Observation:  I was only a few miles into this morning’s ride in a somewhat rundown neighborhood when I came upon a dog in his front yard. Now, whenever I see any dog my senses heighten at least a little, but I could quickly see this one had a collar on which was attached to a long, thick chain. I suddenly felt sorry for him because it was REALLY cold out, and he was standing there licking a puddle of ice in the middle of his yard. I was just thinking “really people, you can’t give him water?”, when he looked up at me…and charged. Now even though he was a large Pitbull mix of some sort, I didn’t flinch at all because I had seen the chain, but what I had failed to notice was the chain…was attached to nothing. So my “poor puppy” moment shifted to “O.M.G.”…and off we were to the races. Me, riding like a crazy man trying to get away, while he was in full sprint dragging this 20′ chain behind him snaking back and forth on the cement. To a casual observer looking on it actually might have seemed somewhat comical, but for me it was two blocks peddling like mad and thinking “maybe I am too old for this”.

Distance:  34.20 miles

D-Fact: Detroit is home to the world’s largest tire.  At 80 feet tall and a staggering 12 tons, it was actually constructed from an old Ferris wheel with 24 barrel-shaped gondolas.  It has sat in the same spot along I-94 since 1965, and a car would have to be 200 feet tall to handle it.