Living in the here and now. That’s why over 700 of us have given up vacation time to pedal across long stretches of northern Michigan every day. There’s no work waiting. No meetings. No phone calls. Just riding. Enjoying the stunning beauty of God’s creation and the joy of health that lets us power ourselves double digit distances by moving our legs, under a hot sun, sweating, huffing and puffing up hills and having as much fun as grown folks can.
Not that all of us are grown. Though some 150 Michigander 2010 riders are in their sixties, a dozen or so in their seventies and with an average age somewhere in the 40′s, we have some kids riding, too.
My personal favorite is a 10-year-old named Brandon Geiger. That’s him in the picture at the left, charging up a hill in today’s route somewhere south of Petoskey with his grandma, Carla Swanson (click photo to see it larger). This is Brandon’s third Michigander. He’s a veteran and a fullblown biking hammerhead, starting out at the age of eight. He rides every mile and up every hill, too, usually waiting for Carla to catch up.
Can you imagine the memories Brandon will have of his grandma? Years from now, he’ll be telling his kids how he and his grandmother rode bikes across Michigan every summer. The two are favorites with the Michigander family. Brandon’s a regular superstar up here.
Today’s route was the longest and toughest yet, about 55 miles from Bellaire to Harbor Springs. Most of the route was rolling hills with a couple very challenging climbs. Toughest was at the very end. The Harbor Springs Middle School keeps intact the unwritten rule that every bicycle tour’s daily camp is at the top of a hill. In tonight’s case, the top of two back-to-back hills.
The route was spectacular. The weather could not have been more beautiful. From Bellaire to Charlevoix, we passed by pastures and wooded farmland. Check the photo at right. I could frame that and sell is as a pastoral scene in Northern Michigan. 
There were two downers on today’s route, though. The first was in downtown Charlevoix where road construction downtown made a mess of traffic and forced cyclists to mix it up with impatient car and truck drivers.
The second was in Petoskey, where the nose-in-the-air people of this not-as-posh-as-they-think resort town refused to let race directors put markings on their confusing and winding bike route through the downtown region.
Into Petoskey, though, we loved the Little Traverse Wheelway paved bicycle path than ran from Charlevoix past stunning vistas of Little Traverse Bay.
I rode with Chris and Patty again today. I took a spill on a turn trying to figure out the bike route out of Petoskey but hit the asphalt and rolled like a stunt man, the girls tell me, bouncing up and exhibiting no sign of road rash or obvious injury. I wish I had a picture.
Here’s a few more pics and today’s route download from my Garmin:
Category: Mike on a Bike
Recent Blog Comments