Best. Bike. Ride. Ever.

Some may have noticed that there has not been a huge amount of training discussion here lately. Those who noticed, of course, did so because they are rude and should go be judge-y elsewhere. But that does not detract from the fact that there has actually not been a lot of training discussion here lately. And now, the reason why:

There has not been a lot of training at all lately.

Did you guess the reason? Are you shocked?

What there has been is a lot of work and school and, well, maybe a (tiny?) bit of time on Facebook. Training has pretty much been limited to an hour long TNT training plus maybe one other ride over the weekend.

Except for today. Today was the BBRE (best bike ride ever). Which really did not start all that promising. Yesterday was the battle of the buckthorn, a contest that pretty much came out even. I took them out, but I also ended up with scratched arms, a bruise on the top of my head and an allergy attack. And also made me VERY TIRED. So at 8:30 am when M jumped in the bed, rudely interrupting my dream, and announced it was time to go for a bike ride, I really didn't expect much. I managed to get him to pet the cats for like 15 minutes, but then stalling failed and I had to get up.

Further, new stalling involved deciding on an outfit and searching around for the chococonut bars (genuis and not made anymore - I am sure the new version, simply called dark chocolate chip, is going to disappoint me so I am hoarding the originals!) then I ran out of ideas and went outside. The plan was to ride from the house to Northville to check on the bike Mark won that is supposed to be delivered to Town and Country any day now. The route ended up being west on 12 Mile to Meadowbrook, to 8 Mile, by the cider mill, through the neighborhood and pop out in downtown Northville. But as we passed by the cider mill, we (M) noticed that we were passing a hardware store that carried the fasteners we needed for the decking in the gazebo - because the magical Internet gave us all the names yesterday. So we stopped in to Northville Lumber, which was super awesome because we got pricing for the deck stuff, wheels (in stock! not just a blank look like we got at the big orange store) to fix the sliding patio door, extremely friendly and helpful service and a nice break off the bike. With the I-can't-even-tell-you-how fabulous-because-there-will-be-a-breeze-in-the-house wheels stuck in M's pocket, we headed out again. For like a mile. And got to the bike store where they let us know they expected the shipment in later that week and got our name so they could call us directly. When we were safely outside, we jumped up and down in excitement.

Then we popped next store to Tuscan Cafe where they just happened to have some Zingerman's Flourless Cake available. And called our gorgeous friends Mark and Rachel who live right nearby and were finishing breakfast so walked on over to say hi. How cool are they that whenever we happen to end up in Northville, they just come right over to see us? I am sure they have lives and are not sitting at home waiting for us to call. Or do they...?

Finally, it was time to get back on the bike and ride. We were thinking we would just take Center to 9 Mile, turn right to get to Meadowbrook to trace the route back, but when we got 9 Mile, suddenly we were going left instead. To Taft, to 11 Mile, to Beck, over the freeway and out to Pontiac Trail. What a gorgeous day it was, all cars were driving politely and we were just having fun. We took P Trail toward Walled Lake and that was when the wind hit. That was some wind, but it had no power to mess with the joy that is riding on a spring day. We had a little question as to where to turn (seriously, it didn't look like that when I lived there) and ended up going through downtown Walled Lake and all around back to 13 Mile. There are some scary big houses all smushed up together around that lake, but still was nice to see everyone getting out their docks and welcoming spring. Then it was just 13 Mile all the way back home. with a sort of head/side wind trying to take us down. We won! Maybe because I kept poking M and asking it he agreed that it was the Best Bike Ride Ever. Because, like all other best bike rides before it, it really was.

Summary: 34.5 miles on the tandem, around 2 hours riding time, plus stops. Two screen door wheels, cake, donuts, coffee and lemonade/iced tea.