Fred Meijer Heartland Trail

The Heartland Trail starts (almost) in Greenville, and stretches to Edmore at the moment, although it is planned to reach Alma. It's wide, flat, well paved and popular. Don, Vic and I rode it on Labor Day.




We met a retired fighter pilot riding on the trail who took this picture.

Vic and I talked about tires, clipless pedals, clothing. I just replaced the stock tire on my bike -- which I bought this year! 2000 miles isn't much, but it has suffered a considerable strain from trailers, my weight and 1000 miles of panniers. The front tire is barely worn. I like clipless pedals, but I know many strong riders like Sue and Vic who do not use them. It's much better without them off the bike. I am experimenting with clothing: not the attractive shorts I get to wear, which I absolutely love no matter what they look like; but I want to experiment with different shirts. I've had bad luck with cotton t's because they stick and do not dry. Wool could be good, but it's really expensive, and the one jersey I have is cut for the "starving European" look, not the "I have a desk job and eat like an athlete" look. So it accentuates that which shouldn't. I've also heard good things about seersucker -- from the Rivendell website -- but I haven't had a chance to try that. I'm pretty happy with the jerseys I have, except that off the bike they don't work well as fashion statements. I'd like to find something that looks decent off the bike, but performs well on the bike.

For our mid-ride meal -- breakfast -- we stopped at a gas station for a $3.99 buffet. Vic bought mine (thanks Vic), so I owe him $4.23. Actually, Vic handed me a 20 to pay for both of us, then counted the change carefully.





The trail runs right past the end of a race track. You can see the safety hay bale at the end of the track to protect cyclists from out of control race cars. There's also a sign that says that we can't stand or stop.



I asked Vic to take a picture of me with a water tower coming out of my head.



Here we are, loading up the vehicles at the end of the trail.

While driving home Don and I were almost hit head on -- we had to swerve off the road with one wheel off the pavement -- when a car going the opposite direction chose to give a Tandem three feet of passing room, pushing that car well into our lane around a corner. If we had collided, the metal on metal contact would have been.. irony.

It's a long drive to a short ride, so we probably won't be back until there's a few more miles on the trail.