Day 14-Cassiday

Today was supposed to be a day of running around. First, take Cassidy to pre-school. Then, go back to the house and make breakfast. Oatmeal, of course. Next, go back and pick up Cass from school and then take Kim to work. Shop around in Trader Joe's for dinner provisions-and more importantly chocolate-and then take Cass shopping for a backpack for her first year of big girl school in the fall. Then we had some other things to do.

Things changed when we got word from Kim that she was getting off work early. Conveniently, we were just down the road when she made the call. So back round we went to fetch Kim, then home for lunch. By the time we were done with lunch, it was time to fetch Dylan from school. Then we did the backpack shopping, hot beverage buying, and email checking. At some point, the time became 5 and that meant I needed to start making dinner.

I generally try to make dinner at least once when I come to stay with Kim and Michael. They are both busy people and parents, and since they are kind enough to let me invade their lives, I try to repay the favor at least once by taking the pressure of dinner prep off their hands.

Of course, the two small children never like what I fix. They are always happy with chicken tenders and fruit, rather than the fancy schmancy spinach and sausage frittata with parmesan cheese that I made. I don't take it personally. It needed salt anyway.

Tomorrow I start ramping up for work mode again in preparation for 3 demos in a row this weekend.

Day 13-More Ohio, But With Less Hair

Quiet day today. I woke up, did some emailing, chatted to some people, ate some breakfast.

I got my haircut. I wanted it to rest just above my shoulders, but the little stylist took off more than that. I say little because she was not a tall person. I was heads and boobs above her. She reminded me of one of our surf instructors in Costa Rica, I wanted to put her in my pocket!

Anyhoo, it hasn't been this short since Dan came to visit me during the Fruita Fat Tire Festival. I know this because he took a picture. But it's just hair, so it will grow back.

Then it was time for a mad rush hour dash to pick up Michael from work so we could meet up with Kim, the kids, and my favorite Aunt Betty. Cassidy is graduating from pre-school, see. It was a special day.

Day 12-Oh, How I Love My Cross Bike

I planned to ride today, and ride I did.

Random had told be about some bike path stuff he did while he was here a couple of weeks ago. It included a path that is not too far from the house here. I did some research on Google Maps and found the path and the way to it.

I took the cross bike, just because. Once again I was rewarded for my choice by loads of little singletrack sections straying to and fro from the paved trail. It was so. Much. Fun.

I worked my way down to the campus of Ohio State University, which Michael says is one of the biggest schools in the country with it's population of something like 60,000 students. Wow. I knew it was big, but I didn't know it was that big. I continued from there towards the German Village, which Rando had also mentioned. I found a little deli and had some food before starting back.

Rider, meet headwind.

It was breezy when I left, and I could swear that it was in my face until I noticed some branches near downtown blowing in the same direction. This meant that when I started back, I was going to hit the wind head on. For a long way. It was probably 15 or so miles back to the house, with no way to really escape the gusts. I was worked when I started heading back, probably because in my glee I was turning the cranks pretty hard. I am completely tired now, and have that nice little leg burn that we all love in our weird, sadistic way.

The good, and completely unrelated news, is that Michael informed me that they now have wireless at the house. This spares me from having to go find a coffee shop to bring all of my readers, all 2.7 of you, your daily dose. I know how excited you are.

Kim arrives home late tonight, so tomorrow should be complete with many tales of her exciting weekend. I might ride my bike again.

Day 11-Columbus, OH Kim and Michael's House

First morning waking up at the home of my cousin Kim and Michael (her husband, and that makes him family). Kim is actually down in Savannah, GA with her sister, my aunt, and my sister visiting Lauren. It was a surprise to Lauren that Ruth was going. We knew there would be tears. It wasn't a question of whether or not tears would happen, but how many tears there would be.

Anyhoo...I had a leisurely morning. I started by making some steel cut oats for breakfast, then sat outside on the deck enjoying the morning with my book (I was reading David Cullen's book Columbine, which revealed the events leading up to the massacre, and the errors that took place during the investigation a decade ago).

The plan for the day was to take the kids to the Columbus Museum to see a traveling exhibit on Egyptian burial rituals. It was good, but I was more impressed by the permanent exhibit of George Tooker's work. Amazing stuff.

The rest of the day was spent engrossed in the book to the point of finishing it. I ate some dinner, did some laundry, talked to Tori on the phone, and started reading the Idiot's Guide to 2012. It turns out that it's not quite the doomsday that everyone fears it to be.

The Maya had a cool way of writing numbers. It gave me an idea for another tattoo.

Day 10-Brighton, MI Island Lake Demo Day

Demo day today. Island Lake Recreation Area outside of Detroit this time. This one was a big'un, and the whole East side demo crew was present: my pal Troy from Cannondale (who you may remember was part of the Costa Rica trip over New Year's), Ken our demo guy, Louis from GT, the Giant guy, and the Specialized guy. The local Jamis rep had his little trailer there, and there was a Scott Sprinter van present as well.

The weather was GREAT! For about an hour. Then the sky suddenly got very dark, and the rain began. It didn't really let up, and soon the bikes started coming back covered in cack. Troy had hooked up his hose to the back of the bathroom building, so I started washing dirty bikes as they came off the trail/road. This would prove to be a good move later.

At one point, we made a group decision to stop sending bikes out. Reports from the riders were that some parts of the trail were starting to pool water. The bikes were only going to get dirtier, the trails were going to get more rutted, and the inexperienced riders were going to face more risk of injury. The rain would let up, then start again. The packing up process began, with Troy leading the way. No surprise there. It doesn't take much for Troy to decide to call it a day.

Everyone else started to catch on to the hose. I had a couple of bikes left to wash, which was good because the last time I went behind the building, there was a rack of bikes and about 5 guys waiting around to wash bikes. Score one for planning ahead!

People were still trickling in wanting to try bikes. It's never easy to tell people no. I sent a couple of road bikes around, which I had to wash again, of course. I started to dry the bikes the best I could, and put on some chain lube to prevent rusting. The worst part of days like this is putting everything in the trailer while it's wet.

The sun reappeared around 4pm. The demo was scheduled to go until 5. Troy had his massive 43 foot trailer completely packed and closed up before anyone, and probably by around 3pm. Evan, the Giant guy, was close behind. I took my time and closed the door around 4:30. I stood around and chatted with Troy and Louis for a while before heading out. I had a 3 hour drive down to my cousin's house in Columbus.

No hotels for almost a week.

Day 9-Livonia, MI

Time to pack and ship out, but first! a bike ride!

I spent the morning rounding up the various things I'd taken into my little suite. I tidied up the two-sided Dakine bag full of my clean clothes, put away all the foody provisions into the waterproof Rubbermaid storage container, put the dirty laundry into the laundry bag, rounded up the toiletries from the shower, packed my overnight bag with a work shirt and change of clothes for tonight's hotel, and gathered up Frazier's food and water bowls.

The cross bike went back into the trailer, the shoes were stored under the seats in the truck, or in little nooks in the trailer, the dog and food containers went into the back of the truck, the few items in the fridge were placed in the little cooler with the two trays of ice from the freezer, the few bottles of beer and wine that were left were carefully wrapped in paper and nestled into a box in the trailer, and various cables and leads were put into the small messenger bag.

Once everthing was ready to go, it was time to bid farewell to the Traverse Bay Inn. I'd like to say I'd stay there again, and I would, but next time I think I'll find someplace a bit closer to downtown, and maybe on the water side of the very busy road instead of on the other side of it, requiring a perilous road crossing to the shoreline.

Off I went to Brick Wheels again to meet up with Paula, the woman from last night who wanted to try the Madone. I got her bike ready with pedals and a quick once over of the gears, then got my bike ready and changed into some riding kit. A quick saddle addjustment later, and we were off up the peninsula that runs between the East and West Grand Traverse Bays. Stunning. The people who live in this area and get to ride here all the time are really very, very fortunate.

At some point we took a left so Paula could check out the bike on a hill. It was fairly steep. At the top we were greeted with rows and rows of blossoming cherry trees (this is a huge area for cherry orchards), and a vineyard on the right with a tasting room. Paula hadn't even finished making the suggestion that we stop for a tasting before I had my bike halfway turned around toward the driveway. I highly recommend mid-ride wine tastings. It reminded me of our little adventure in Napa during SSWC last year. This time, were in full riding kit. There's nothing quite like the shocked look on the faces of people who see riders clip clopping their way to the bar in a tasting room.

After the ride, it was time to get ready to head out of town. I had one stop to make at Jan's house to drop off a couple of bottles of wine I'd gotten for her as a thank you for the use of her back yard, and for her general kindness towards a weary road warrior.

Leaving Traverse City was not easy. What a great place. I was truly sorry to say goodbye.

Now I'm back near Detroit for a big multi-vendor demo tomorrow. Back to the grind.

Day 8-More Traverse City, and Women Drinking Wine At A Bike Store

Let's see...Today started out pretty quiet. I caught up on some emails and forum posts while the rain moved away. Then I headed over Brick Wheels to check in and see if I could help get ready for the event. They seemed to have things under control, so to kill some time I headed to downtown Traverse City to check out the scene. What a great downtown area.

I went back to the hotel for some food, then set off with the trailer to get the rig washed up all nice and shiny for the event. My responsibilities were rather few: park the rig on the front lawn for maximum visibility, hang around the store and answer questions for the women. I helped fit a few helmets, talked about lights, installed one light, discussed bikes, and consumed some very nice late-harvest Riesling. People seemed to have fun, and the store sold some things.

I talked to a woman for quite a while who was looking at a Madone 6.5, or a Specialized Ruby. I wasn't going to be in a huge hurry to leave town, so I offered to meet with her tomorrow for a ride so she could really get a feel for the bike.

Tim Brick, the store owner, took the industry reps out after the event to one of the Mexican joints in town. Fortunately for me, mole was on the menu. It's been a while since I had a nice mole sauce, so it was a nice way to fill my belly.

That pretty much sums up the day.