Today, I took the longest ride yet: 10 miles roundtrip on the Bobcat. We won’t talk about what it did to my hands, even though my splints took most of the shock and I really haven’t had much trouble, post-ride. We won’t talk about the right knee, either, which seems to be stiffening somewhat as I age.

I am proud I took the long trip, though, even though I’ll pay a price later with my very sore, tenosynovitis-plagued hands.

I had to meet a classmate at the UM School of Ed on campus at 4, and we needed a new can opener, so I biked the two miles to campus and then did the four miles during rush hour over to Arborland shopping center … kind of insane of me, but I did it to prove I could.

The bike performed flawlessly and was a joy to ride; Ann Arbor’s gentle hills caused me some huffy-puffy, but nothing major. And Ann Arbor’s nice city sidewalks that stretch the entire two miles from the shopping center here to the apartment meant I didn’t have to deal at all with traffic. It was a very nice ride.

They only slightly annoying moment came on a side street near the shopping center; the street was hard packed dirt with a little gravel. An old Suburban came coasting up behind me, then as he got just ahead of me, he gunned it. Whether intentional or not, I don’t know, but it looked like he was trying to spray me with gravel. I called him a bad name and took another side street.

Other than that, an uneventful ride. There are bike racks at the Bed Bath & Beyond in the shopping center, fortunately, so finding a place to tie up was easy. I did seem to get some patronizing stares from the car people; the location is definitely not bike friendly.

People in Ann Arbor are fairly bike-conscious though; everyone braked nicely for me at intersections and were nice. This is a good thing.

All-in-all, a very good experience.