. At first (because of my beard, I think, which is new since I last saw them) they weren't sure it was me. But once we had established that we knew one another, we rode along together for a while, conversing as best we can. At Marsh Park, we stopped together and visited for a bit. Ron kindly caught me up on some of the health challenges he has faced in recent years, and after he said that now he was back to normal, I looked at Donna and then pointed at Ron and me and said, "But we men are never really NORMAL."

This gave me a ride of 13.5 miles in 1:48.

Relive video of today's ride

56th outdoor ride in 2023 - Monday, 8/14/2023

2023 Mileage: 3110.4

This morning I did my long round trip to Baker Rd., for the first time since June 21 (and only the second time all year). My time was not good, but I didn't push for that ... just tried to keep going, and finish it.

This gave me a ride of 20.2 miles in 2:54.

Relive video of today's ride

Saturday, 8/12/2023

2023 Mileage: 3090.2

I wanted to do a longer ride this morning—the 20-mile round trip to Baker Rd. (Dexter). But when I was ready to begin at 8:30, it didn't seem possible to squeeze it in, as they were forecasting thunderstorms to begin mid morning.

So I chose to ride on our stationary cycle instead. Then, though (wouldn't you know it), the sunshine remained throughout the morning. At any rate, I rode while watching the beloved movie The Sound of Music.

i had bought this on YouTube a few years ago, but then learned earlier this year that it was no longer available there, as the rights had been sold. I did not waste my money on it, though. As I recall, the purchase was roughly $10, and since the beginning of 2010 (when Michelle got us the stationary cycle), my records show that I watched it almost twenty times (last having done so on February 23 of this year).

I researched last night to find out how I could stream the movie now, and learned that I could do so with the streaming app Vudu. That worked well for me.

This gave me a ride of 32.2 virtual miles in 2:55.

Trailer for The Sound of Music

55th outdoor ride of 2023 - Friday, 8/11/2023

2023 Mileage: 3058.0

Another good ride this morning, leaving at 10:45 and riding the Packard/Platt Square. It was 74° when I left, and 76° when I finished.

This gave me a ride of 13.4 miles in 1:38.

Relive video of today;'s ride

54th outdoor ride of 2023 - Wednesday, 8/9/2023

2023 Mileage: 3044.6

Good ride this morning in pleasantly warm but not hot summer sunshine. When I left at 11:00, it was 76°, and that reading climbed to 82° by the time I finished. I did a relatively brisk ride of the Platt/Packard Square.

This gave me a ride of 13.6 miles in 1:4'4.

Relive video of today's ride

53rd outdoor ride of 2023 - Tuesday, 8/8/2023

2023 Mileage: 3031.0

Today I had planned to ride my 13 and a half mile route (roughly 1:45). But when I stepped out into the 71° sunshine (which rose to 77° during my ride) at 10:45, the pool, to which I have not been in a couple of weeks, was becoming me. So I changed my plans on the fly, and settled for a round trip to Marsh Park.

This gave me a ride of 10.1 miles in 1:24.

Relive video of today's ride

52nd outdoor ride of 2023 - Monday, 8/7/2023

2023 Mileage: 3020.9

Today, some welcome cooler weather had rolled in. So when I rode at 11:45, it was cloudy and 66°, and that temperature held throughout.

I rode the Packard/Platt Square.

This gave me a ride of 13.5 miles in 1:44.

Relive video of today's ride

51st outdoor ride of 2023 - Saturday, 8/5/23

2023 Mileage: 3007.4

Yesterday, for no very good reason, I decided not to ride. I was just tired, and decided to be gentle with myself. Today I thought I was going to have to take the day off, too. Due to morning and midday commitments, I could not ride early, as I like, and in the early afternoon it was already uncomfortably warm and humid. (The temperature seems only to have been near 80°, but it felt warmer.)

Then this evening, when my schedule opened up, I stepped outside expecting summer warmth ... but it had cooled considerably (or at least gotten less humid). The temperature was 75° when I began a bit past 6:00. but it felt cooler.

At any rate, I chose to ride just a round trip to Marsh Park. This may have been a wise choice, because when I went to start up the MapMyRide app when beginning, it told me, "Error: Unable to connect to server. Please try again later." Anyway, I know the distance, and was able to measure my time (riding one of my better times for this route). Because of this, though, I have no video of today's ride.

This gave me a ride of 10.2 miles in 1:10.

50th outdoor ride of 2023 - Thursday, 8/3/2023

 2023 Mileage: 2997.2

After the trip my wife and I made to Mackinac the last few days (we went up on Sunday and returned to Ann Arbor yesterday; Monday I rode around the perimeter of the island on a non-recumbent tricycle, as described in my blogpost for that day), it was good to be back on familiar ground today. This afternoon I rode a round trip to Marsh Park, augmented by a loop on Bicentennial Pkwy. I left at 3:15 in bright 85° sunshine.

This gave me a ride of 10.9 miles in 1:23.

Relive video of today's ride