Chêne du Lac

I haven't done much bicycle maintenance here for several years.  Last year I had my first ever Michigan flat tire.  I resisted the urge to get a set of tires here even though the bicycle was probably due for a complete set.  I  knew I had tires in my basement at home.

We completed travel here this year in something of a hurry up but one of the things I DID remember was my bicycle tires.  As a result on my Michigan bicycle I now palp tires in an orange colorway.

Secondarily over the past several years I have adopted a relaxed attitude about chain lube.  I have decided that if the bicycle is shifting correctly and easily and if the mechanism isn't making too much noise then additional oil on the chain will mostly just contribute to a build up of oil and grit on the chain which has the possibility of being really messy.  Furthermore, attaching grit to the chain with a liquid really produces a nice slurry of gritty particles which it seems to me is just as likely to cause additional wear as it is to reduce wear.

I run a dry chain.

Yesterday the chain was TOO noisy.  I thought about it a bit and concluded that it had probably been at least five years since the last time the chain was lubed.  Now I have bicycles at home on which I have ridden many more miles than I have ridden on this bicycle but I have no bicycles at home that I ride which have been five years without a chain lube.

I rounded up the homeowner's dry lube and today I went link by link around the chain, 106 drops of oil.

It is actually quite satisfying to note what a wide variety of creaks, squeaks and pings can be eliminated from a bicycle ride by an appropriate lubrication.

Today I took only a shake down, not the standard length ride.  The others here want to ride tomorrow and I didn't feel like I was going to be up to the full standard ride four days in a row.

Mostly I rode over to and around in Waukazoo Woods, highlighted today by the Oaks of the Lake.

It was intended to be a short ride and it was.  I was getting close to the end and not feeling quite used up yet so I went someplace I haven't gone probably in at least that aforementioned five years.  I used to ride there all of the time.  I took a picture.

Only a select tiny minority will be able to identify that spot but here is another hint that may give a few more people a chance at guessing.

Today I rode end to end of Sunset Bluff Drive.

The east end is just a fork in the road in a pleasant enough neighborhood not far from here.

The west end is on the top of the giant dune next door.

It didn't seem THAT hard, I paused at the top to get a couple of pictures and to catch my breath (and regulate my heart rate).

It was good.