PS from last night: I thought Michigan was more or less progressive. Wrong. At the Ramada Inn last night the restaurant was closed so the only available food was at the bar – which was 100% smoking – an ash tray (remember them?) at each table.
I felt lazy this morning; not a good way to begin a 133 mile day. But I ate on schedule (6:00), loaded my luggage on schedule (6:30) and began the ride. A few minutes later, or so it seemed, I was at the first sag stop (30 miles). Mike commented that everyone seemed laid back today so it wasn’t only me. A daydream or two later I find myself at the 64 mile stop where I re-energize with a Starbucks energy drink from the store cooler. Before I know it, I’m at the 82 mile stop and decide I’ll skip ice cream at 97 miles and go into Mt Pleasant for lunch (109 miles). Needless to say we had a lot of tail wind. Not total but enough to make this a very easy century ride – and our last century of the trip. That makes 10 centuries this year, certainly more than I’ve ever done, or probably will ever do. – Mount Pleasant has a nice downtown with a lot of shops. I saw a couple of our riders at an outdoor cafe so stopped and had an excellent chicken-salad sandwich on rye. One of the locals was genuinely interested in our ride – he’s ridden RAGBI five times and wants to ride cross country. We chatted and then he chatted with the others.
Today’s route consisted partly of forests and partly of farms. A few lakes and rolling hills. Have I been here before? No, but some place similar: East Texas, one of my favorite cycling areas. Probably the only difference is that alcoholic beverages are more readily available here.
Riding through farm country brings unpleasant and unfamiliar odors. Quite different odors from those I grew up with in the oil patch. Maybe it’s the familiarity, but I think I prefer the oil odors to the farm odors.
Every evening, usually at 4:00, Jim the mechanic opens up for bike repairs. We got 50 bikes riding 50 days. If every bike needs repairs twice, then on average there will be 2 people needing work done each night. But no, there are usually a dozen waiting in line! Every night. I can’t believe it. I asked Jim if this is normal and he said yes. Note that these are high end bikes, Specialized Roubaix and Trek Madone being the most popular – and most are fairly new. I asked Jim what are the most frequent complaints and he said (1) “My bike is making noises.” and (2) “My bike isn’t shifting properly.”
Which brings us to an important question: What is a perfect bike?
- A perfect bike is one you don’t know you’re riding. (More on this later.)
Day 37, 113 miles, 2,168 feet climbed, 7.5 hrs. 2,791 miles so far
13 days remaining, 944 miles remaining
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