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.