playing possum - literally

The scene is about 8 AM this morning on a beautiful holiday; a great day for a loop around Walled Lake for this scribe. There I was, checking my bicycle and saddle bags for all the supplies needed when I noticed the towel in the bag move. After further review, it was determined that a possum had taken shelter in my saddle bag. After the chest pains subsided of having my pulse up to 200, I moved the bike near a tree and 'shood' (not sure if a word) the varmint away.

Heads up for the possum in your bags!

Trail Head

  

Feeling Prune

The fingers tell the story for today's No-Mo charity kayak fish outing  as Mother Nature blessed us with some H2O for the plants/grass on the wacky universe we hang out in. Good for the plants/grass, bummer for someone fishing in a non-motorized fishing tournament. 

Thanks go out to the Lake Oakland homeowner who let me hunker under his power boat canopy while rain number one (of three) came through.

No victory cigars for the tournament this year as I caught an early keeper but nothing worthy after while another kayaker coming out had three bass and a pike for a kicker so my entry fee was going directly to the Make-A-Wish group; which is what its all about.

Trail Head   

feeling good with this one about 8 AM but nothing worthy after

New Sheriff in Town

Yep, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is officially out on the trails, looking out for the Bandit (ha). I had my first official patroller ride tonight with MCMBA Bike Patrol Director (fancy title) Randy at Hickory Glen Park. Besides a down tree blocking a portion of the trail that said writer reported to the trail coordinator (never knew the term "trail coordinator" until this year), that was the drama of my first ride. I won't bore you with these reports from here on out but I'm looking forward to hopefully helping the cause in the pedal world.

Trail Head

Race #2 - Baby Steps

Go Team GDI!!!!

While there are still many areas for improvement, race number two Saturday morning, Mud Sweat & Beers at Mt. Holiday in Traverse City, marked an improvement over race one for this scribe. Rather than being lumped in towards the bottom of the final standings, I managed to claw my way towards the middle. Besides a shoe lace that managed to get caught up in my chain (another lesson learned; some good cussing during the lace destroy) that might have put me in the top 10, I was happy with my ride.  

A little different format than the first race with respect to starting. Rather than going off individually every 30 seconds, you were lumped in with your group and others at the starting line. With that, taking off at the same time were Men/Women sport, Men/Women single speed, Men/Women fat bike and Men Clydesdale. You have a chip on your riding plate so it doesn't matter if you start in front or back, however, rather than pace myself from the back like I did, I should have inched toward the front as getting out of the initial cluster of bicycles takes a mile or so of "on your right" calls and a bunch of apologies as everyone is getting in everyone's way.  

Another difference was the finish line. The race name is Mud, Sweat & Beers and they make sure you get all as about 10 yards before the finish line is a very large, man made mud puddle that every rider must go through; a tradition I was told. I get to clean my bike now....yippee (insert sarcasm).

Ride on.

Trail Head

man made mud puddle at finish line

initial herd taking off

the cattle getting ready

 

 

man made mud puddle at finish line

the scene

Small World

In the "it's a small world" category, there I was last Friday at a Northville establishment watching the Tiger game, glancing up occasionally to watch the action while also focusing on the inhalation of my chicken nacho (big nacho). I don't know why I was watching at the time but Victor Martinez hit a foul ball, it bounced off the press box, up in the air and right in the hands of a girl who works at said Northville establishment I was watching from. I said to the person next to me, "Was that KT?" Others in the place saw the replay and up went the cheers for KT's 20 minutes of fame; video below. An amazing catch with no spillage of her beverage!. She even got a post catch interview with the station covering the game (of course her hubby had to loot in on the exposure once the cameras came in).

An incredible catch it was KT. Congrats!

http://m.mlb.com/det/video/topic/47150896/v1332061783/cwsdet-fan-makes-nice-snag-on-foul-celebrates-grab
Trail Head