8 May 2007: Some Time for Relaxing
Cadillac to Traverse City: 45.3 mi; 65 @ 9:00, up to 75
Another great day, another great host family. Scenery kicked up a notch, so did the hills.
Had a relaxing start to the day, repacking my panniers, still searching for the best way to organize them. Vickie whipped up a fantastic breakfast with eggs, sausage, toast, and berries and cream, then I helped her install a new knob on a door they'd just painted. By the time I hit the road at 9:00, it was already warm, en route to getting hot.
In the early going, I struggled to maintain my speed. Had I worn myself out? No, there was a steady, imperceptible grade. After an hour, actual hills erupted, and I grutned up the worst and screamed down their backsides. I ended with the same average speed I'd been hitting.
I finished at 12:30, and rented a car to drive to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. As always, the NPS site impressed me. At the Lake Michigan overlooks, fog rolling in off the lake made for dramatic vistas, with headlands jutting above the clouds.
My hosts for the night, Yvonne (president of the Cherry Capitol Cycling Club) and Don Cunkle, again made me feel at home. Don - a handy man who restores and gives away broken-down bikes, and who teaches Special Olympic kids to showboard - took me to the library talk, then over to Mt. Holiday, where Yvonne worked with the mountain biking crowd. In the winter, Mt. Holiday is the local (and non-profit) ski mountain -a solitary bump rising maybe 250 feet, with a chair lift going to the top.
Another great day, another great host family. Scenery kicked up a notch, so did the hills.
Had a relaxing start to the day, repacking my panniers, still searching for the best way to organize them. Vickie whipped up a fantastic breakfast with eggs, sausage, toast, and berries and cream, then I helped her install a new knob on a door they'd just painted. By the time I hit the road at 9:00, it was already warm, en route to getting hot.
In the early going, I struggled to maintain my speed. Had I worn myself out? No, there was a steady, imperceptible grade. After an hour, actual hills erupted, and I grutned up the worst and screamed down their backsides. I ended with the same average speed I'd been hitting.
I finished at 12:30, and rented a car to drive to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. As always, the NPS site impressed me. At the Lake Michigan overlooks, fog rolling in off the lake made for dramatic vistas, with headlands jutting above the clouds.
My hosts for the night, Yvonne (president of the Cherry Capitol Cycling Club) and Don Cunkle, again made me feel at home. Don - a handy man who restores and gives away broken-down bikes, and who teaches Special Olympic kids to showboard - took me to the library talk, then over to Mt. Holiday, where Yvonne worked with the mountain biking crowd. In the winter, Mt. Holiday is the local (and non-profit) ski mountain -a solitary bump rising maybe 250 feet, with a chair lift going to the top.
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