Goodbye October

So finally the Halloween festivities are coming to an end and fall can continue the way it should be, a focus on cooler weather, and colours abundant. Enough with all this “spooky” crap and decorations going up in every residence hall, especially the ones on my floor. (They always end up staying until mid-November too) I haven’t had a legitimate Halloween costume since I was 11, and haven’t trick-or-treated since 2008…I’ve been fairly far-removed from the holiday since. Being in college, I now just think of it as a weekend that has a ton of good parties.

Alas, October is over, along with all the good things that went along with it. So long to the marching band practices that were a nice, moderate temperature, and all the bike rides, cause those won’t be so bearable once the rain/snow picks up and the temperature drops. Hard to believe, but it’s already week 11 of 16 in this fall semester, time sure flies….I guess that means goodbye to the good part of the semester…

One thing that I sure hope doesn’t die in November though, is the Maple Leafs. 7-3-1. I am honestly blown away. Kessel has 18 points in 11 games, still leading the league. I wish I had been able to catch the Leafs-Pens game Saturday night, and watch Sundin return to the ACC and receive a standing ovation.

And well, all of us Leafs fans knew the announcement would come one of these days. Sundin’s number 13 will be honored by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and raised to the rafters on Feb. 11, 2012. I sure hope I’m at least tuned in to that game, can’t imagine anything else I would want to do that Saturday night. Sundin was my favorite player, and one of the greatest to play in Toronto. I owe it to myself to watch the ceremony live, it’ll be about the best thing that’s happened in the ACC since Mats was actually PLAYING THERE!

With my confidence for the Leafs at a peak right now, I’m also astounded when I look over to the West and see Edmonton on top of the entire conference!!! I think the Oilers have surpassed the Red Wings and have become my new 2^nd favorite team. With guys like Nugent-Hopkins, Hall, Eberle, all such young guys, I can’t get enough of this underdog-type team pull through and start out 7-2-2! THANK GOD the Oilers stayed in their right mind and kept RNH up in the major league, imagine, sending your top scoring player down to the minors? Imagine the outrage the entire city would have!

Let’s hope November has some good things in store. My birthday is coming up, that’s at least one. I don’t think I’m doing no-shave-November though, Nov. ’09 and ’10 were probably enough…

Certainly won't be anymore mornings like this...Friday, Oct. 14

Beal City

So I never got to it since I've been a little busy with college stuff, but last week I did a ride to Beal City, MI. The whole ride was only 25 miles or so, but on my college bike - an 80's mountain bike with no suspension - you can't ride as efficiently as on the 7300. So in workout terms, it might've been just as good as a 40 miler on the 7300, I usually feel pretty drained after a long ride on the college bike.

As far as I know it's a 1988 Cycletech Novapro, and I can't find almost anything about this thing online. It's an 18-speed, with a bio-pace chain ring, and as far as I know, original chain & sprockets. The only thing I've altered while owning it is the actual seat, and replacing the tires & tubes. I doubt my dad ever rode it as much as I do, so it's in fairly good condition. The overall mileage for 2011, on both my 7300 and the Cycletech, is almost 3,000. WOO-HOO!

64 mile Dryden bike ride

Just like I did last summer, I did a ride all the way from Clarkston, to Dryden in Lapeer County, then through Metamora and Hadley on the way back. It was quite the ride, taking five and a half hours, I left at 6am and got back at 11:30. Avg. speed was 11.77mph. It was a great day for it, not anywhere close to as hot as the past week...

For anyone not familiar with southeast michigan, here's a large field outside downtown Dryden about a mile or two, at the intersection of Bishop and Tubspring roads.

The sign reads "Welcome to Dryden: Where friendliness is served country style." So true! When I got into downtown I was completely drained, so I stopped in the local coney island restaurant and had a chili dog, and it wasn't even 9am. It was one of the best I've ever had because I had to actually use a fork, since the 'chili dog' was SMOTHERED in more chili! I couldn't even see the buns! Excellent way to spend $2.32. Then the guy next to me at the counter started comparing soil for farming between Clarkston and Dryden, (Dryden is much better) and then continued by talking about growing up in Colorado with hobos. Yep, the Dryden sign was right!

Overall I ended up riding 72.2 miles. The total for the month of july is 682, and 2295 on the year. In the last 3 days, I've gone 179 miles. I think tomorrow I'll take a break.

Lakeville Bike Ride

Yesterday I took a 41.2 mile ride to Lakeville, MI. Quite the feat, considering it would be a scorching hot day in the low 90's; I had to go as early as possible to avoid the worst of it. I woke up at 5:00 and by quarter to 6:00 I was on my way. Even with leaving so early, it was already in the low/mid 80's by 8:00, with a good chunk of my ride still left. I did the whole ride in 3 hours, 4 minutes, about 13.4mph. (Put to shame when I tuned into the Tour de France later that morning)

This was probably about 5:50am or so, aside from a few strays ones, not a single car on the road. Sunday morning + very early in the morning=NO CARS!!!!

Riding across Clarkston Rd ended up giving some good photo ops as always, especially at a farm by Stony Creek Rd. (A little before 7am)

and here we have Lakeville, MI, a small town that consists of an intersection, and a couple of small roads along a lake. It's directly east of Oxford and directly north of Rochester.

and there I am, successful in the ride to Lakeville. This ride was notable because I passed 2,000 miles for the year on it. Even more notable, I've never rode my bike 2,000 miles in a calender year so quickly before, July 17th is the new record. So hats off to biking in 2011, there's still loads of summer to go!!!

and yes, there lake is even called Lakeville Lake.

For anyone curious, my bike is a 2008 Trek 7300, with charcoal black and dark blue colors. I got it in April '08, and added on clip pedals for it around May 2009. I absolutely love this bike, I'd get a road bike, but Oakland County (like most other counties in Michigan) is a mix of paved roads and dirt roads. Being a hybrid bike, the 7300 works perfectly for the job, great on either surface. This 7300 has been through about 7,000 miles, 6 flat tires, and many wear and tear events along the way. But it still rides great! I can't imagine myself owning any other bike.