Apple Cider Century 2009

The Apple Cider Century is one of the largest organized rides in the area. 5000 riders (officially) can chose routes from 15 to 100 miles through the cornfields and wine country near Three Oaks, Michigan. Every few years it is held on my birthday, so of course, the day was all about me. The crowd was mostly well-behaved; the sag stops were full of outstanding food; the route was quiet and scenic. If you like the idea of riding in a huge parade of other cyclists, this ride is fantastic. We can't blame the organizers for the weather, but the skies were blue, the day was mild (60 - 74), and only the 20 mph winds in the afternoon detracted from an otherwise perfect day.

One thing the organizers do better than anyone is mark the route.

Even though my max heart rate had dropped that morning, Don and I still decided to attempt the 100 mile ride. Sue, Ben, Annie and Mark rode a shorter route, and we were able to meet up with them before and during the ride. Sue pulled the Burley.





Don and I arrived early, had a filling breakfast at the firehouse, registered and picked up t-shirts for everyone. We invaded Don's son's house in Three Oaks (coincidentally also named Don) because the line for the bathroom was 20+ riders deep. Don rode strong for the first 30 miles or so.



It was crowded on the roads. Some riders dropped all pretense at courtesy and rode in the opposite lane, which complicated on-coming traffic dramatically. The organizers had police stationed at busy intersections, though, so we were waved through many stop signs.



It was crowded at the rest stops. At some of them, the food was served inside, and cleats tear up linoleum, so you had to take your shoes off in order to eat. This created problems for Don, who has heel spurs, but the organizers didn't have any answer to that. Starve or suffer... fortunately, he had us with him, so he only had to take his shoes off to register. Last year the potato soup was fantastic, but this year it was awful. Still, there was plenty to eat and it wasn't cold.

We met some riders from Chicago who told us how much they liked the South Haven area, and that they had a vacation home in another small town along Lake Michigan. As they left, I thanked them for spending money in Michigan, and I noticed that most of the riders were from Chicago.



It was crowded at the bathrooms. There were plenty of bathrooms, but the crowd overwhelmed the capacity.


The first rest stop on the 100 mile route was 26 miles away. I drink coffee, and my prostate is approximately the size of a cantaloupe, so I'm never going to last 26 miles without a ... rest. Fortunately, there were plenty of cornfields, with tall concealment for privacy. And no lines!


We weren't the only ones who thought of this.

The country roads were well chosen. The route was different this year than last because the roads near Three Oaks are in bad shape. Basically, the asphalt is there to connect the potholes. Three Oaks itself is in bad shape -- it went bankrupt from incompetent (but apparently not corrupt) politicians and was taken over by the state. It was originally settled by hard working German immigrants, and has a long history of conservative, traditional small town values. The main industry died when, sadly, corsets went out of style and the technically dominating Featherbone company went out of business. Artsy-fartsy urban residents moved in and began to try to change the locals, who just want to buy gas and get to work.

Despite this conflict, you can still get great lunch meat at Dryers, and great ice cream at Oakers: the town itself as a lot to offer.

Our route took us north to Baroda. I know one guy in Baroda, a Mason, and I saw him waiting for a line of us cyclists to pass a stop sign. I don't think he saw me.




After the first long set of hills, Don began to tire.



After the second set of hills, Don got tired AND discouraged. We had been biking well all year, but today was not going well. My theory: he had just been to the heart doctor, and whatever change they made didn't work.



The day wasn't a total loss: we got to meet up with Sue, Ben, Annie and Mark in New Troy.



Ben was wearing his favorite target jersey. I was wearing a seer-sucker cotton shirt over a wool ibex jersey. This was a little warm on the climbs, but comfortable the whole day.



Annie and Mark were lying down just like their uncle Ben.


Look! My Uncle is unconscious!



Ben was tired from staying up all night looking for ghosts.



Annie is tired too. Not really, but Ben made it look so fun.



Now THIS is fun, drinking our cider.

My favorite part of rides like this is seeing the other bikes. I saw one other Sojourn, and a couple of nicely outfitted Surley Long Haul Truckers. I saw an A. Homer Hilson ridden by someone with a Rivendell jersey, which had to be ironic. There was a nice Cannondale city bike -- it had fenders and straight handlebars, and an Electra Townie that I've heard make good commuters. There weren't many Tandems or recumbents, but there were a few. There were a couple of Burleys, but none were as used as ours (two crossings of Michigan, one circumnavigation of Lake Michigan, and several day rides like this one will add some wear and tear). No bike shop can afford to stock all these different kinds of bikes, so seeing them all in action is a lot of fun. There were plenty of retro-downtubeshifting-ten speeds. Or so it seemed.

All in all, it's a great ride and we'll probably do it again. What I'd really like to do is ride it NEXT weekend without the crowd.

PS: I've realized lately that the cows watch us. In town there are cameras everywhere, all channeled to the Government, but in the country we are watched by Cows.



Cows have a meeting, dividing the ride watch among themselves.



Nothing to see here, moooove along.

Packing list for the Ride around Lake Michigan

Our Lake Michigan Tour was not only fun to ride, it was also fun to plan. Part of the planning was to read other bike tours and see what other tourists brought. This is what I brought:



Sue carried very little for herself -- personal toiletries and some clothes; what weighed her down was children clothes and other equipment. Diapers and toys were mostly stored in the back of the Burley, but some of it was loaded on Sue's bike.
Because I brought so much work equipment (2 laptops, for example), I didn't take a lot of kid equipment.

My luggage was my Ortlieb Handlebar bag, a Nashbar trunk bag, and two Nashbar Panniers. The trunk bag held up reasonably well, and I use it on every ride; it cost $15 and although it's OK, I lust for the Nigel Smythe Big Loafer from Rivendell.

Sue and I both bought the Nashbar Panniers for $44 a pair, and we each had one fail on the trip. Mine failed in the first couple of days, and when I called Nashbar, they said I could send it back and get a full refund (the shipping would be on my dime). Then I could order another one and it would show up when it would show up and again, I would be asked to pay for shipping. So Nashbar's "100% Guarantee" doesn't stand up well in practice. I just used duct tape, and it didn't fall off too often.

My handlebar bag works very well, although it shakes in bumpy terrain.

I ended up leaving without a shirt -- I had nothing but bike jerseys until I bought a t-shirt in Zion, Il.

Pannier 1:



Computer equipment: Small laptop in padded case, charger, power strip, various usb and network cables, mouse. Also chargers for my phone, hearing aid remote, Garmin PDA and bluetooth headset.
Clothes: Bathing suit, Jeans (discarded a few days into the trip), shorts, underwear, t-shirts (left at home)
Contacts
First Aid Kit.

About the First Aid Kit: it had a picture of a bike on it, so that's the one I bought. I actually asked my Dr what kind of first aid kit I should get, and he thought that an eppie pen would be a useful piece of equipment, but had no idea about what first aid kit was any good or what should go in it. So I went with the picture of a bike, and Sue laughed at me until we used it. It was bulky, but not heavy, and had lots of stuff in it I thought might be useful. I also carried some of my contacts in there. I did not get an eppie pen, nor am I sure what one is.

Pannier 2:



Computer equipment: Large laptop in a padded case, charger, mouse, mouse pad, wireless card
Bike clothes: 3 shorts, 5 jerseys
(not shown) Toilet case with the usual, maps, power bars.

I like power bars on long rides. When there's nothing around and you're hungry, one of those is fantastic to eat and keep going. But I bought a few more than I needed because of a deal on Amazon, and instead of leaving most of them home, I brought them along. I think they weighed like 12 pounds for 24 bars and I ate about 5 or 6 the entire trip.

Trunk bag:



Clothes: Jacket, Street sandals, full finger gloves, headband
repair: lube, multi-tool, chain tool, patch kit, spare tubes, small parts (e.g., extra waterbottle screws, cleats), duct tape
Personal: bug spray, sun block, glasses

Handlebar bag:



Reading glasses, knife, lock, pen, hand wipes, notebook, cell phone, bluetooth headset, hearing aid holder and remote, flashlight, Kleenex, Sunglasses, wallet, protein drink mix, extra bug repellent, map case with today's map, (not shown) Garmin PDA/GPS, Camera

Everything packed:



On the bike:



Computer with HR monitor, water bottle, coffee thermos.

What I would change:
1. More street clothes, so I looked better off the bike.
2. Less laptops -- I think I could have done without one of the laptops.
3. smaller first aid kit (but don't tell Sue, I've been justifying the large one for a long time).
4. Fewer power bars and bug repellent. We passed a Walgreens at least once a day, so it would not have been hard to get what we needed when we needed it.
5. Maps: Sue and I never found the time to pore over the maps together before we left. I would have liked to spend more time jointly mapping the ride.
6. A hat.
7. Ortlieb or Carradice panniers.

What I would NOT change:
1. My bike
2. The company: Sue, Annie and Mark
3. everything else.

It is absolutely incredible how well all this equipment worked, and how few changes I needed to make on the road.

Fred Meijer Heartland Trail

The Heartland Trail starts (almost) in Greenville, and stretches to Edmore at the moment, although it is planned to reach Alma. It's wide, flat, well paved and popular. Don, Vic and I rode it on Labor Day.




We met a retired fighter pilot riding on the trail who took this picture.

Vic and I talked about tires, clipless pedals, clothing. I just replaced the stock tire on my bike -- which I bought this year! 2000 miles isn't much, but it has suffered a considerable strain from trailers, my weight and 1000 miles of panniers. The front tire is barely worn. I like clipless pedals, but I know many strong riders like Sue and Vic who do not use them. It's much better without them off the bike. I am experimenting with clothing: not the attractive shorts I get to wear, which I absolutely love no matter what they look like; but I want to experiment with different shirts. I've had bad luck with cotton t's because they stick and do not dry. Wool could be good, but it's really expensive, and the one jersey I have is cut for the "starving European" look, not the "I have a desk job and eat like an athlete" look. So it accentuates that which shouldn't. I've also heard good things about seersucker -- from the Rivendell website -- but I haven't had a chance to try that. I'm pretty happy with the jerseys I have, except that off the bike they don't work well as fashion statements. I'd like to find something that looks decent off the bike, but performs well on the bike.

For our mid-ride meal -- breakfast -- we stopped at a gas station for a $3.99 buffet. Vic bought mine (thanks Vic), so I owe him $4.23. Actually, Vic handed me a 20 to pay for both of us, then counted the change carefully.





The trail runs right past the end of a race track. You can see the safety hay bale at the end of the track to protect cyclists from out of control race cars. There's also a sign that says that we can't stand or stop.



I asked Vic to take a picture of me with a water tower coming out of my head.



Here we are, loading up the vehicles at the end of the trail.

While driving home Don and I were almost hit head on -- we had to swerve off the road with one wheel off the pavement -- when a car going the opposite direction chose to give a Tandem three feet of passing room, pushing that car well into our lane around a corner. If we had collided, the metal on metal contact would have been.. irony.

It's a long drive to a short ride, so we probably won't be back until there's a few more miles on the trail.

Ride around Lake Tahoe

My family has a reunion in Lake Tahoe every year, and after our wonderful ride around Lake Michigan, we thought we'd ride around another lake. So we shipped our bikes to our hotel and flew out there (it wasn't really that simple, but I'm using my poetic license). We got there a day early, so we thought we'd ride around the lake and return in time to watch everyone put up a tent.


Our bikes were packed carefully.


Unfortunately Nevada DOT had other plans, and closed highway 28 from Sand Harbor to Highway 50, so 12 miles into our ride we had to turn around and go back. Sue thought we might be able to charter a boat, so I called several marinas, but none of them were willing or able to give us a ride -- at any price. The riding alternative turned a 72 mile, two brutal climb day into a 150 mile ride with two brutal climbs and a "hela"-brutal climb from Carson city. Oh, and a lot more traffic. So we opted to ride around the lake another day.

As it turned out, my daughter Heather wanted to join us, so we rented a bike for her and all started off at dawn from the camp site.



My three lovely companions: Sue (Mrs Royce), Heather, and my Raleigh.

We started north from Sugar Pine state park; this direction keeps you closest to the lake, but it puts the dreaded hill at Emerald Bay towards the end of the ride.




At the 30 mile mark, about 10:30am, we were feeling strong and cocky. This was at Sand Harbor. Heather had not ridden more than three miles in her life, and she was bragging to her brother about our progress.



But then we started climbing. And climbing. It went on and on for 6 miles, and it was after 1pm after we started descending. Heather had a tough time, but never complained. She was tenacious, gutting it out like a champion. She could have called for a ride at any point, but she didn't want to give up.


Heather was a real trouper, pushing herself farther than she's ever pushed herself.



And I was right behind her.



The lake is at about 6200 feet. Highway 28 climbs significantly over 7000 feet; when we got to this sign on Highway 50 we had been descending for a while. The climb took a long time, and we were all starved by the time we got to Zephyr cove, about 2pm. We had a nice lunch, plenty of rest and refilled water bottles.

There was a spot on highway 50 where we had to take a tunnel. As a cyclist, you press a button and two lights start flashing. Cars traveling near the 45mph speed limit will see the flashing lights next to the sign "Bikes in tunnel when flashing" and will carefully pass you. And the Easter bunny will hand you chocolate when you come out. Our experience was this: Sue went through quickly and waited at the first spot she could pull out of the right lane. Heather went through more slowly and I followed her. I didn't look behind when I heard the brakes screeching in the tunnel. No one got hurt, although my heart rate bumped up a tad. Sue thought we'd been creamed.

South Lake was busy, urban riding, and the bike lanes on Highway 89 pissed me off. This part of the ride can safely be skipped. There is plenty of room to share the section of 89 heading north from highway 50 with cars. The right lane is wide and comfortable. Why, then, would CalTrans paint bike lanes in the gutter? This is why I don't like bike lanes.

Time was running short on the bike rental, so we decide I would ride ahead to get the car so I could come back for Heather's bike and return it to the shop. This was at 4:00, but I would have had to average about 20 mph to get back to the car in time (I didn't figure this out until later). And, on the Emerald Bay climb, I didn't quite average that.




Heather and Sue stopped at Inspiration Point, which is at the top of the Emerald Bay climb.

A little after 5 I called my brother for a ride, not far past Sue and Heather, and after everything was said and done we were about an hour late getting the bike back, so we locked it up in front of the shop, left the helmet somewhere safe, planning to call the next day and let them know what we did.




The ride was spectacular. I am so proud of Heather for making a very tough, 63 mile ride. She showed a toughness and determination that I'd never seen before, and she's welcome to come on any ride we do.

We returned home on Amtrak -- the California Zephyr -- which we enjoyed immensely. It cost over $150 and a week to ship the bikes by UPS (three boxes), but they came home with us for $15.

Byron Center to Sand Lake

The first ride I did with Don and Vic, after 12 years off the bike, was a 54 mile ride from Byron Center to Rockford and back. That was a brutal ride for me -- it was about 15 months ago, and I wasn't in any shape to do that ride. Later that year we learned that the trail had been extended from Rockford all the way to Sand Lake.

This was the first time this year we started a ride at Byron Center. The reason is that this ride requires a couple miles of riding in downtown Grand Rapids, which isn't that much fun. We found that a mile of the trail had been turned to gravel, which is also no fun. Don and Vic ride these skinny road tires that make gravel really challenging. As a result, I don't think we'll do this ride again.



This is your bike on gravel.

The route takes us from Byron Center to John Ball Zoo. Then we take streets to Comstock/Riverside Park, where we pick up a trail to Sand Lake.



Sand Lake was having a party for us.

We stopped at Arnie's for breakfast and Wendy's for lunch. The Wendy's was odd because you couldn't get refills on pop. Don didn't eat anything at lunch and consequently petered out about five miles later. We all made it 82 miles.



The sewer plant has these "Burma Shave" style adds inviting cyclists to visit. They are cute.



Don is explaining to a huge family how many miles he's doing.

We did 82 miles over 7 hours of riding and 10 hours elapsed.

Don biked his age today -- something that seems harder every year (he says). He beat last years longest day by 5 miles (to Kalamazoo), and his Apple Cider ride by 15 miles. Vic's wife Karen made us some food for the ride home, which was great.

Vic announced that he could do another 18, which wasn't a surprise to Don or I. I told Vic that I'd done my Century last week, so we all headed home.

PALM 2009`

Pedal Across Lower Michigan is a family oriented ride that crosses Lower Michigan over six days. It is limited to 700 riders, and registration rarely lasts more than a couple of weeks. Sag trucks carry bags from one camp spot to another -- normally at a school.

We enjoyed last year's Pedal Across Lower Michigan a lot. We had Annie, who was one. Mark was only three weeks old, and wasn't quite ready. Don had some trouble last year -- and the year before, so Vic went along altruistically to help his brother. Of course, out-climbing 18 year old punks is a side benefit for Vic, who is 71. Last year we stayed in motels -- for air conditioning and so that we didn't have to camp with a baby. The motels were within a few miles of the end of the ride, and we often missed out on the evening meetings and the social aspect of the ride; we also had to ride farther at times.

This year, our two favorite babysitters had to cancel at the last minute, so we ended up biking less and having more family time.



I saw this sign and thought it summed up our Palm experience well.

Susie got to ride two days, and we didn't get to ride with each other. On the other hand, Vic and Don had a great Palm, with Don skipping one day, but no trips to the hospital.



Phillip is all ready to go.



Sue rode ahead one day to go to a park. Jenia was dropped off so they could all play, but then she found out she was in the wrong park, so she towed THREE kids a mile or so to the right park.



And she did it with a smile!


I have no idea what I'm doing, but this is one of the few pictures I have where I look slimmer than I really am.


This is Larry, a great guy from Australia. He had a great plan for setting up his tent: wait until 9pm. At this point, shade doesn't matter and everyone has crowded together, so he can get a quiet spot away from everyone.



It's amazing what a minivan can hold.

One thing I was able to do for myself -- because Sue loves me and took everything on herself -- is ride the Century on Tuesday.



This is me, going on my Century.



This is my no-kids-around Century Lunch.


It was really only 88, still hot, but I had to take this picture.



This was the day Phillip and I rode together. He claims to be dead.



One day Vic and I rode together and I stopped to take a picture, since most of the family members on this ride are -- or were originally -- Jacksons. Vic got to talking with a woman who may be a distant relative.

I had fun riding, and there were moments with the kids which were great. If we'd have known in advance what we were doing we could have done it much better using tag alongs, tandems, etc. Next year we'll find a way to bike together no matter what.