Hope, Han, and a Red Cup

The cryptic title of this post will be explained at the end, see if you can figure it out before then. I got out to ride three times this week. On Sunday I took the White Pine Trail south and rode through the west side of Grand Rapids to the start of Kent Trails. I then rode that to Millennium Park. The park is in the midst of a major expansion. They are adding another pavilion, more parking and a few more miles of paved trails. I rode some of the new trails and ended up riding all the way along the outside of the park. On the way back north I rode the trail that goes through the former Butterworth dump. The area is very clean now, but there are no buildings and the path/road is a bit overgrown. It was a bit like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. I then rode through downtown Grand Rapids before hooking back up with the WPT and heading home. I also posted one of my best speeds of the year. 17.6 MPH for 36 miles.

On Wednesday I went out to ride some hills. I started by heading up Post Drive. There are two nice loops I can do by starting this way. One turns east on House and follows 131 north. Lots of twists and turns and dips on that route. I went west on 9 Mile this time and did a 23 mile loop that went north on Division, back east on 13 Mile, and then south on the WPT to home. 13 Mile has a couple of pretty significant climbs. A little over 800 feet of climbing on that route.

This morning I got out for a quick 14 miles before the tornado blew in. (Yes, we had a tornado touch down near Grand Rapids this afternoon.) I did one of my favorite quick loops. I rode past Rockford High School, out to Kies Road and past Luton Park, then south on Myers Lake Rd, west on 9 Mile and finish by going down 7 Mile hill. I hit 41 MPH on that downhill today. That ride gave me 73 miles for this week and 695 miles for the year.

So did you figure out the title of this post yet? All three of my rides this week were solo rides. Hope Solo is the goalie of the US National Women's Soccer Team. Han Solo is from Star Wars. The Red Cups we all use at parties are made by the Solo company.