Ride Reports November/December 2004

So Much Fun - We Had to Do It Again
by Ann and Fred Abeles

Last winter, we decided to do two more state rides and used the internet to peruse the list of rides on the National Directors’ web site, www.nbtda.com. We settled on the Michigander XIII, July 17 - 23, and the Pedal Across Wisconsin’s Heart of Wisconsin-Northwoods Tour, Aug. 1 - 7. For this newsletter, I will cover just the Michigander.

We picked the Michigander, a fund raiser for the Michigan Office of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, as it is designed to showcase the rail/trails in Michigan and features a different area of the state each year. This year’s ride was from Big Rapids to Mackinaw City. An enticing plus for us was a flier in the registration package advertising Bubba’s Pampered Pedalers. This service offered to rent us a tent and air mattress, set up and take down the tent and mattress, move our luggage, supply us with a fresh towel and wash cloth and have comfortable chairs in the shade. We signed up for a double size tent and services for a total of $360 for the two of us. The registration for the 6-day ride was $245 each plus another $50 each for the shuttle from Mackinaw City to Big Rapids.

In June, off we went to Mackinaw City with our motor home and our comfortable Tour Easy recumbents. After getting settled in a campground, we packed our duffle bags and got the bicycles ready. The next morning we drove over to the Sports Complex in Mackinaw City where we registered and waited our turn to load our bicycles in the moving van. After getting our bikes in the truck, we had lunch and then boarded the busses to Big Rapids. Although the weather had been beautiful while we were in Mackinaw City, by the time we arrived at the middle school in Big Rapids it was pouring. We all made a dash from the bus into the school, grabbing our bags on the way. After the thunderstorm had passed, we headed outside to find the Pampered Pedalers. Our tents were already up and the air mattresses inflated. Bubba introduced himself and his crew of helpers and welcomed us to the "pampered" zone. Bubba is an ex St. Louis policeman and cross-country biker who understands the needs of bicycle tourists. He had the canopies up and our chairs waiting. After we delivered our gear to our tents, we headed back into the school for dinner. Then we visited with some of the other "pampered pedalers" before collecting our towels, having our showers and retiring for the night. Several of these pedalers were return customers who had traveled with Bubba’s services before and highly recommended them.

Sunday, we joined the lines in the cafeteria for breakfast and then headed off towards Cadillac, about 43 miles away. This first day was easy as we essentially rode a rail/trail all the way. We left the school on the paved Big Rapids Riverwalk which connected to the White Pine Trail. The first 13 miles of this trail to Reed City were paved while the remaining 30 miles to Cadillac were surfaced with a rather rough limestone. We passed through several communities along the way and were well served by SAG stops about every 12 - 15 miles. When we stopped for lunch in Leroy, we met several tandem riders that we had not seen earlier. They had ridden in several Michiganders and usually mapped out their own itinerary in order to avoid the rougher sections. As our recumbents have "hybrid" tires, we anticipated no trouble on unpaved trails and opted to stay with the route as planned. We continued onto the paved bike trail into Cadillac and to the middle school, our home for the night. Adjacent to the middle school was a "musical" playground of different wooden structures you could strike with sticks to play music. We tried our luck as composers before heading into the school yard and getting settled for the night.



Much of day 2 was on rough roads. After 13 miles of paved road with rolling hills, we moved on to a gravel road for a slow 10 miles into Mesik. We stopped there at the IGA and bought fixings for lunch, then headed on - and up a steep hill before returning to gravel roads and then 3 miles of rolling hills with deep sand. We, along with many of the bikers, had to walk quite a bit through this sand pit, much to the annoyance of the mountain bikers who wanted to ride - if there had been any place for the walkers to get out of the way. Finally we returned to a paved road for the last miles into Benzonia, a total of 58 miles for the day. Benzonia is a rather small town and the school is a few miles out of town. The tour organizers had trouble finding caterers for our group of about 600 and the inexperienced catering was evident at both meals. We all survived with a lot of joking. We had thundershowers in the night but Bubba’s tents kept us dry.



Day three’s ride was from Benzonia to Traverse City, 56 miles. After a meager breakfast, we headed into Benzonia and over to the 10-mile long Betsie Valley Trail which took us past Crystal lake and over to the town of Frankfort. Then we were back on the hilly roads again. We needed the extra SAG stop with bananas before we rolled into the park at Lake Ann for lunch. There the Friends of the Trail put on a wonderful lunch for us as a fund raiser for their trail development. The lunch more than made up for our previous evening’s meal and we headed out of the park with full stomachs topped off with homemade ice cream. After that we had a few more steep hills and then quite a bit of traffic before we reached the TART Trail in Traverse City. Bubba had found a lovely spot in the trees for our tents and everything was ready for us. Traverse City was the only place we camped in a shaded park as all of the other stops were in school playgrounds. We also enjoyed dinner and breakfast prepared by professional caterers. What a difference!

Wednesday we headed out of Traverse City on the TART Trail for another 6 miles. Then we were back on the road and hills again with several steep ones before coming down to Lake Michigan at Elk Rapids. A group of children at a daycare center welcomed us to Elk Rapids with signs and cheers. We had a scenic ride along Lake Michigan and over to Kewadin before we headed on to Torch Lake where some of the cyclists jumped in for a swim. Instead, Fred and I dined in air conditioned comfort at a cute bakery/tea room in Alden. Then we headed back out into the heat and on to Bellaire, 49 miles. We could see that a thunderstorm was coming so we hurried to take our showers and get our gear stored. The rain was brief and we soon joined the pampered guests and Bubba for some refreshments. Bubba is a master of the "tall tale" and enjoys entertaining his customers with some pretty shaggy tales. He has been described as ribald. Shortly before 5, we could see another thunderstorm approaching so we headed in for an early dinner. There they announced that we were under a severe weather warning with storms expected between 6 and 8. We made it back to our tent just before the big rain storm arrived. After the storm some of the "younger" folks romped in the huge puddles while we enjoyed adult beverages with Bubba.

Leaving Bellaire on Thursday we had a long uphill grade and then more rolling Michigan roads. We had one more sandy road but it was short and relatively firm because of the rain. It was beautiful biking into the pretty town of Charlevoix with their streets lined with petunias. We stopped at a coffee shop and visited with other Michiganders before heading out of town on the Little Traverse Wheelway to Petoskey. This paved bike route got started around 1900, in the days when the railroads brought summer visitors to the resorts along Lake Michigan. The Wheelway, definitely one of the highlights of the trip, gave us a beautiful tour of the lake and communities along the way. From Petoskey we continued around the lake to the well-heeled town of Harbor Springs. We had one steep hill to climb up to the new middle school where we camped for the night after 55 miles. What a pleasure it was to be at a school where all the showers worked and there were almost enough sinks for teeth brushing. The cafeteria and meals were more like those served at a college than a typical public school - and we appreciated the difference! After dinner we watched one of the competition events - the bicycle toss. The object of this sport is to find out who could throw an old bicycle the farthest. Needless to say, the later competitors had an advantage as pieces fell off the bike.

Our last morning we headed out of Harbor Springs along Lake Shore Drive. We rode down the scenic Tunnel of Trees and along Lake Michigan as far as Cross Village where we turned inland to Levering. There we were scheduled to ride an “unimproved" rail/trail, the Mackinaw-Petoskey Trail, to Mackinaw City. However, after Ann took a look at the trail, rough ballast overgrown with 3-foot tall weeds, she decided we needed an alternate route. We chose a parallel route over to MI 31 and into Mackinaw City. The surprise came when the route we were on dumped us onto I-75. It was our first experience riding the shoulder of an interstate. Evidently, bikes are allowed on this short piece as far as the exit into Mackinaw City as there is no other route. Back in Mackinaw City we biked over to the Sports complex and through the finish line, 46 miles. We visited with some of the other riders while waiting for the baggage and then said farewell to all our new friends. Then we loaded our stuff into our car and headed back to the campground.



As long as we were in Mackinaw City, we thought we should visit the car-free Mackinac Island, just a short ferry ride away. Sunday morning we biked into town and caught the ferry. Once there, we walked our bikes through the crowds and then enjoyed several hours of biking around and over the island on their many miles of bicycle paths. No cars are allowed on the island so all you have to worry about are hundreds of summer visitors and the horse drawn carts. The path that circles the island is essentially flat and equipped with many benches for picnics. The trails on top are steeper but easily navigated. One must is a ride past the Grand Hotel with its lovely gardens. We had always heard about the island and were glad we had the chance to visit.

Lights, Pizza and Train Spotting
October 2004 by Bill Smith

We had one rainout this month, and one night we rode in the rain.

Riders this month were Chris Borkman, Jeff Gantnier, Bill Pakenas, Bernie Sellers and Bill Smith.

On Wednesday the 27th , under a full moon, we welcomed the good Dr. Borkman back to cycling after his crash at the Civil War Century. If you wish to join us, this is definitely a good time as we are taking it easy and staying out of the hills until it gets colder.

Tour of Hope
October 9, 2004 by Brian King

Hundreds of cancer survivors formed a yellow pathway on the Ellipse and were surrounded by more than 8,000 cheering supporters Saturday October 9th, 2004 as the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope Team turned off Constitution Avenue and into the Hope Path for its final lap together.

View pictures of the event.

The dramatic Tour of Hope Finale was the culmination of a 3,500-mile journey that took the 20 riders from Los Angeles to the nation’s capital in eight days, with a mission to inspire everyone they met to learn more about and to support cancer research, the pathway to new treatments for cancer.

The Team took off at midnight on October 1st from the City of Hope Cancer Center in Los Angeles and pedaled relay style around the clock through the desert, into the Rocky Mountains, across the plains and over the Appalachian Mountains before reaching Washington, DC.

Lance Armstrong and Bristol-Myers Squibb Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter Dolan led the Team onto the Ellipse, where the riders all dismounted their bikes and bounded up on to the stage to the cheers from family, friends and thousands more who came to see the inspiring group.

Nearly 1,000 people participated in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope recreational ride earlier in the day which started from Georgetown Prepatory School in North Bethesda and wound its way across to River Road and down through Glen Echo to the District.

To minimize traffic disruptions on D.C. streets, the riders were regrouped at the Irish Inn located on McArthur Boulevard in Glen Echo. It also served as a rest stop where the riders could visit with members of the U.S. Postal Pro Cycling Team. A camera crew was on hand to relay pictures back to the Ellipse where they were shown on two large screens on either side of the main stage. The riders then departed en-masse with a police escort in front and back of the pack for the final eight mile leg down McArthur Boulevard, Canal Road, the Whitehurst Freeway and through downtown D.C. to the Ellipse.

After witnessing the mob scene of 1000 riders in the tiny Irish Inn parking lot, I made my way downtown where I parked on Pennsylvania Avenue and then appropriately rode my bike the final few blocks down to the Ellipse. The setup was much like last year with many exhibits and informational booths to help get the word out on promoting cancer research. I hopped on a nice new Trek 5000 OCLV bike mounted to a stationary trainer and cranked out five miles to help raise funds for cancer research as Brystol-Myers Squibb was making a cash donation for every mile ridden on the 30 bikes they had set up. We watched a video loop of Lance and the other Tour of Hope riders as they had made their way across country during the previous eight days. The turnout at various stops along the way was impressive and was no doubt aided by Lance's historic sixth TDF win this past July.

Based on the turnout and enthusiasm of everyone involved, I would say that this year's Tour of Hope was a great success and I'd encourage anyone to join in next year as a participant, volunteer or just as a spectator to witness this inspiring event.