Two milestone day

It was a big day for bicycle milestones here in West Michigan. We rode up to Kirk Park, here is my blue bicycle at the edge of the beach.An examination of Santini's odometer at this point revealed a five digit number beginning with a "1". 10,000 miles is a lot of miles and having ridden that far on one bicycle is a major accomplishment. Of course, she does have two other bicycles with more than 9,000 miles each so maybe she isn't impressed, someone should ask her. I am impressed.

Later on, shortly after we passed the Port Sheldon Party Store MY bicycle odometer clicked over 2,000. Now compared to 10,000, 2,000 is, well, 2,000 is one-fifth as much. But this particular milestone still seems pretty cool to me in view of the fact that I DO live in Minnesota and this bicycle has never been outside of the state of Michigan. The relationship between me and this bicycle began six years ago when I rented it for 10 days of riding in Michigan. I liked the bicycle and when I return to the the shop at the end of the rental period they credited the rental towards the purchase price and also applied an end of season discount. Our hostess said I could store the bicycle in her basement when I wasn't in Michigan. This is my seventh Michigan vacation riding the blue Specialized and today I passed 2,000 miles.

We were riding along on the way back when I noticed this blue thing on my right.Naturally enough, I wondered what the deal is with that blue thing. Even so, it didn't seem an important enough concern to stop and get a photo. But I do carry a digital camera in my jersey pocket so I reached back and pulled it out. I have only attempted on the bike, one handed digital photography one other time but I decided to give it another effort.

I was still riding and started to think to myself, well, that actually went OK. So I tried it again. Here is the view from the lanterne rouge of today's peloton:And here we are crossing the Pigeon River:Those pictures actually came out pretty OK especially considering that after I got back I discovered that two of the three pictures I took while stopped were fatally flawed and had to be deleted. One had a finger on the lens, the other had that wrist strap deal in the image both top and bottom.

On the bike, one hand digital photography rulz.

Voeckler has dropped out of the race while in the lead in the spotty jersey competition. Today the new person in the peloton tried an early sprint out, claiming that she wanted to "get a run at the hill" when clearly she intended to steal the spotty points. I was alert and chased her down. She claimed a mechanical while actually on the hill, saying that she had "no gears". I nabbed the points and have reclaimed the lead in the competition.

This one was taken with more traditional photographic techniques (two hands).Tonight I intend to try to stay up and see if I can participate in this Perseid meteor shower business. SU stayed up last night and saw four. Last night was supposed to be the best but tonight is still supposed to be a good viewing opportunity.