2011 fall color tour

It might be fall, but our weather was more like summer today.  We rode in shorts, short sleeved shirts, and sweatshirts.  Took our sweatshirts off at about the 8 mile mark.  Temps were in the low 70's, very nice for riding.

I packed our lunch, (didn't need any hot chocolate today.)  and we were off.  We are starting to be more mindful of when we leave for a ride.  The days are getting shorter and we don't want to be riding home in the dark.

Took our usual route to Dighton,  stopped and took a picture of the little building that is being built in front of the self milking barn.  The workman were up on the roof working today on the barn, maybe the roof will be done the next time we ride by.  I find myself still wondering about what they are going to use the little building for.  It looks very small in comparison to the huge shell of the self milking barn.

The woods are full of color, and make a striking contrast against the green meadows.

We stopped at church and had our lunch.  Our church is built where an old school house used to stand.  When the school house was condemned and torn down, the school bell was salvaged, and our church had a bell tower built to house. it.  The bell works and is used on special occasions.

Here is what is on the church sign that is by the road.  There is a different saying on it each week.

Button was happy to be included in the ride today.  He jumped in his carrier when I put it on the floor. Once we got going,  he still "chittered" for a very long time.

From the church, we headed up to TV tower hill.  Took this picture of what I saw in the bike mirror, shortly before we reached the top.  It took us 38 minutes to make it.

The colors on that hill are especially pretty, there are a few gravel roads nearby that host a prettier color show, but our trike doesn't do very well on gravel, so we stay on the paved roads as much as possible.

The show went on  and on.  Such a display and we are blessed with wonderful weather to get out and enjoy it.  I found a good description of why leaves change color on the website, Science Made Simple.

Here is what it said;
Leaves are nature's food factories.  Plants take water from the ground through their roots.  They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air.  Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose.  Oxygen is a gas in the air that we breathe.  Glucose is a kind of sugar.  Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing.  The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugar is called photosynthesis.  That means" putting together with light." A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen.  Chlorophyll is what give plants their green color.

 As summer  ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter.  This is how the trees "know" to begin to get ready for winter.  During winter, there is not enough water for photosynthesis.  The trees will rest, live off of the food they stored during the summer.  They begin to shut down their food making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves.  As the bright green fades away, we begin to see the yellow and orange colors.  Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along.  we just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

Wow, how can plants do that?  They don't even have a brain.  Only God could create something so complex.  When I look at a tree during the winter I often think about how the tree is not only surviving, but building new buds and leaves for the spring.   It really is amazing, and only a small piece of what God is capable of.  If he can take care of the trees in the dead of winter, he can certainly take care of us.

Once we got to the top of the hill, we stopped for a rest.  since we didn't really want to go down the other side of the hill, and then go back up again, I decided to walk a ways and take some pictures.  There is a section where I could look down at the trees, it is such a sight to behold with all the colors.

 I walked about a half mile, stopping to take pictures as I went.

It didn't take us very long to get to the bottom of the hill after we turned around, but the road is in such bad condition, that I have to really watch where I am driving and keep my speed at 20 MPH or under.  I keep hoping the road is slated for repair, and each year it gets worse and worse.

We saw lots of these caterpillars crossing the roads today.   I call them orange and black woolies, but they are really known as,  the Wooly Bear caterpillar.  In the fall of 1948, a curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City,  went on an outing with his wife, 40 miles north of the city.  They went to look at wooly bear caterpillars. Dr Curran collected as many as he could, looked at the average number of brown segments, and through a reporter at the New York Herald Tribune, he forecast the severity of the  coming winter. His experiment continued for 8 years.  He attempted to prove that there was a scientific connection between the stripes of the caterpillar and the winter weather. The publicity that surrounded it all, made the Wooly Bear caterpillar the best known caterpillar in America.  As far as I know there is no connection between the caterpillar and the type of winter we have.  The caterpillars turn into a tiger moth.

We decided to take 20 Mile Rd. to Tustin, and then take the trail home.  This spot was to pretty to pass without getting a picture.

The trees along the trail gave us a show too.

One of the last roads to our house had some nice colors to add to our day, making a nice way to finish our ride.

We rode 26 beautiful miles today.  Thanks God, for such beautiful scenery and colors. And thanks for keeping us safe, once again. 

A fall ride and walk.

It would have been a frosty ride to church this morning, so we took the car.  When we came out of church it was still chilly, with a brisk wind.  Decided we were going to ride anyway.  It was supposed to warm up to 60 later.

Came home, changed into our biking gear, packed a picnic lunch,  including a thermos of hot chocolate,

checked the tires on the trike, added air, and headed out.  This is our back driveway and where our rides from home begin.

Our front driveway is pretty steep, so we feel much safer going down the back drive.

This is the top of our driveway, looking at our neighbors house.

What a pretty day for a ride.  The colors are not at their peak yet, but are still very pretty.

 Even the pine trees are changing color and dropping some needles.

The self milking barn is coming along.  it now has a roof, and there is a little side building, about the size of a one stall garage that is at the front of the property.  No idea what that will be used for.  Perhaps they intend to heat the self milking barn with a wood burning furnace and that is the building the furnace and the wood will go in.  Guess we'll have to wait and see.

I could tell that Tony was felling better than he had on our last ride.  My stoker had some power today.  I sure appreciate his strong legs when it comes to hills.  We didn't use our mountain drive nearly as much as we had on our last ride.   We decided we would only ride 16 miles today.  Tony didn't want to push it too much, we want to get out and ride several times this week, the weather is supposed to be great.  In reality, I think he wanted to be home to hear the Tigers in the play offs.

We had our lunch on the benches by the church.  It was a nice break.  Then we headed home.

Went by 2 wild apple trees that were full of apples, so we stopped and picked some.  Ate a few on the way home.  They were very tasty.

We didn't take Button with us today, so when we got home we decided to take him for a walk.  He was a very happy fellow to go.  We walked our regular 2 mile course.

Starting off on the hill from our house then circling around by the lake.  Tony was listening to the  baseball play offs on his radio, so he and Button stayed put when I walked down to the lake to take some pictures.

  I find it amusing that on the way down the steps there is a sign that says "No Motorcycles."  I guess someone must have taken a motor cycle down to the beach once or twice, so the Property Owners Association thought they needed a sign.  It is sure up high on the tree.  I wonder if a motorcycle rider would even see it.  Perhaps they do, I've never seen one on the beach with his cycle.

From there we headed home.  I was taking a few pictures, when I spotted this big wasp nest in a tree.

I'm surprised that the strong winds we had didn't blow it down.

Took a few more pictures as we headed towards home.   We are so blessed to live in such a pretty place, close to the lake and with such pretty scenery and wild life all around us.  It was a good day to be outdoors.  I hope to get some more pictures as the colors continue to turn.   We rode 16 miles today and walked 2 miles.

Work today, ride tomorrow

We have had a rainy, rainy week, so no riding for us.  It's probably just as well.  What Tony thought was a pulled muscle, ended up being an infection.  He was in quite a bit of pain, finally gave in, and went to see our family Dr.  She put him on an antibiotic.  That in itself is a scary thing.  Tony doesn't do well on antibiotics, or any other pharmaceutical drug, which is a big reason why we choose to do natural medicine as much as we can.  Tony had already been on a variety of natural things for 3 weeks, so reluctantly, he agreed to take the prescription meds our  Dr. recommended.   When he got on the scale, he was happy to see that he had gained 4 pounds.  Not sure if it was from the shakes he has been drinking or from inactivity.  I hope that he can hold onto the weight he gained.

He is now on day 3 and feeling better. In fact, as I write this, he is downstairs, lifting weights.  That is a sure sign he is on the road to recovery.

Meanwhile, I have been trying to get our reverse osmosis  (RO) water system working properly.  We had some problems with a leak at the base of the faucet earlier this summer. Ended up with a flood twice.

 Called a plumber, the guy that came was puzzled by it, after working on it for about and hour, he admitted he wasn't sure if it was fixed or not, and that he really wasn't a plumber.  Hmm..the place I called was called "Mr. Plumber," and I asked for a plumber.  Why did they send me this guy?  Since he wasn't sure he fixed it, (I think he was pretty sure he hadn't fixed it, he knew very little about RO systems.) he didn't bill us for his time.  The leak returned in 2 days.

A week later our daughter, son in law and family were visiting.  Our son in law finally managed to track the problem down.  It was an issue that had to do with where the system drained. He got it resolved, no more leaks.  I was happy.

After we returned from our trip to WA, the leak returned as well.  Since then I have had the cold water in the kitchen shut off.  I did some reading about our system and decided that what might be causing the problem was the fact that the membrane and 2 filters likely needed replacing.  Drove 30 miles to a store that had them in stock, came home and proceeded to change them.  They are are quick twist filters, so fairly easy to do, except, I couldn't get the hose out of the membrane.  I called the store, they offered a few suggestions, but it still wouldn't budge.  Tony finally called a friend of ours who came over and showed me how to get it off.  It was a challenge that involved 2 needle nose pliers.  One to push down some little thing that holds the hose in, and the other to pull the hose out with.  Of course the hose isn't even mentioned in the instruction manual or on the DVD that came with the system.

New membrane and filters in, now to purge and pressurize the system.

 Back to the manual, pretty easy to follow instructions.  Get the water out of the line by turning on the kitchen faucet, then shut it off and the  RO tank will begin to fill with water.  It started out making a noise that sounded like the end cycle of a pot of coffee brewing.  I shut it off, and did it all over again, same thing.  Well, I guess that must be what it sounds like when it is pressurizing.  The pressurizing time was 2 hours.  After an hour of hearing the "coffee brewing," I gave in an made a pot of decaf.  It was now 8:30 PM.  At  9PM, I turned the RO faucet on.  The instructions said to leave the faucet on for 24 hours.  The brewing noise continued, but hey, at least I had a cup of coffee, so life wasn't all bad.

After 20 minutes the stream of water stopped and I noticed that the leak at the top of the faucet had returned.  With a sigh, I turned the cold water back off, and decided to work on it tomorrow, which is now today.   As long as I was by the sink, I put my coffee cup in the dishwasher.

Temps today will be in the 50's and it is  still windy, probably not the best day to ride anyway.  The colors are beautiful.  Hoping to get out tomorrow and take some pics.

Yesterday it was so windy along the lake shore in Chicago that they had to close the bike trail on lake shore drive down. Huge waves were knocking cyclist and runners down.  There are several video on the link.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/video/#!/news/local/Huge-Waves-Knock-Down-LSD-Bikers--Runners/130845438

However, today there is some sun in Michigan.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60's and sunny, so after church, we'll come home, and take a little picnic lunch and a color tour ride.

I spent most of the day trying figure out the RO system leak.  Started off by checking the pressure in the tank.  It was a 7 pounds, just like it should be.

 Pretty sure  the leak  had to do with the drain line.  After much effort, I finally got the drain line loose from the drain.   It was dirty.  In order to flush it out, I needed to remove it from the faucet,but of course, I couldn't get it loose.  Nothing in the instructions telling me how to do it.  I called a friend of ours to see if he might know how to get  it loose, and he offered to come and help me.   I took him up on the offer immediately. He and I spent all afternoon working on it.  We got the line loose, cleaned it out, and reassembled the stuff that goes inside the faucet.  It still leaked.  Took it apart again, and changed the O rings, still leaking.  Took it apart again, trimmed each hose just a little incase they weren't fitting just right.  It is still leaking.   Added a washer, so the screw holding it all together would fit better,  still leaking.  He, Tony and I,  had some good laughs while we worked on it, but it is still leaking.

  RO system is under a 3 year warranty, there is obviously something wrong inside the faucet housing.  I will call the company on Monday.   I want no more leaking.  I also want to be able to have the cold water turned on in the kitchen.


 I would have rather been riding.   Oh yeah, the fleas the dog got while we were on vacation, laid some eggs before they died , a new generation has arrived to do battle with.

 Yep, I'll be glad to get out and ride tomorrow.

New tires.

After our tire problems last weekend, we ordered 3 new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires.  They are supposed to be a very good tire, people who use them typically, don't get many flats.  Yep, those are the ones we need for sure.  I was excited when we came home form work Thursday and found that they had arrived.

I had read that they fit very tight on the rim and can be challenging to put on, but  on Friday, I decided to give it a try.  Tony helped me put the trike up on the trailer, so the tire would be at a good height to work with.

 Button was nearby, ready to help, if called upon.

I had watched a You Tube video that showed a guy using a toe strap to hold  the tire on the rim, while he slowly worked the bead on the tire onto the rim.  I didn't have a toe strap, so decided I would use some rope.

It did keep the part I put on from coming off, but didn't make the last 6 inches any easier to get on, they were taut against the tire, behind and in front of the rim.   I tried using the tire lever to ease it on bit by bit, but had no success, it might have worked for the guy on You tube, but it sure didn't work for me.  Tony tried to muscle it one, but couldn't get it on either.  He called the local bike shop, they suggested letting some air out of the tube, said it would go on easy then.  Easy by whose definition?  Not by ours.  They  said if we couldn't get it on ,we could bring it in, and that is exactly what we decided to do.

 Of course the guy who did it made it look easy, but basically, he still had to muscle it on.  This all leaves me a bit concerned about how I will ever get these new tires off or on, if we do have a flat.  I think there is a special tool I can buy that makes the whole process easier, so I think I'll check into that.

The trip to the  bike shop made our day pretty hectic, we had a 90 minute drive to a surprise birthday party for our daughter later in the day.  We got home, unloaded the trike, got cleaned up and were on our way by 4:30.  The party started at 6:30, so we got there with 10 minutes to spare.  We came back home afterwards.

Sunny skies this morning, so we were eager to get out and try out the new tires.  Our local bike shop is knowledgeable about bikes, but they don't know much about trikes.  Typically, bike tires are inflated to about 45 pounds.  Our old tires called for 90 PSI, our local bike shop told us the new tires needed about 45 pounds of air.  That is about half of what we have been riding with, when I questioned them, they told me that 45 was what that tire called for.   I didn't understand how that could work. so I posted on BROL (Bent Rider Online) which is a forum for recumbent riders.  Most responders felt that the tires needed more pressure than 45 PSI, so before we went riding we called Terra Trike in Grand Rapids and asked them how much air to put in.  They checked with their bike mechanics and told us to use 95 PSI, so that is what we did.  The tires did fine and the pressure seemed about right.   I was glad we didn't ride with only 45 PSI, we would have been working way to hard to get going and  to keep the trike moving.

We wanted to try the tires on both hills and on the trail, so we headed to LeRoy.  On our way in  we were riding up a medium sized hill, when I heard a noise from behind us, I asked Tony what he was doing, "Just pedaling," came the reply.  Then an Amish fellow on a recumbent bike pulled up next to us, he was the noise i had been hearing.   He rode next to us for awhile, but it was in spurts, since he had to drop behind us when cars passed, and we would pull ahead of him going down hill.  He would catch back up when we went uphill.  He was quite curious about our trike and we had many questions about a nifty little trailer he was pulling.  He told us it was made in Napanee IN.  It could hold up to 125 lbs, but was pretty light and easy to pull.  It was made of aluminum.   We rode together for several miles, then he turned off and headed to the store, we went onto the White Pine Trail.  WE have quite a few Amish i our area and see them out on bikes or in buggies when we are out riding, but this is the first chance we had to ride with one.  It was a neat experience. It was interesting to talk to him.  Wish I could have taken a picture, but Amish folks don't like to have their picture taken, so I didn't ask.  Here is a link to the trailer he was pulling.  It was pretty cool.
 http://www.bicyclecart.com/
 On the trail, we could see that the fall color season is starting.  Rode through a pretty section where the sumac was bright red.  It was so pretty.  Soon the woods  all around us will be lit up with color.  Looking forward to getting some pictures then.

We rode past one of the apple trees I had taken a picture of when it was in bloom, it has many apples now, quite a few were on the ground already.

As we rode on big clouds started to roll in.  The sky was so blue, the clouds were so big, it was quite a contrast.  I could hear the wind rustling the dried corn stalks as we rode past the cornfields.   I love the sounds and smells of fall.  I love the crispness of the air, it seems to magnify the fall smells.

When we were coming up the hill we saw 2 turkeys come out of the trees and cross the
 road.  I was kind of far away to take a picture, but here are my attempts.  In the first picture one turkey is starting across the road.

  In the next one, if you look closely you can see the 2 turkeys heading into the grass.

Some color in the trees on 155th Ave., which is where we saw the turkey's.  Once we get up the big hill there, we know we have just one more  big hill  to climb before home.

The clouds turned kind of dark just before we got home, we thought we might get rained on, but we didn't.  Shortly after we got home, the sun was shining again.

When we were in the bike shop the guy who put the tires on,  commented on how dirty our bike chains were ,which is true, they are terrible.

 I switched to Boeshield T-9 early in the summer and really like it a lot.    It is a wax rather than an oil based lubricant, and needs to be applied about every 300 miles.

 The instructions say to spray the Boesheild on,, let it dry and then wipe it off, so that is what I have been doing.  I didn't know I was supposed to clean my chains  too, well I knew chains needed to be cleaned but had no idea how to do it, or how often.   In fact, I didn't even know how to clean a chain.  I admit I haven't done it because I thought I would have to take the chains off  and when I put them back on, I might not route them properly.   As always, the bike shop was very helpful and told me what I needed to clean the chain.  There is a kit that can be used without taking the chains off.  It's called a  Chain Bright kit, which is a little box with a sponge and brushes inside that line up with the chain on the bike, or in our case, the trike.

The box is filled with chain cleaner,  and clamped onto the chain, and the chain is  rotated around about 10 times.  I had hardly started to turn the chain in this picture, but already you can see how dirty the cleaner is getting.

Our trike has a total of 10 feet of chain, so it took quite awhile to get 10 revolutions done.  Then I took a cloth and held the chain, while turning the pedals, cleaning the chain even more. After about 30 minutes, I had the back chain done.  One down, one to go.

I had a hard time knowing where to put the chain cleaning box on the front chain.  Our trike has a short boom on it, if I clamped the box on the front part of the chain, the pedal hit it when it came around, stopping the whole process.  I finally decided to clamp the box on the chain where it was behind my seta.  it was still a tight space, but it got the job done.  I was amazed at how well the chain cleaning box worked.  The chain was visibly cleaner, and the cleaner inside the box was filthy.   I was going to take a picture of it, but my hand were so dirty, I didn't want to touch the camera, so you'll have to take my word  on it.

You can see by the picture, that the chains were much cleaner when I was done.

Once the chain was clean, it had to be lubed, so out came the Boeshield.  I use the spray, which does a good job, but I have yet to find a way to do it, without ending up with quite a bit of Boesheild on the frame of the trike.  Today was no exception.  Once the trike was lubed, I waited the required time, then wiped the chain off again.  When I was done, I had 2 sparkly clean chains, and one very dirty trike.

Got the bucket ready and gave the trike a good washing.  Now it's all ready to go on a new adventure, new tires, clean chains and all.

Big Mac Shoreline Bike Tour Part 2

Here is part 2 of our Big Mac Shoreline ride.

After lunch in Cross Village, we were on our way.  Had some nice views of Lake Michigan.

 Rode past an interesting "Duck Crossing " sign and stop light.  The stop light wasn't on, the sign was  behind a fence, no ducks in sight, but it made a cute picture.

The terrain became hiller after Cross Village.  There was quite a stretch of uneven road surface, with some new sections and some rough sections.  I almost lost control when we came around a curve and down a hill and unexpectedly hit an especially rough area.  We were going about 22 MPH,  and  were pulled toward the center line.  When I put the brake on lightly, and tried to steer back towards the side of the road, the trike began to fishtail.  I managed to keep it under control, but it was kind of scary.  In talking with our riding partners later, we found out they had experienced problems with their single trikes on that section of road as well.  Wish there had been some warning that it was coming up, at least we could have been prepared for it.  Couldn't help but wonder how others felt about it.

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis know by now, that a barn picture will likely appear.  Your wait is over, here is the barn we saw.  On the side of it the words "  Plain Old Farm" appeared.

A bit further on we cam across an interesting stone house.  There was a stone out building as well.  The property is for sale.  Any takers?

The road looked level, but we found ourselves using a lower gear and going slower, so it must have been a very slight uphill grade.  Our friends later told us that they had a long stretch of riding in lower gears in this area as well.  In spite of using  our lower gears, we kept going slower and slower.  I stopped to check and see if there was a problem, and found we had a flat tire. 

 It was the same tube that I had changed before we left home.  Got the trike flipped over and realized that when we had our rims drilled for Schrader valves, I had forgotten to switch the portable air pump on the trike to one that had a Schrader head.  Somehow I had lost my  course map and didn't have the SAG phone number, (support and aid group) number.  Fortunately, 2 riders came by who had it, so I called Sag for help. 

 On the whole course we had only seen a SAG  twice.  They seemed to be as scarce as the route markings on the road.  We called and after about 15 minutes, Greg appeared.  I had my tire part way off, he finished taking it off.  I had the new tube out and ready to go.  As he worked, I explained my dilemma about having the wrong pump.

  He got the tube out an started to put the new tube in.  In my bike maintenance class I learned that when changing a tire, to always check the inside of the tire and the rim for any sharp objects or protrusions that may have caused the flat.   I could see that Greg wasn't going to do that, so I casually mentioned that I usually do a quick check to see what might have caused the flat, so I don't get another, a few miles down the road.  By this time Greg was putting air in the tire with his portable compressor.  His reply was, "Well, it must be OK, I don't hear any air hissing out."  I was quite concerned by his response and said, "Hope we don't have another flat, a few miles down the road.   Greg must have taken my remark seriously, he followed us for about 5 miles.  We were riding at around 18 MPH most of that time.  Finally,  Greg pulled around us and went on his way.  A few minutes after that, we began to slow down.  I knew without checking what the problem was...another flat.

  We were 2 and 1/4 miles from the finish, I had no more spares, so once again, I called SAG.     I also called our friends, jeff and Kiersten,  to let them know what was going on.  After a 25 minute wait, Dawn, driving the SAG truck came. On the ride back, I told her I wasn't surprised by the second flat, because Greg hadn't checked the tire and rim for sharp objects.  I mentioned that I didn't think he did too much cycling.  She told me that he was a farmer, used to changing tractor tires, and that in fact, none of the people who put the tour together were cyclist.  

 Tony stayed with the trike and she gave me a ride back to the complex to get the car and trailer, taking a different route then the bikes were on.

  Jeff helped me get the trailer hooked up and followed me back to the trike.  I don't have  great sense of direction and I was kind of  turned around because Dawn had taken a different route back.  I missed a turn.   I realized Jeff and Kiersten were no longer behind me, but had to keep going until I could find a place to turn around with the trailer.  I called Jeff and he told me what turn I had missed.  On the way back, I met Dawn, who assured me I was going the right way.  I finally made it back to Tony and the trike.  Jeff and Kiersten were already there.  We got the trike loaded up and headed back to the motel.  

After a shower and a little bit of rest, we headed out for supper.  None of us had any problem putting away plenty of Pizza.

The next day, Kiersten and Jeff , along with other riders, were signed up to ride  across the Mackinaw  bridge.  

The Mighty Mac,  or Big Mac, as we Michiganders like to refer to it, is the third longest suspension bridge in the world.  It was surpassed by the Akashi Kalkyo Bridge in Japan in 1998, however at 5 miles long, it is still the largest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere, surpassing even the famous Golden Gate Bridge.    The bridge was completed in 1957, making it possible for for the people of Michigan and those visiting our  state to go across the straits of Mackinaw, that divide the upper and lower peninsulas, without taking a ferry.  It is a sight to behold and something that has greatly contributed to the tourism of the area.  

The day we arrived in Mackinaw City, the antique tractor show had taken place.  It ended with a crossing of the bridge by the antique tractors.  The evening the  Big Mac Shoreline tour ended,  the bridge  was crossed by a huge number of semi trucks that had come from the Big Truck show in St Ignace, in the Upper Peninsula.   Many people were lined up in Mackinaw city to see the trucks come through. 

I don't even like to drive the bridge.  The open grates in the center of the bridge kind of freak me out when I am driving across it.  I can't imagine riding over them and seeing the water below.  Needless to say we didn't sign up to ride the bridge. 

Jeff and Kiersten had to be at the meeting point for the ride across as 6:30 AM the next day, so we made an early night of it, and headed to our rooms.  Tony and I were going to go in the hot tub, but once we got in the room and relaxed on the bed,  we found ourselves lacking the motivation to walk to the other building to do it.

Talked to our friends after they crossed the bridge, and they said there was nothing to it.  The grates were covered up with mats from DelMac Bike tour. which also includes a ride across the bridge Most likely because the grating causes problems for bicycles going across, so they couldn't even see the water.  The trikes were down low enough, that all they really saw was the railing.  If I had known that was the situation, I may have been brave enough to ride the bridge.

In summing the weekend up, I would say that over all, it was a great ride. We had good riding weather, an interesting course, some challenging terrain, and good time spent with friends.  

In looking back, I can see that the event was not put together by any cycling group.  The registration folks weren't too excited about the ride, the course markings were only at the turns, with miles of isolation in between that had us and other cyclist asking of we were on the right route.  Sag presence was very low and not done by folks who were  very knowledgeable about cycling.  The course was beautiful, with many picturesque views.  I would say that the main purpose of this tour is to bring tourist dollars into the community and it does do that. Not sure if we would do this tour again.  There was a total of 300 riders for the tour.  I think most of them did the 25 mile loop.  The tour is done in the spring as well. 

Several lessons learned by Tony and I in this experience as well.  First and foremost I will be checking the rim and the tries for any protrusions  or rough spots.   3 flats in 2 days on the same side tells us that something is going on, and I need to get to the bottom of it.  I am tired of flat tires.  Secondly, I am changing the air pump on the trike out to one that does Scrhader valves.  I have also decided to carry a can of CO2, which will make it easier to pump up a flat tire. Although we use  Schwalbe Marathon tires, we aren't happy with the way they have been wearing.  We have under 2000 miles on the set we have, and they need replacing.   I have already ordered a new set of Marathon Plus tires for the trike.  Cyclist say they get far less flats with them and they last longer.  They should be here by Thursday, so I can get them on and we can ride this weekend.