Depart East Port about 6:45 am. Our gang of five is about to disintegrate. Luke is sound asleep. Steve is up and at'em. The 3 Musketeers head directly for the route. Steve heads to the store. It's apparent this leg will not be very flat. We have no idea really. We take the journey as it comes. And boy did it come.
The topography is the results of ice age glacial movements. Mammoth fields of ice and snow. The size of large states. Pushing. Digging. Scouring. Advancing. Retreating. Depositing monstrous piles of earth. Then Mother Nature takes her sweet time further shaping the terrain. Then road builders ply their devious trade and build routes up and around the most difficult slopes. And we ride them. On bikes. With heavy damn packs. First thing in the morning.
We had the good fortune of taking on a few steep hills. A sign noted"hill". Our first clue. Then a short while later, a sign said "steep hill". Uh oh. Editorial comment. ( the word steep.) This can't end well. On the approach, I had already fallen back behind Gay and Fred for some forgotten reason. I saw them crawling up the climb. I stopped to relieve myself. Then, up I went. Up and up. Oh jeez. This is steep. 2/3s the way up, I had to pause to get my breathing back under control. When I restarted, because I was spinning my pedals so quickly, I was unable to click into my left pedal. So I just peddle on best I can. Gay was watching from a viewpoint at the top videotaping my joy. Probably my gasping for air will be fodder for America's Funniest Home Videos. We all decided that was the steepest, but not the longest, section of road so far since our journey began. Joy.
The next town we stopped at was Boyne City. A beautiful little town dressed up for the holiday. We paused to go to a bike shop so Fred could get another tube and I could get my cleat fixed. After the bike shop, we paused to let the parade wrap up on Main Street before we could move on.
A few minor hills then the terrain relented some to allow me to regain my form.
The last miles led us to an early halt to the day. Petoskey is a northern port town on Lake Michigan. We are camped in a sea of RVs in a municipal campground. Everyone has been very nice to us. They want to hear about is, where we've been, where we're going and about our bikes and such.
Fireworks are booming as I write this. I was being devoured by voracious insects of one type or another. A comfortable tent has more appeal right now
Tomorrow we head to the Upper Peninsula (UP). Expect an interesting day riding on ferries and such.
Total mileage today= 42
Total mileage so far = 1,459
Thanks for reading.
Happy Independence Day!
Cheers!
KPW
Just found your blog and am up to date on the trip. Our RAGBRAI trip was a piece of cake compared to this. I bet you guys used my name to describe the breathing sounds. Hope you all have smaller hills and wind at your backs for the rest of the trip. Have fun!
ReplyDelete