Frontier Field

Total for this ride: 16.9 miles
Total for this year: 975.4 miles

Closing in on the 1000-mile mark.  Probably Friday.

I hadn't been on the bike since last Friday, so since the Univega was sitting there in my office, and I had all the gear I needed, I decided to just to go for a solo ride after work.  Didn't initially have any route or destination in mind, but eventually decided to head into town, and eventually found myself at Frontier Field.  It was a nice ride with a little variety.  Of course there were the trail segments, where I can mindlessly pedal along with my brain in neutral.  But there were also the segments on the streets of downtown Rochester, which, although they weren't clogged with rush hour traffic, still demanded some attention so as to avoid getting killed in a grusome and painful fashion.  Needless to say, I succeeded.

I half expected Frontier Field to be empty.  For some reason I thought the Wings played a day game today, but in fact they were scheduled to hit the field against the Columbus Clippers at 7:05.  Folks were lined up at the gates waiting to get in as I rolled up.  Since there was indeed a game scheduled, I figured my son AJ might be there.  AJ is an intern with the Wings this summer, and typically provides audio-visual services at the games, most often working one of the TV cameras on the field.  I took a quick look in the employee parking lot and saw my Civic (the car AJ is using this summer) so I knew he was around somewhere.  Thinking he might be busy getting ready for the game I decided not to call him but rather just to head back to RIT.  As I was riding past the stadium on Morrie Silver Dr. I noticed that just inside one of the fences separating the stadium concourse from the outside sidewalk there were a group of people sitting at a table eating.  One of them was wearing a red shirt that looked smilar to one which AJ has "borrowed" from me since the filming of his major production in the late winter.  I slowed down, rolled up to the fence, and saw that it was indeed AJ.  I called him over, we chatted for a while, and I took a quick picture.  Then it was back to RIT.

When I got back to campus (minutes before the rain hit...) I checked the GPS and was surprised to see that my average speed was under 13 mph.  I was consciously trying to keep the rate up, since I needed a workout.  After taking a look at the data it appears I did hit 14-16 mph on the straight trail segments.  I guess my speed dropped off a little in town.  Oh well...