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Today some friends (Left to Right: Mike, Brad, Jon, Krug, Bob, Eric) from the MMBA Forum and I rode from Rochester to Richmond and back, totaling just over 51 miles. One person was towing two kids (Trail-a-Bike and trailer) (Eric), another had one trailer (Mike), and yet another rode a fixie mountain bike (Brad).
The route was up the Macomb Orchard Trail to Powell Road, to 33 Mile, to Armada Ridge, then back on the trail to Richmond. This is done because, as illustrated last year, the part of MOT which we skipped is topped with what’s essentially pea gravel.
After reaching Richmond we rode over to the Richmond Family Diner for some lunch, then headed back to the trail and back to Richmond. On the way back the trailer was handed off from Eric to John, as the first long ride of the year and rough dirt road were dragging a little much for Eric. All in all it was a fun and relatively uneventful ride, save for when we arrived at Onyx Ice Arena in Rochester.
For some reason a helicopter was parked at the side of the parking lot, and it was (obviously) attracting a lot of attention from people passing by. People were stopping to show their kids, another group of kids was taking each others’ pictures in front of it, and everyone was generally gawking at what appeared to be a parked helicopter. Suddenly a man appeared, came over, and seemed to be telling people that it is private property, dangerous, was accusing kids of touching it (which I hadn’t seen), and saying that if anyone wants to look that they need to stay at least six feet away. He wasn’t implying that it was his helicopter, just that it was parked on private property and they had no right to be there looking at it.
I can’t imagine that someone would believe they can leave a helicopter alone in a parking lot – much less one along the side of a busy road and well traveled public trail – and not have people looking at it. Such things are generally fairly rare around here. Regardless, this didn’t spoil today’s really nice ride. Nice people, great weather, and a pretty darn good route.
Here’s some more photos from today:
· What would be the brake side of Brad’s Quiring, showing the flip-flopped hub making it a fixie mountain bike.
· View of the drive side of Brad’s Quiring mountain bike. It is currently set up as a fixed gear using a drilled cog.
· Heading out of the Rochester / Shelby Township area, towards our eventual destination of Richmond.
· Everyone who rode the Rochester to Richmond ride on the Macomb Orchard Trail on 14-Mar-2009, except for me as I was taking the photo.
· After reaching Richmond we stopped at Richmond Family Diner and got food. Bike parking was quite conveient.
· Brad on his fixed gear Quiring.
· This helicopter was parked outside ONYX ice area when we went past there.
