DALMAC 2016: amazing sums it up

 

Five days on the bike, East Lansing to Mackinaw City, with nearly perfect weather. It was an amazing way to end the summer.

The scenery was stunning.  Early morning sunrises along Elk Lake and Torch Lake Saturday morning.  Truly something to behold; even more beautiful taking it in silently on my bike.  Lunch with a view of Fife Lake on Friday.  Hearing the waves hitting the shore while riding the Little Traverse Wheelway into Petoskey.

There were cookies.  Sweetie-licious cookies.  DALMAC rest stop cookies.  Good Hart General Store cookies.  Lunch stop carrot cake.  And Cliff bars and Gatorade.

Some stiff headwinds day one and two.  Serious climbing days three and four.  And serious downhills:  a max speed of 33 mph for me.  A little outside my comfort zone, but fun nonetheless.

But it’s even better riding with friends!  Early morning breakfasts.  Leisurely afternoons.  Evenings playing euchre.  Losing track of time.

My countdown clock has already started for DALMAC 17.

DALMAC: the bags are packed and I’m ready to go

For the third time this summer, I’ve packed my biking and camping gear for what is my final multi-day ride of the year:   the DALMAC.  (That’s the Dick Allen Lansing to Mackinaw ride.)

This ride is always special.  It was my first multi-day bike tour.  Foolishly, I thought it would be a piece of cake, given my ability to go all-out on the spin bike for a whole 60 minutes!  The ride where I discovered I really, really like riding my bike.  And cyclists, well, they’re some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

The DALMAC has grown to be an event I can enjoy with a pack of my bike-riding buddies.  Last year we were a group of seven hearty souls.  This year the friend-pack numbers five, and I can hardly wait.

To get up before the crack of dawn.  To pump my tires, fill my water bottles, and hit the road.  To savor the straight stretches, to power up the hills, and feel like a kid when there’s a long downhill in front of me.

I’ll break a record for nights tenting in one summer when this is done:  18.  As much as I don’t like sleeping in a tent, I love my bike and riding so much that I grin and bear it.  Admittedly, I approach the tent thing much like Tom Hanks on Castaway, mentally ticking off each night.

As I pedal north, I am anticipating some cool nights ahead.  Any normal person would be perfectly fine in my 40 degree sleeping bag.  I am not normal.  I have:  cold weather wicking base layer clothes, wool socks, flannel pajamas, a long-sleeve Smartwool shirt, and a fleece blanket to put inside my bag.   Still, I worry, it may not be enough.  If need be, I’m putting on the fleece jacket, too.

I know I will laugh.  Over and over again.  I’ll meet loads of new and interesting people.  I will push myself hard.

And on Sunday, the final day, it will be the bittersweet end of DALMAC.  A lovely trip down M-119 through the Tunnel of Trees.  That never gets old.  There will be high five’s all around when we finish in Mackinac City.  Pictures.  Hugs.  And promises to do it all over again next year.

That is DALMAC.

Solitude, serenity, great views on #ShorelineWest

Seven days off the grid, for the most part.  Taking in some of the best scenery Michigan has to offer from my favorite vantage point:  my bike.  We pedaled past shorelines, sand dunes, sunflower fields, and scenic vistas.

Ahhhhh.

I’ve come to love weeks where I can unplug from everyday life and just … ride my bike.

There’s nothing leisurely about a week-long bike tour.  Everyone is up early, usually 6 am.  Grab a quick breakfast then it’s prep the bike and push-off for that day’s destination.

On the road means watching maps and looking for that tour’s road markings.  Cruising up hills.  Chugging my way to the top of others.  Doing a mental high-five when there’s one gear left on a really steep climb.

Enjoying downhills as fast as my wheels will take me.  That doesn’t get old!

Even with nearly 500 riders, the road isn’t crowded.

It doesn’t take long until I hardly know what day it is, only our next town.

There’s a comfortable rhythm to each day.  Arrive in camp.  Find your bags.  Grab a shower.  Relax.  Casual friendships take shape over the week as we recount the day’s adventures and look forward to what’s ahead.

While #shorelinewest is over, I still have one more end-of-summer biking adventure ahead.  The DALMAC is always a rip-roaring good time as well.  In just a few weeks it will be time to repack my bags and take a different path to the same destination, Mackinac City!

Upping the ante in 2016: first out-of-state tour!

Nearly every vacation day is planned and accounted for this year and it’s only February.  I’ve locked in 21 days of riding with four multi-day tours.  Squee!

Tried and true.  Unlike other rides, the Michigander mixes it up each year with different routes that mean new and interesting scenery.  Options, they’ve got that as well with two-day, six-day, and eight-day routes.  Gotta like that.  Going for the weekend ride that will include:

Starting at Fruitport High School, on the first day, we will ride the trail network to Kirk Park in Grand Haven and loop back. On the second day, we will ride out to the USS Silversides Museum and back.

The Shoreline West.  Make that the 30th Annual Shoreline West Bicycle Tour.  This was my first week-long ride a few years ago.  Crazy hills that test your mettle but breath-taking scenery that makes every climb with the effort.

DALMAC.  The granddaddy of Michigan bike tours.  I’ll be back for my fourth trip from Lansing to Mackinaw City, this time on the five-day west route.  What makes it so special?  Adventure.  Camaraderie.  Veterans and newbies.  For me, it’s always been a home run.

And now for something completely different.  Taking my bike on the road for my first out-of-state bike adventure:

Ride the Fault Line bicycling tour takes you through 4 states in 7 days along the New Madrid earthquake fault line.

-Tour a former home & studio of the literary giant Ernest Hemingway.

-Cross the mighty Mississippi River on an authentic riverboat ferry.

Go big or go home, right?  Michigan.  Missouri.  Kentucky.  Tennessee.  Arizona.  Boom!

2015 in review: Zoo-de-Mack, MUP, Slow Roll, and Silver Bells

It’s been quite a year chock full of new biking adventures.  At the risk of jinxing myself, I rode 2,400 miles without a flat, from the Upper Peninsula to the heart of Detroit.  And I’ve had more fun than you can shake a stick at!

Despite this being my fourth year as an avid (read crazy) road biker, there were plenty of firsts to keep things lively and interesting.

May

My first wild and crazy experience with Zoo-de-Mack.  Nothing like several thousand people biking from Boyne Highlands to Mackinaw City on a chilly May morning!  You can bet I’ll be back.

July

At the Antlers in the Soo!

This year’s week-long ride started and ended in St. Igance with the Michigan Upper Peninsula – MUP – ride sponsored by the League of Michigan Bicyclists.  Have never been above the bridge, with my bike that is, until this trip.  Amazing sights along the way.

August

The ODRAM:  One Day Ride Across Michigan.  Dare I say it again?  I rode 147 miles.  In one day.  Boom!

The Wayne State Baroudeur cruising through Detroit.  It was awesome.  Already penciled in for 2016.

September

Just crossed the Mackinac Bridge!

DALMAC:  five-day east route.  Third time for the DALMAC, first time on this route.  Up and over the bridge.  It totally rocked.  So did the riding crew!  Can’t wait for a repeat.

Slow Roll through Detroit.  An adventure with thousands of other riders for an after-work ride through the Motor City.  Two thumbs up.

November

The Silver Bells Parade in Lansing was a blast.  Who doesn’t love being in a parade?

Better yet, more adventures await in 2016.

2015 review: the (unofficial) year of the jersey

Somehow I amassed 10 new jerseys this year.  Ten.  Perhaps it’s time for an intervention.

Just some of my expanded collection of biking jerseys this year.

Dangle some riding cuteness in front of me and I can’t seem to help myself from expanding my cycling wardrobe.  The new collection includes a jersey with matching arm warmers.  The arm warmers sealed that deal.

Couldn’t pass up this year’s DALMAC jersey designed by award-winning Michigan artist Barbara Hranilovich.  She is enormously talented and created artwork in an 18th-century French cycling style.  After rolling across the finish line for the One Day Ride Across Michigan, well, I HAD to have a jersey to mark that accomplishment.  Even though I didn’t ride Shoreline West this year, the new jersey was bursting was beautiful sunflowers.  It called my name.

So did Cookie Monster.  Ride bike.  Eat cookie.  How fun is that?

Next year I’ll do my best to avert my eyes when I hear the word sale.  However, I make no promises.

Prepping for the MUP: a ride through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

Have I overpacked?

It’s the Fourth of July and I’ve logged about 900 miles, despite a soggy start to the summer.  Good thing because this year’s big biking adventure begins in just a week, a seven-day journey through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  This will be my first time riding above the bridge.  Sweet!

We’ll loop from St. Ignace to Newberry to Paradise to Sault Ste. Marie to Detour Village back to St. Ignace.  Here’s what’s ahead:

• Wildlife:  should be plenty of things to see that may include sightings of moose, deer, and maybe even a bear.  I’ll pass on the bear, thank you very much.
• Lighthouses:  we can pedal to the White Fish Point Light Station and the Point Iroquois Light Station.  Double fun.
• Waterfalls:  the route takes us right by the Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  Who doesn’t love waterfalls?
• Islands:  tickets are already purchased for a ferry trip to Mackinac Island, a bicycle island paradise.  And, there’s also an option to take the ferry to Drummond Island later in the week.

How excited am I?  Not leaving for five days and I’m already packed!  It’s sure to be a week of fun firsts.

Riding season is well underway: one bike tour down, two to go!

While I was a bit concerned that rain might dampen the weekend, the Sunrise Bicycle Tour in Alpena was dry and sunny last week.  Not much more a cyclist can ask for on a three-day tour.  When Elvis shows up at one of the rest stops, things are that much better.

Wish I could say the same for this weekend.  The rain is coming down in buckets.  I’ll freely admit I do not like to ride in the rain.  So I ditched the plans for today and opted for warm and dry.  Tomorrow looks like I can get in a decent ride so the weekend isn’t a total loss.

In just a few weeks I’ll be heading to the Upper Peninsula for my second week-long bike tour.  Squee!  Last year was a week riding much of the west Michigan shoreline.  The scenery was breath-taking and so were some of the hills we chugged up.

The “MUP” tour is organized by the League of Michigan Bicyclists so I’m looking forward to another week of great routes and wonderful sights.

At the end of the summer I’ll be back for another DALMAC, this time the five-day east route.  I’ve checked the box for the four-day west route and it’s time to try something new.  This trip will take us up and over the Mackinac Bridge on the final day.  That’s exciting and just a bit daunting.

Looking forward to new bike adventures as well as a return the DALMAC.  And, I hope the rain lets us, just a bit!

DALMAC: I knew I was gonna miss ya

The end of the journey.

In just a few days, hundreds and hundreds of cyclists will roll out of East Lansing and head north on the annual DALMAC – Dick Allen Lansing to Mackinaw – ride.  It was the Holy Grail the first year I started riding, the thing I trained for all summer.

The ride that scared the dickens out of me and kept me pedaling almost daily through one of our hottest summers ever.

I’ll never forget when the day finally arrived and I made that first turn at 7 a.m. onto the route.  How we rode first to Vestaburg.  Then to Lake City.  On to Boyne City.  And finally, Mackinaw City.

Days two and three were long, some nearly 100 miles, and hard, so many steep hills.  But I pedaled.  On and up.

Every night I was beat, with just enough time for shower and dinner.  Up before the crack of down to hit the road again.

There wasn’t a morning I wasn’t anxious and ready to go again.

Finally, I could see Mackinaw City High School.  I had done it.  Four days and 330 miles.

It was an experience like no other.

Come Thursday, I’m sure my mind will wander a bit.  I’ll trace the route in my head.  Forest to Aurelius to Kalamazoo … and on.  I’ll think of my friends on that great adventure.  And maybe, I’ll be back again in 2015.

Cyclists: happy, fun, interesting, and inspiring

Bubba-ville!

Bike tours are so much more than the ride.  Cyclists are a happy, interesting, and inspiring  group.

I had just as much fun off my bike as I had on it during my August week-long adventure along the Lake Michigan shore.  So many fascinating people.

The camp community

For me, the hard part of the ride was the tent.  Honestly.  I’m a mattress and pillow kind of girl.  To take the edge off, we used a tent service (Yes, we paid people to pitch our tent and take it down.  No apologies.  No excuses.).  That meant we had an instant little community around Bubba’s Pampered Peddlers.

After check in and dropping bags in the tent, we joined our fellow biking adventurers in the community area.  This ride included some serious – but fun – cyclists from across the country.  The first people we chatted up had participated in Bubba’s cross-country ride, some more than once.  It was a friendly and outgoing group with fascinating stories of riding from San Diego to St. Augustine.  Good thing we had a week to ask questions about life on the road for two months.

Bubba was a terrific camp host for the week.  Easy going, he did his best to make camp life comfortable and enjoyable.

Another rider, in her early 70s, was in our tent community and still going strong.  Great to see her taking part in the seven-day ride.  Hope to being doing the same thing at her age.

Family time

After our first dinner, we took a short stroll.  That’s when we met Mel and Abby, a grandfather-granddaughter duo who were riding the tour on a tandem.  It was a delight to see them on the road throughout the week.   Abby was an awesome stoker and a ray of sunshine all week long.  Talk about an incredible experience and memories that will last both of them a lifetime.

Mel and Abby in Mackinac City.

Riding on and on …

Several people on the tour had also recently completed the week-long, legendary RAGBRAI – The Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.  Talk about seeing the country on your bike!  Wish there was unlimited vacation time and money to ride like that all summer long!

As much as I love riding my bike, I don’t see myself riding across the country for two months.  But the group certainly provided inspiration and more ideas for new rides in the future.