Biking Update
July 15

Biking season is well underway and I am happy to report that we have had some new riders join us over the past month.  The best part is they are gradually increasing their distance with each ride and have become “regulars” replacing a few of the “old” regulars who seem to have lost their bike since last season  (hint – find your bike and come join us).   Speaking of Bikes – ask Doo Ming about his nice new “custom ride.”

Since my last repost we have ridden the Clinton River / Macomb Orchard trail twice up to Romeo with the SkiWi’s, enjoying an excellent lunch each time.  We have ridden Willow and got a downriver TBird who normally rides with Ann Arbor to come out and show us the ropes.  We have also taken advantage of the Saturday closing of Hines Drive to cars and racked up some fairly flat miles there - but beware of the golf course – we had an errant golfer (surely not a fellow TBird) shank his shot and put his golf ball directly into the path of one of our bikers – luckily missing him.

Most of our rides are at Kensington with bike path trips into Milford, Wixom, South Lyon or Island Lake.  This is because it is central to our regular bikers but as stated above we have ridden other places.  If for some reason your not joining us because we mostly ride Kensington – let us know where in your area is a good place to ride and we will join you to check it out.  Give me a shout at gchaffinski@gmail.com and join us for the rest of the season.

 Biking Update
June 12

On Saturday June 12 TBird bikers joined our friends in the GM & SkiWi Ski Clubs on their Cantina ride.  Originally many of us were going to start in Auburn Hills and bike over to Rochester to join the SkiWi group for the ride up to Lake Orion.  Unfortunately the weatherman decided to mess with our plans.  With temps predicted up to 90F along with thunderstorms discretion was the better part of valor and most of us started in Rochester. Those who started early wound up back at the meeting place in time to start with a large group of varied biking ability.  The ride to Lake Orion is flat (no hills to shred) and about nine miles, and if you are interested in getting started biking that is a good ride to consider.  (Our Kensington rides are also suitable for beginners as we don’t leave anyone behind and can help with some of the tricks that make biking easier and more fun!).

Lunch at the Sagebrush Cantina was great.   The staff had tables reserved (we had around 30 people on the ride) and the amazing part is they are able to take our order – get the food out in a fairly quick time (while keeping us supplied with chips and salsa) and do it all with separate checks.  We were concerned about the ride home as approaching cars had their head lights on but the rain stayed away until we all got back to our cars.  As the temp was close to 90 we were pretty stinky – maybe a quick rain shower would have been a good idea?

Bonnie Linklater wins the award for biking over from her house and biking home – but that could be understood.  She is training for the Breast Cancer Network of Strength bike ride later this year in Utah in honor of her mother and could use your support.  If you would like to help Bonnie contact her at bjlinklater@sbcglobal.net  or check out the ride and her progress towards the fundraising goal at http://ride.networkofstrength.org/page.aspx?pid=889.

If you want to join our group – get in shape for next year’s ski season or just plain have fun while enjoying the outdoors – send me an email at gchaffinski@gmail.com.

Biking Update
May16

The largest group of the young season met Sunday May 16^th at Kensington Metro Park to enjoy a warm spring day biking with friends.  Thanks to the recent notice on the web and in the Towline we had some new faces as well as some not so new faces that we had not seen biking in a while.  We started out the morning with a lap around Kensington to warm up, shed excess layers and meet back at the starting point to pick up some late riders. We then went into Milford via the new Milford trail.  Some split off for a ride in downtown Milford (Latte anyone?) while the rest just rode back into Kensington with at least one brave soul taking the long way back (on purpose)!  We grabbed some empty picnic tables for lunch. We were surprised when Ellen Weber announced that because Mike Baran’s birthday was a couple of days ago she brought a birthday cake.  While everyone enjoyed a piece of cake yours truly decided he needed extra sugar to stay up with Steve Mahr for the afternoon portion of the ride – scooping down 3 portions along with the extra icing – THANKS ELLEN!

A few of us had afternoon commitments and left after lunch while the remainder rode into Island Lake state park.  At the end of the day Renee and Marie Tuohey were comparing miles ridden which some confusion.  Although they had both ridden together the entire day Marie showed 35.0 miles while Renee was showing 32.2.  They were trying to figure out how Marie got almost 3 more miles in than Renee until our trip leader pointed out that Renee was looking at the time 3:22 on her odometer and her mileage was actually 34.8.  I guess high tech is not her strong suit.

Plans were made for future rides with hopes that more TBirds will join us.  If you would like to know about our upcoming rides check out the note on the web or send your email address to gcahffinski@gmail.com.

Shred the Local Hills – on your BIKE!
by Gari Chaffin

Ski season is done for the year but you need to keep those legs (and other things) in shape for next years ski season.  How about dusting off that bicycle that is in the garage and joining us on one of our bike rides this spring /summer?  We have the weekday group (Retired Guys and Gals - we ride during the day) and the weekend group.

Most of our rides are based out of Kensington Metro Park. With the addition of the Milford connector you can now ride from Kensington into Milford, as well as into Wixom, South Lyon, and Island Lake state park – all on paved bike paths or on park roads.  Occasionally we will also ride the rail trails around Rochester (Clinton River / Paint Creek / Macomb Orchard) or Hines drive on Saturday when it is closed to cars. 

Our faster riders will ride ahead and then circle in a parking lot or double back until the slower riders catch up – we don’t leave anyone behind.  The intention is to have a good time while staying in shape for ski season.  While most of our rides start in the morning with a picnic lunch and continue in the afternoon – we have riders joining us for just part of the day which works well for everyone.  We have the weekday group (Old Retired Guys and Gals) and the weekend group so if you are interested let me know if you want to be included in both groups or just the weekend group.

We are very informal – no set date due to the weather – a few days before the ride I send out an email with location / time / etc.  We also join the SkiWi ski club on their monthly “Cantina Rides” which start in Rochester with a ride to a local restaurant and back on Saturdays.  If you want to join our group or just find out about the rides – send your email address to gchaffinski@gmail.com.  See you then.