This morning I had hoped to do a good, long ride - to Gallup Park, and then through it to the east, to explore the eastern portion of the Border-to-Border (B2B) trail, which I've never yet ridden. I had planned to leave early and ride out for 20 miles, then turn around and come back home. But today's ride was rife with logistical snafus.
The difficulties started right off the bat. I left in 54° weather at 6:20 (when I finished, a bit past 10:00, it had heated up to 68°—but still, I am glad to have worn long sleeves), and as I was less than a half mile from home, riding the sidewalk along Lohr Rd. where it curves (outside of Kohl's) early morning sprinklers were blanketing the area, so that I had other option than to ride through and get thoroughly drenched some nice cold water.
Then, at several points on my outbound leg, my phone (which measures my ride) inexplicably went into pause mode. (I suspect my clumsy fingers and lack of dexterity, when I was attempting to put the phone into the pouch in which I carry it.) One time when this happened, I didn't discover it for over 2 miles, when I suddenly realized I was getting no vocal feedback, and checked it, only to find it had been paused on 2 seconds.
Another difficulty was on riding out, after getting to Parker Mill, the trail angles off to the right and folows Geddes Rd. for a short stretch before turning and following Dixboro Rd. and then Huron River Dr., and looping down around St. Joseph Hospital and down past Eastern Michigan University before heading into Ypsilanti. But the stretch along Geddes was closed for a ways for construction, forcing me to find a different way around.
Finally, I realize that my own lack of knowledge of the B2B trail was the root of this problem—but I found its marking and signage to be execrably poor. I lost it several times, most seriously as I was heading south along Hewitt and the map I had printed off from the internet showed a clear turn to the left (east) -- however, I never could find any trace of this, and when I got down to Washtenaw (considerably beyond where I should have turned), I scratched my head, and decided that with all the problems I had encountered so far, the best thing to do was to restart my phone with MapMyRide, and head back, which should give me a reasonable estimate for half the ride.
I couldn't simply double my stats from the second half of the ride—for one thing, I could not retrace my route precisely, due to getting waylaid a few times. But below is what I did get for the second half of the ride, and since I know I added some distance and time, I'm estimating the entire ride at 27 miles in 3:15.
Also, I got the first part of my ride measured, after which I experienced the first of the inexplicable pauses that ended up spoiling my stats. Here is that first part:
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