What a day yesterday!!! Lots of ups and downs...We left our unbelievable stay with the Hillary's and started in Williamston where we were met by my great pals John Rutherford and the maker of our bike Mark Nobilette who came all the way from Colorado to ride with us for a couple days. That's a lot of extra juice for us- we're infused with a lot of new energy. Pete's back from his stint with the DSO, and Tim Potter from Lansing shows up to ride with us ,too, a real good guy , he gets video footage of us while he pedals, that will be cool to see. After a while we're met by Jim Gilligan on another Nobilette cycle, a cool testament to Mark- we're rolloing all Nobilette on the Mothership with Mark and John on 2 old frames from the early '80s and "Joe Don" on his freshly powder coated Nobilette ,too. Pete's riding one of my Nobilette mountain bikes as a wingman...way good all around. We arrive as part of a group that picks us up and rides us to Bader Gardens in Howell where we play a nice set in the shade for a good crowd who loves what we're doing. We're joined by a cellist on her cycle who plays a couple tunes with us- then we roll on. It was meant to be a record day for the JBE with Gilligan and Rutherford stoking now, but we pop spokes on both rear wheels and we HAVE to shut it down at about the 51 mile mark with only five to go to Chelsea. Right now our chief mechanical support is in high gear trying to drum up the correct spokes and relace the wheels in time for our big group ride today from Chelsea to A2 at 3 PM. Mike Casey and Mark Nobilette are probably working right now and I'm itching to call them and see what's happening... Mike Casey. the owner of Aberdeen Cycle in Chelsea has answered every bell for the last 2 years, and has been the home of the JBE.. in Mike and Mark I trust... wish them luck, we'll see..... Mark