Yesterday my friend Brian () and I rode from my house to Metro Beach and back, taking the slightly longer (46.6 mile total) route. Brian has my old Forte FastCity ST/K tires on his bike and we wanted to take paved surfaces as often as possible because they are nearly unrideable on grass / dirt.
The ride was a little difficult through Dodge Park because of Sterlingfest. This three day outdoor party / fair had REO Speedwagon playing last night, so making our way both directions through the park involved lots of walking bikes through crowds. Other than that, the ride was pretty uneventful. There was a good bit of wind and not haven ridden for a month Brian was pretty exhausted at the end, but it was otherwise good.
I used my new CamelBak for this ride which worked out pretty well. One fill of water lasted the whole ride , and thanks to easy use of ice and insulation, having icy cold water was nice. Being able to carry a camera was once again nice, although I think I need to find a way to make it more accessible.
I did get a couple interesting photos and a couple dull ones. I’ll let you decide which is which:
· Brian standing with his bike in front of Freedom Hill park when we stopped in the shade.
· My bike at the end of the path at Metro Beach. Downtown Detroit can be seen in the distance across the water. (As seen above.)
· Brian checking his bike computer in the gazebo at the point while some families ride past and sit on the benches.
· Stopping near the McDonalds at Metro Parkway and Crocker to eat a gel I found a bunch of cheap vodka bottles in bread bags in the trash.
· Brian reading the nutritional information from a Gu-brand Vanilla Bean gel.
When first taking the photo of Brian reading the gel packet I got some really odd CCD noise which almost looks like, but isn’t, lens flare. Unless maybe somehow it’s lens flare caused by only yellow-ish light, but not.
I also found that my bike is having a hard time shifting between two of the gears in the middle of the cogset, but when I went to adjust things this afternoon I found that it only happens under load. So, I think that the chain and maybe cogset are finally wearing to near replacement. I guess it’s understandable as I’ve put more than 941 miles on my bike since its purchase.