MUP Day 6 - Newberry to St. Ignace

Last day of the MUP! Saturday, 26 July, we would ride 66 miles to reach our starting point in St. Ignace. Although the tour organizers recommended an especially early start to avoid traffic on a busy road we would have to travel due to a construction-related detour, we got an especially slow start. The slowness of our start was due to piles of wet gear and having had to stay indoors the previous evening to avoid the nasty weather. Our slowness felt even worse because it seemed that everyone else managed to leave early. We really weren't in a hurry though, because we knew we'd make it to St. Ignace in plenty of time, and we didn't have to worry about setting up camp once we got there.

We packed our wet gear and pulled on our wet shoes - yuck. Instant wet socks. But, the weather was beautiful, with cool air and a sky mostly sunny. The potentially busy stretch of road had almost no traffic and was downhill, so it didn't seem bad at all. It was fast, so Quinn and I found it to be quite a rush!

The early part of the day was the sunniest, and was just beautiful. For the first time on the entire tour, we even had a tail wind. The terrain was rolling with a few very steep hills. Up and down.



Look at that blue sky!



We had some cloud cover move in later in the morning, but we still had a good time, riding cautiously and responsibly at all times.



We had nice lunch stop at McGowan's Family Restaurant in Trout Lake. They had a little grassy area in front of their motel that made great bicycle parking - I wish I'd gotten a picture all the bikes there when we arrived. We were the last to leave, after a really nice lunch from their soup and salad bar. Quinn and I had pulled off our socks, which had soaked up water from our wet shoes, to let them dry during lunch. Abbey rested while we put on our still-wet shoes and socks.



The rest of the ride went quickly and smoothly, although I think the long days and short nights were adding up for Quinn. He's used to getting a few more hours sleep every night than he got on any night on this trip. The first sign was at lunch when we was just unable to make up his mind about what he wanted to eat. Most of us had finished our lunch before Quinn even decided on his. A slice of fresh raspberry pie carried him for a couple of hours.

About two hours out of St. Ignace, Quinn remembered the frisbee we'd left in DeTour Village after our first night. That loss tipped him over the edge, and he began to cry. I don't think he fully stopped crying until the ride was over, with a possible exception of the time he nearly fell asleep on the back of the tandem. At that point, we stopped for a snack and tried to cheer him and wake him up. It was a long, long week for such a little guy, and he and his big sister had done a great job on the whole trip!

We reached St. Ignace around 4 p.m. We were some of the last riders into St. Ignace. Our total mileage for the trip, based on Cindy's odometer, was 319 miles.

Here's a picture of Grandma and Grandpa dismounting their Burley at the very end of the tour.



When we arrived, Quinn told Fred, the tour director, about the frisbee he had lost, and Fred pulled out frisbee that he found along the way, and gave it to Quinn! No, it was not the one Quinn had lost.

We loaded our gear into the mini-vans, put the blue Burleys on top, showered, said good-bye to some of the other riders and Fred, before setting off on the drive home. We were happy and sad and tired. It was a good feeling.

MUP Day 5 - Paradise to Newberry

On Saturday, 25 July, we awoke to a cool, moist morning. Yesterday had been sunny and almost hot, so the chill in the air and the hint of rain were somewhat unexpected. After a pancake breakfast in the Paradise school we rode north through Paradise and then up the road towards Whitefish Point. We got a good start that morning, and our pace up the road felt fast, perhaps because we were all a little chilly and pushing our speed helped keep us warm. The road from Paradise to Whitefish Point was in good shape, and the surrounding forest had really taken on a northern forest feel.



As we reached Whitefish Point point the cool, moist air had turned to a steady rain.



We were glad to be inside at the Shipwreck Museum as a heavy rain fell. The museum was very interesting, but contained many sad stories of ships and lives lost on the Great Lakes.



The rain let up and we looked around a little bit before getting back on the bicycles. Once again, we could have spent a few hours here, but we had many miles to go before our day was done.



After leaving Whitefish Point, we retraced our path to Paradise, meaning, of course, that we'd traveled 20 miles and were right back where we started. The next stop was Upper Tahquamenon Falls State Park, about 14 miles west of Paradise. The State Park was surprisingly well-developed - perhaps excessively. It reminded me of someplace like Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. There was a very large parking lot, a gift shop, ice cream, and a restaurant and brewery. I suppose that being a large attraction located in a remote setting, it makes sense to have adequate facilities to support visitors. The development was quite a distance from the falls. Paved walkways made viewing the falls easy for all types of visitors.

The ride to the State Park had gone quickly, the weather staying cool with only a little rain. When we arrived at the Upper Falls, however, the rain started to fall again. We decided to get some lunch at the restaurant before visiting the falls, hoping that the rain might slack off while we ate. The food at the restaurant was pretty good, and we tried the sampler of the beers. To be polite, I'll just report that the beers weren't the best we'd ever had, and we didn't even finish most of the samplers.

We headed down to the falls, and the steady rain became a downpour. The waterfall was very impressive.





We rode out of the State Park in the rain, with about 27 miles remaining to reach our destination in Newberry, MI. For those next 27 miles, the rain never stopped.



We took a break at the North Star Brick Oven Bakery. Inside the bakery, the air was warm and delicious. Stepping inside the bakery was like being wrapped in a warm, fresh loaf of bread. We talked with owners and watched them pull hot loaves out of the brick oven. The bakery has been making delicious breads for eight years in hand-built brick oven, in a building that doesn't even have electricity. It was wonderful. We bought some bread and a couple jars of jam.

Riding in the rain all day was kind of fun. We all had good rain gear, so our arms and torsos stayed dry, and we weren't too cold. If we had realized just how much it was going to rain, we would have kept out the neoprene booties for the kids feet, but we'd packed them onto the truck. The fenders on our blue Burleys kept some of the spray off the riders, but we aren't using extended flaps on the fenders, so spray is thrown forward and backward, dowsing riders to the front or rear. I think the fenders also help keep road grit off of the brakes and chains. Of course, when you ride a bicycle in a downpour for hours, it's pretty hard to stay dry. Grandma and Grandpa didn't have fenders, and I'm sure they were no wetter than the rest of us. Their Burley has a disc brake in the rear, which can be a real advantage over rim brakes when riding in wet conditions - even more so if you're on trails or unpaved roads. Muddy or icy rim brakes are useless, in my experience.

Eventually, after some long hours riding in the rain, we made it to Newberry. This was our only inland camp on the MUP tour. The school was big and roomy, and the showers were hot. Dinner was served by the Newberry football team. We definitely appreciated their efforts and the hot meal, although it was noticeable that food was of the economical pre-made sort, not the home-cooked pasties we were served in Paradise.

There were some severe storms in the area, and the tour organizers recommended that we stay indoors while some of the storms moved through. That meant we didn't have quite as much time to organize our wet gear before going to sleep for the night.





The next day would be the final day of the tour! I felt excitement, relief, and disappointment at the prospect of finishing the tour. I also felt bruising on my butt.

MUP Day 4 - Sault Ste. Marie to Paradise

We'll call it MUP Day 4 even though our maps indicate it was Day 3. Thursday, 25 July, was the 3rd traveling day of the tour. After the usual business of getting up and packing up and eating breakfast we were on the road. Do I even need to mention again that we were nearly the last group to get going? Well, it's not a race, is it?

The weather looked great as we headed out of Sault Ste. Marie towards the west. Except, of course, for the westerly wind. The route would take us west through Brimly, after which we would pretty much hug the shoreline of Whitefish Bay. The morning started out right, with cool air, sunshine, and a few steep hills.

A detour had been added to our route, extending the total distance for the day by a few extra miles. The extra miles weren't so much of a challenge as was the traffic on one portion of the detour. A bridge under construction on 6 Mile Road forced the tour to drop south and and ride on about 4 miles highway M-28, which had more traffic and less shoulder than was comfortable.

As it worked out, Quinn and I got to ride M-28 west, then back east, then west again, because somehow, at a brief SAG stop just where the detour began, Abbey's camera (in its case) fell to the ground. None of us noticed. She thinks she had set it on the rear rack bag when she peeled off her jacket, and it must not have fallen until we started riding. A few miles down the road she noticed it was missing. We stopped along M-28 and discussed what the likelihood was that the woman at SAG stop had seen the camera and picked it up. Of course, we weren't even sure where it had been lost. The next SAG stop was several miles down the road, so we decided it would be best if Quinn and I turned back to see if we could find it. Quinn fired up his best stoker legs and we raced back down M-28, and back north to the corner at 6 Mile Road and South Piche. No sign of the camera. Quinn began to cry. He was most upset and felt very sorry for Abbey. Under his ornery exterior, he's really a sweet and caring little guy. He got off the bicycle and wouldn't get back on. I stood there straddling the bike, not knowing what to do, but I was saved after only a few moments when my phone rang. Abbey and Cindy had reached the next SAG stop and the camera was there! We were so happy and thankful that our SAG support person had picked it up. Quinn pulled it together, fired up his second best stoker legs, and we sprinted back toward the rest of the group. It seemed to take us forever to reach the others. I can only imagine how long it must have seemed they had to wait. We were definitely bringing up the rear of the tour after that!

A few miles later, we'd made to the Point Iroquois Light Station. Abbey took our picture.



Those of us with more tolerance for heights climbed the winding stairs to the top of the light. The view was tremendous.



Here's Quinn going down. He's the only one in our group who didn't have SPD cleats on the bottoms of his shoes.



If we'd had a bit more time, we could have explored the shoreline for a while.



Abbey captured the text of the sign.



We pedaled further down the road to the lunch stop for the day. There are few commercial establishments on this lonely Lakeshore Drive, so lunch was brought in to a little parking area with beach access. We were served cold, wet, and slimy wraps full of some kind of muscle tissue and liquid cheeze! Ugh. Eat or starve. They served us coleslaw, too, which was pretty good. And Gatorade, and cookies, and chocolate bars.

We spent lots of time wading around the shallow water along the sandy shore. The weather was beautiful. I wish we could have put on our swimming suits and stayed for hours! The kids and I found a whole bunch of little leeches on the bottom of a log.



But soon we were back on the tandems to pedal the rest of the way to Paradise. Abbey took pictures. The fanny flags were fun because they were good conversation starters with other riders and non-riders.





It was actually quite hot by the time we pulled into the school grounds at Paradise. There were a few nice spots left for our tents, and the kids had big playground waiting for them. We quickly set up camp, showered, and packed into the small cafeteria for pasties - a staple of the UP diet. Sort of like a pot pie without the pot. We really appreciated the effort that had gone into the meal that night. Home-cooked food, plenty of really good salad, and some tasty deserts.



After dinner, we hopped on the tandems for a quick ride into town for some Jilbert ice cream. Quinn always selects the most colorful. I had Mint Mackinac Fudge in a sugar cone.

MUP Day 3 - Sault Ste. Marie

Breakfast was an hour later since we weren't traveling, and was in the dorm cafeteria at Lake Superior State University where we were sleeping in our tents on the grass. Unlike previous camps, our bicycle tour riders weren't the only ones there for breakfast, although I think we were the majority.

Our agenda for the day:

1. Have Dave check out the cranks on Grandma and Grandpa's Burley. After the first day of riding in the rain, the cranks had gotten a bit creaky - not an uncommon issue with bicycles, and usually the result of a crank arm that's not quite seating evenly on the bottom bracket spindle. It can be concerning and is certainly annoying.
2. Laundry.
3. Tourist activities. In particular, we hoped to take the boat tour through the locks.

While Grandpa and I waited in line for the very popular bike repair guy, again it was Dave from Pro Sports, the rest of group headed down the hill into town to find the laundromat. Dave checked out the cranks, but didn't want to pull all four of them right there, so we ran the bicycle down to his shop a little later. With laundry finished up and delivered back to the tents by bicycle, and the Burley in the hands of capable bicycle repair guy, we headed off for a boat tour.

The boat tour was pretty cool. It lasted a couple of hours. We floated past the downstream side of this ancient power plant. It's located at the outlet of the channel that was cut between Lake Superior and the St. Mary's river. The water drops 19 feet through these turbines.



We got to up through one of the smaller locks. We were raised 21 feet from the St. Mary's River into Lake Superior.



After a short industrial tour, we were lowered back through another lock to the level of the river. Abbey took this photo of one of the big freighters squeezing into the lock. The freighter was only two feet narrower than the lock.



After the boat tour, we got sort of snagged by a woman who was giving tours of a historical house. Apprehensive at first, I found it to be the highlight of the day. We got to go into the restored home of John Johnston - the first British-American fur trader to settle in Sault Ste. Marie. It was just the six of us, and we got a private and very interesting lesson about the local history. I think the kids really enjoyed it, too.

We picked up the bicycle, then made a quick dash back to the college where to make it to the pool in time for some swimming. Swimming is always fun. And then back down the hill into town for dinner at a Greek restaurant, by which time we were all getting quite hungry, noticeably tired, and maybe a little grouchy. It was late and ice cream would have to wait for another day. The next, as it would happen.

MUP Day 2 - DeTour Village to Sault Ste. Marie

We awoke at 6 a.m. to a partly cloudy sky that lacked the look, to which we'd become so accustomed, of impending rain. Making pretty good time, the kids were dressed and the gear sorted, packed, and loaded on the truck before we went in for breakfast. We still brought up the end of the breakfast line, but we enjoyed our pancakes, eggs, fruit, and coffee just the same. We set off on our second day of riding, our destination, Sault Ste. Marie, a distance of 66 miles.

Less of today's route was adjacent to the shoreline. Instead we rode though a mix of forests and agricultural fields. We noted a conspicuous absence of the corn fields we ride among so often near our home in the lower peninsula. We had a few big hills to climb,



some big hills to descend,



and some long flats where we had little to do but pedal against the wind.



To pass the time, we sang songs and played the animal guessing game while we rode. Quinn's Web-Kinz, Roger, had to ride on top of the rear rack trunk, because Quinn had shed enough layers of clothing to fill his handlebar bag where Roger usually rides. Quinn worried very much about the possibility that Roger might fall off on the fast descents, but we strapped him on tightly, and he did a good job holding on. Like most dogs, he probably enjoyed the feel of the wind blowing through his fur.



Anybody need to pee? Some of the facilities in the UP were a little rustic...



We had wonderful lunch stop at the Main Street Cafe in Pickford. Abbey and Quinn had chicken nuggets, and Cindy and I had veggie melts. They served us curly fries and straight fries and plenty of refills on our drinks. I don't remember what Grandma and Grandpa ate, but it was a really nice little place to stop for lunch. Surprisingly, they even rounded our total bill down, to facilitate the cash-only policy that's so common at restaurants on the UP.



The last few miles of the ride had us pedaling through small farms and residences along the St. Mary's River, which is the river that connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron. Eventually we travelled through downtown Sault Ste. Marie beside the locks on the St. Mary's River that lift or drop gigantic freighters 21 feet up or down as they pass from one body of water to the other.

We pitched our tents at Lake Superior State University, this time right beside the MUP U-Haul. Look closely and you can see that Quinn is supervising from a comfy camp chair while the rest of the crew (except me) sets up camp.



After dinner in the university cafeteria, we walked down the hill into Sault Ste. Marie to stretch our legs, to get feel for the town, and just to see what there was to see. MUP day 3 would be a non-bicycling day and we'd be spending the day in Sault Ste. Marie.

MUP Day 1 - St. Ignace to DeTour Village

Today, Monday, 21 July, was the real first day of the MUP bicycle tour. Today we would pedal from St. Ignace, MI, at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge, to DeTour Village, MI, at the eastern-most point of the Upper Peninsula. The distance would be about 56 miles, one of the shorter days on the MUP schedule. On the bicycles we would only carry a minimal amount of gear, while the MUP tour crew transported the bulk of the gear in a big U-Haul truck.

We awoke to our alarms at 6 a.m., having had a much better night's sleep than the previous (there were no Sunday night parties at the arena). Cindy and I did our best to pack up as much as we could within the tent before waking the kids. Once we did, we got them dressed in their cycling gear and packed up the rest of the sleeping bags, pads, and clothes. The tent was a scrambled mess of clean and dirty clothes, pillows, bags, wet towels and swimsuits, and miscellaneous gear by the time morning arrived. What a mess!

Breakfast was served in the arena, and was similar to the day before, but started an hour earlier, at 7 a.m. The general plan for the MUP was to have breakfast at 7 a.m. so that most bicyclists could have their camping gear on the truck and pedal away by 9 a.m. Most riders made it out much sooner than that. Since it had rained during the night, the tent flies were quite soggy, and we left the tents up while we ate breakfast.

After breakfast (we were the last to eat) we organized our gear, packed our tents, and set up the bikes. This morning was particularly slow because we still had access to our van, and some of the stuff in the tent needed to be left in the van but we had to figure out exactly which stuff that was. There seemed to be quite a lot of last minute organizing to do, so were were almost, but not quite, the last riders to leave the arena. We took a little more with us on the bicycles than most riders, probably in part because we were new to this supported tour thing, but also because we had gear for a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old. They require a bit more stuff, including an assortment of extra clothes and three Web-Kinz each. We also took swimming suits and waters shoes because we hoped to do some swimming along the way. Each tandem had a handlebar bag for the captain, a handlebar bag for the stoker (for the kids these usually contain stuffed animals), and rack-top bag on the rear. Quinn and I also carried a set of waterproof panniers with swimming suits, towels, water shoes, and some extra warm clothes. Later in the trip, when swimming seemed less likely, the panniers rode on the truck. The added wind resistance of panniers is noticable when riding into a head wind.

We headed north out of St. Ignace, six Roarks on three Burleys, with some cyclists in front of us and a few behind. The terrain was gently rolling, following the shore of Lake Huron. Traffic was light and the road had a moderate width, smooth shoulder. The temperature was cool. Some of us wore light jackets. Abbey wore tights, a long-sleeve top, and a short-sleeve bicycling jersey under her rain jacket. Quinn was dressed similarly to Abbey but with his wind pants instead of tights. The kids are always cool when the bikes are moving, so they require extra layers.

We'd only been riding for 5 miles when we had our first (and only) incident of the trip. Quinn and I were leading on a gentle downhill when we hear a the sudden scraping sound of metal on metal, accompanied by a mix of sounds of commotion. My first thought was that Cindy's fender had come off her bike and fallen against the tire (a fear of mine, given the recent fender installation), but I was glad to learn that I was wrong. We all came to a quick stop on the side of the road. Cindy's front tire was completely flat because she had run over a bolt - a nice shiny metric hex-head bolt that probably fell of one of the many bicycles on the road ahead of us. It had a big curved washer sort of thing on it that probably allowed it to stick upward from the road and puncture the tire. The bolt had punched a perfect circle out of the center of her tire. Working quickly in the midst of rather aggressive swarm of mosquitos, we pulled the bikes off the road, repaired the tube with a self-adhesive patch, and carefully examined the tire. We wondered what the chances were that the tire would hold, given the 5 mm diameter hole through the tread and casing. I had considered bringing a folding spare for her bike, but hadn't gotten around to ordering one. The little blue Burley uses narrow 26 x 1.25" tires that are a little harder to find than standard road bike or mountain bike tires. I should have at least brought some tire repair boots for this sort of thing. I've heard that a dollar bill makes a good boot, as does a Power Bar wrapper. Instead, I used a strip of heavy duty electrical tape, and we were soon back on the road, but we were now brining up the rear of the tour. That tire held for the rest of the tour, despite the little fuzzy pieces of cord sticking up from the hole.

After that, the ride was less eventful. We headed north for about 15 miles on a lonely road with now traffic at all, and then turned to the east on M-134, the road we would follow the rest of the way to DeTour. There was some traffic on the road, but in most places the shoulder was pretty good, and the riding was pleasant. The terrain was gently rolling, with nice views of the water in many of the valleys. The sky stayed gray and we road into a moderate headwind most of the day, which probably slowed our progress by two or three miles per hour.

The lunch stop that day was in Cedarville, at about 32 miles into the ride. We paid $8 each to have sandwiches at the Cedarville Community Center, with proceeds of the lunch being used toward development of a local rail trail that would follow our route from St. Ignace to DeTour. We don't usually (never, actually) eat sliced roast beef on white bread, but I think it's reasonable that we are somewhat flexible in our diet under these circumstances. The best thing about the lunch was sitting at folding chairs and tables in a large room - it was very relaxing. The lemonade - or was it Gatorade? - was excellent, too.

After lunch, and after Grandma and Grandpa walked over to the hardware store to pick up a rubber mallet to tap tent stakes into hard ground, we quickly got back on the road. Even though the air was chilly, we started looking for a spot to swim. We missed the swimming beach marked on the map, but later stopped at a roadside park with running water and flushable toilets that had a nice sandy beach reaching out into the Lake. There were several other cyclists stopped with us, also enjoying the sand and the water.





We must have spent an hour playing in the water before cleaning up and getting back in the saddle, but as soon as we did, the rain began to fall. It didn't rain very hard for very long, but it gave us a good chance to test our new stainless steel Gilles Berthoud fenders and our rain jackets. Both sets of items work spectacularly. Not a drop of water touched a one of us!





We arrived in DeTour Village sometime in the late afternoon. Our bags were sitting out in the rain beside truck, just as expected. The first riders to arrive at the camp (it was never us) get to help unload all the camping gear from the truck. The gear is unloaded (in a gentle airline baggage handler style?) onto the ground where it waits patiently for it's owner to arrive. It would be nice if there was a way that the bags wouldn't end up sitting outside in the rain, but doing it this way keeps things simple. It's important to keep this in mind, however, when packing for a trip like this. Also, the lighter your bag, the less likely that it will suffer damage from being roughly dragged across the pavement. Our big duffel (a high-quality bag from Gregory) had a large hole ground into it by the time the tour was over. Ouch.

We set up our tents in the grass near the school playground. There was a covered structure nearby that had some picnic tables and a stage (it's not shown in the picture below). We made use of it as a drying rack for some gear, and a place to park the tandems out of the rain. The kids loved camping at the schools because there was always a playground.

We had just enough time to take showers in the school locker room before dinner, which was served at 6 p.m. We were, once again, just about the last ones in line. We could choose fried bird parts (which looked quite tasty) or cold pasta salad. There were also green beans, a good green salad, and some fruit. It wasn't the best meal of the trip, but it wasn't bad, and it certainly provided the necessary calories. There were some tasty deserts, too.

When dinner was finished, I ran out to meet the bicycle maintenance crew, Dave, from Pro Sports in Sault Ste. Marie, to see if he'd have time to take a look at the cranks on the little blue Burley. The front cranks seemed a little loose, and I thought probably needed some attention. Dave was able to tighten the bottom bracket, which I had probably inadvertently loosened a couple of weeks previous when I had snugged up the timing chain. That fixed the looseness in the cranks quite nicely. Unfortunately, Dave did not have a suitable replacement tire or a tire boot. We'd just have to hope for the best.

After that, it was off to organize gear, brush a bunch of teeth, and get some sleep! It had been a good first day.

Mackinac Island Bicycle Tour

After a short night of sleep, we woke on Sunday morning (20 July) and headed into the arena for breakfast. Tables and chairs for about 125 people were set up at one end of the hockey rink. We were running a bit late so most of the riders had already loaded their plates and started eating their cheesy eggs, biscuits and gravy, cereal, granola, and fruit. Many were finished eating, but there was plenty left for us. We were the last ones to finish breakfast (something that would happen frequently over the next few days).

After breakfast we zipped up the tents, loaded up the bikes, and road to the ferry terminal to catch a ride to Mackinac Island. The Shepler's ferry terminal was just a few blocks from the Little Bear East Arena. We had purchased a ferry ticket for each person (6) and each bicycle (3) when we registered for the MUP, but we had to buy three more bicycle ferry tickets because bicycles require one ferry ticket per seat!

Abbey took this picture of the ferry:



Here we are waiting at the ferry terminal. Our blue Burley Rumbas, and Grandma and Grandpas very cool, sparkly chameleon, fat-tire Burley Rock-n-Roll.



We were sort of horrified at the way the bikes were just piled into the luggage area of the ferry. Potential for damage was high, despite their promise of "no scratches." But it was kind of cool that the ferry workers found themselves inundated by bicycles, with more than 20 bicycles crammed into the gear compartment of the ferry. Of course, since Mackinac Island is car-free, the ferry personnel ought to be used to transporting bicycles.

Abbey snapped this cool picture of rental bikes on the island:



This building with bicycles on the wall was located at the ferry landing:



Lake Shore Road runs around the perimeter of Mackinac Island - it's about eight miles in length. It's also called M-185, and is the only state highway in Michigan on which it is illegal to drive a car. How many state highways in the country are car-free? It was great, although we were witnesses to a bicycle crash. Nobody was seriously injured.



We road around the island for a few hours, including the perimeter road and some of the interior roads. It's very hilly, forested, and fun riding. For those who don't have a bicycle, there are the horse-drawn carts all over the place. We didn't need one, but we did have to contend with them on the roads. And lots of horse poop.



We walked around the touristy streets, had lunch at a little old cafe, and ate some of the famous Mackinac Island Fudge. It was fun. And if you are into history, there's an old fort you can tour, and all sorts of related interesting historical stuff.

Back on the mainland of St. Ignace, the kids and I attempted to take a swim on the beach, but it was chilly and windy and the water was too full of debris to make for good swimming or wading, which was a little disappointing. So we jumped on our bikes and pedaled through St. Ignace to a little diner for dinner. We had grilled veggie sandwiches and garden burgers and more fries than we could possibly eat. While we were there a heavy rain began to fall. We watched it wash our bicycles while we ate dinner. We pedaled back to the arena through chilly air and wet streets, to discover that one of the windows in Grandma and Grandpa's tent had been slightly open and some rain found it's way to their pillows and sleeping bags. Their stuff was a little wet - or maybe quite wet, I'm not really sure - but they didn't complain too much. I hope they were comfortable that night. At least there was no wedding party!

There was a MUP rider meeting that evening, where Fred, the Tour Director, went over all the maps and tour info. The LMB Executive Director, Rich, also gave a fun and informative presentation. It's always fun to hear Rich talk.

After that, it was showers and toothbrushing and off to bed. Get to sleep! The ride starts tomorrow!

Driving to the UP

On Saturday (19 July) before the MUP tour started, we had to get ourselves and our bikes and our gear to the UP. That's about a 5 hour drive from Lansing. We had so much stuff that we took our van and Grandma and Grandpa's van. The drive was the easy part (although some folks had some trouble with the Mackinac Bridge). The hard part was packing and organizing the gear before we left.

I had posted a question to the LMB Shoreline Tour discussion group to see if people with experience on the Shoreline Tours could give some suggestions on how to pack. I got some answers, but it seemed that different people had different packing methods. We just put our tent, some camp chairs, and our sleeping pads in a big duffel. We put our sleeping bags and cycling clothes in two more duffels (one for the S & Q, the other for A & C). Then we had another pair of bags that held non-cycling clothes, similarly divided. That arrangement was fine, but the clothes were packed in semi-waterproof bags inside the duffels, and it was pretty hard to get out any one piece of clothing without dumping out the whole bag. An inefficiency that slowed us down a bit on the MUP travel days. To make matters even more complicated, most of the waterproof bags were the same color, so it was hard to locate the right one. All the duffels ended up on the truck each day, not on the bikes, so we didn't have to worry about carrying everything with us.

Back to the drive: it went fine. A little wind, some heavy rain, and then the big bridge. The Mackinac Bridge stretches about 5 miles from end to end, and the suspended portion ranks pretty high among the longest suspension bridges on the planet. If you need more info, try Googling it. Providing statistics on long bridges is not the purpose of this blog. Here's a picture:



You might think that this picture was not taken from the bridge. You would be correct. I took it the next day from a boat (remember that if I were doing this properly I wouldn't have the picture yet becuase tomorrow wouldn't have come when I wrote this). It's easier to take good pictures of the bridge when you're not on it.

We made it to St. Ignace, MI, where the ride began, just over the bridge, and pitched our tents in the grass outside the Little Bear Arena - that's a place where St. Ignace folks play hockey in the winter. We had dinner at a local pizza joint on a deck overlooking Lake Huron, and with a view of Mackinac Island. It was nice. The pizza had a really yummy soft crust.

Inside the Little Bear Arena was the ride registration station. Also inside, breakfasts were served the next two mornings, and there were showers available for those who were dirty.

The only really unpleasant thing that happened was a wedding reception. Our event was one of two taking place at the Arena. The other was a very loud wedding reception and party that continued until well after midnight that night. Sleeping was not possible until after the party shut down. And lying in a tent with our kids beside a parking lot full of cars that belonged to the noisy people drinking beer in the doorway to the Arena was a little disconcerting. We survived.

I didn't get any pictures of the tents or the Arena, but Abbey did:



The tent on the left is our 4-person REI tent. It's a really nice tent and it fits SCAQ just fine, but with little room for extra gear inside. There is plenty of vestibule space for stuff - you can see a little of it under the fly in the photo. The tent on the right is the Sierra Designs tent that we bought in the days when we were just SCA. Once we had Q there was not room in the tent. It seemed to work quite well for Grandma and Grandpa, and was possibly the most storm-proof tent on the tour, a trait that was valuable a few days later.

I didn't hear any complaints about either of our tents (excepting the earwigs).

Pre-MUP Lansing Ride

If I were really good blogger, I would have written up each day of the MUP bicycle tour as it happened, and then somehow posted my writing to my blog each day in near real time (that's mobile blogging, and I actually could have done it). But I didn't. I wasn't that organized. Instead, I'm going to retroactively post something for each day of the tour. Also, because I'm going to post each day as a separate blog entry, they'll end up sort of in reverse order. But I'm going to do it that way, anyway. If it bothers you, try standing on your head.

As I've mentioned many times on this blog, the MUP is the League of Michigan Bicyclist's tour of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. You can find more info here. We'd been trying to prepare for the ride all summer. We were all very excited about it.

My parents, hereafter referred to as Grandma and Grandpa, arrived on Thursday night (17 July) with their Burley tandem to do the tour with us. Six Roarks on three Burleys. Too bad the acronym isn't a little better. Interestingly, on the MUP tour, we were often called the "Burley Family" by the other riders. We should have had a sign that said "Roark Family on Burleys" or something like that.

I was anxious to start riding, and Cindy had to work at 2 p.m., so we headed out for local ride in the morning (18 July). We rode on the Lansing River Trail to Winkin', Blinkin', and Stinkin', and then on over to Hawk Island Park. It was a nice ride, probably around 25 miles, and gave Grandma and Grandpa a chance to stretch their legs after the long drive from Wichita. I took a few pictures, but they weren't very good - nothing worth posting.

Soma Love

After a long, snowy winter, my Soma was a mess. Road salt, grit and grime, and corrosion. The chain, chainrings, and cogs were coated with a thick, black, gooey, muck. Some of the aluminum parts were crusted with white corrosion, and the steel parts red. The cables didn't look shiny anymore. Since it had just crossed the 5,000 mile mark, and was looking very neglected, I decided it was time for a thorough cleaning.

So I took it apart. I simply started taking stuff off until there was nothing left but a frame. I cleaned the frame with a degreaser. Then I washed it with water, inside and out, to rinse out the salt. I dried it in the sun. When it was nice and clean, I waxed it. But all of that was the easy part.

The components I pulled off were a mess. Some of them were worn out. The middle chain ring, the one I use the most, had waves instead of teeth. The chain, which had about 1500 miles on it, was considerably longer than it was when it was new. The break arms, once I cleaned them, flopped loosely on their posts, the bushings worn to an oversize diameter. The cable housings were rusty inside, and in some spots the outer layer was worn through from rubbing on the frame. The bar tape was thin and falling apart.

So I bought it some new brakes, new cables and housings, new bar tape, a new chain, a new middle chain ring, a new rear cassette with a little narrower gearing than the old one for more choices of gears in my normal riding range. And I got a new rear rack. All for the cost of a couple of tanks of gas. Well, maybe three tanks of gas. I took apart the hubs and headset and cleaned and greased the the bearings. Some of the bearing seats in the hubs are worn and won't likely make past the next 5,000 miles, but they spin smoothly for now. The Soma seatpost was original black, but the anodizing, if that's what it was, was fading to gray. It looked pretty ugly, so I took the anodizing off with a wire brush on my drill. Now it's a shiny brushed aluminum seatpost. It looks a little better to me, anyway. The only thing I didn't change that I considered was the somewhat clunky fender setup I have up front. It looks a little strange, but it's functional.

It took a couple of months for me to find time to put it all back together (in the mean time I logged more than 200 miles commuting on the green Cannondale tandem), but once it was done it felt like a new bike. Soft and smooth and quiet. The difference was amazing. The new brakes and pads are a huge improvement. The routing of the wires for the headlight is much improved. I ran them on the bottom tube rather than the top. The new cassette gives me single-tooth difference in my primary riding speed range, and shifting with the new chain, cassettes, and clean derailer is incredibly smooth. The first day I rode to work on it, anyone who noticed probably wondered why I was wearing such a big smile!

Double Commute on my Double Cross

We're having some beautiful weather today. Our high was in the low 80s. It was 48 when I left home on my bicycle this morning. I must have been so happy about the weather that I forgot my panniers that contained my lunch, clothes, lock, and tools. I didn't even realize it until I arrived and lifted my bike up the curb to lock it to the rack. It was unusually light! I was glad, however, because it meant I got to ride back home to get my stuff. Extra bicycling on a beautiful morning! I should have known that something was amiss because as I was riding up the gentle incline along Hulett road I was traveling at 19-20 mph instead of my usual 16-17 mph. At the time, I assumed it was a result of the beautiful weather and my newly rebuilt Soma DoubleCross, and perhaps a slight tailwind (although there wasn't any wind), but it was just that missing 15 pounds of stuff hanging off my bike.

I saw numerous bicycles on my ride in today. It's so nice that summer is finally here!