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.