Day 38: These last few days I, and many others, have felt a diminishing appetite for the next day's bike ride. Everything has become very "known". We have not had the breathtaking and majestic views that we had during the first few weeks and the excitement is wearing off. We know the food, the hotel rooms, and the routine. It is not a feeling that I want to dwell on too much, and I think that today's ride helped raise my spirit and enthusiasm again.
I did 78 miles, but the roads were mostly good and flat as a pancake. We had a tailwind most of the time and it was not quite as hot. The roads were lined with blue, white and some red wildflowers and tall grass. The cornfields are almost ready for harvest, and the grain fields are golden. Houses and farms looked prosperous again, and pretty.
I will get up tomorrow morning and after breakfast clip into my bike and turn the leg machine ON (my legs really do spin like a machine). Riding with our group, we are always looking at and evaluating the road surface, and continue to call out as we always do, "car back", "gravel right", "bumpy road", "road kill", etc. Until then, this hotel has the right TV channels, so at 9pm I can watch the Tour de France before I fall asleep.
Day 39: If displaying your flag is a sign of patriotism, this area scores high on that list. I have never seen so many flags. They are almost everywhere; on houses, over front doors, draped around mailboxes, flying from trees, on fence posts and on and on. Today's ride was a tough 88-mile ride, with very poor roads. Our bikes got a real durability test. My wheels survived as well as my body parts, but everything got a good shaking. We found another family run diner for lunch. Mamma chef was in the kitchen and her 12-13 year old son waited on us. He did a great job serving us and asking us about our tour.
Leaving the restaurant with 18 more miles to go we had to put on rain jackets. I was pretty soaked by the time I got to the hotel. The roads were slick, and extra caution was in order.
My friend Janet Aengst had contacted her cousin Barbara who lives in Port Huron and told her about our group. Barbara, in turn, had called the local newspaper and a photojournalist came to the hotel at a very appropriate time. We were cleaning our bikes, mechanical hour was in session, and Doug, our leader, was there to answer questions. It was quite a show due to all the activity, especially, in front of a nice hotel like this Holiday Inn. Barbara invited me to her and her husband Bob's home. They showed me around town, took me to their yacht club, and took me out to a great Walleye dinner at a brewery. It was a perfect evening out.
Day 40: I started the day feeling like a queen, but at the end of our 76-mile ride I felt like a dishrag. The bridge, only a few years old, from Port Huron to Canada does not allow cyclists. The plan was that we would have to be SAG-ed across. However, Bryon and Al did some testing last night and found out that if you meet and talk to the "right" person things can be different. So Doug was given that information, and he gave us the good news this morning.
We lined up at 7:30 outside the hotel. Led by our SAG van, we biked to the bridge entrance where an official car took over the leadership and guided us in the far right lane across the bridge. We had to stop twice, get off our bikes, and walk across the "kingpins". At the other side, we were cleared by the immigration officers, and waived through. This was very unusual VIP treatment, and made me feel like a queen.
The dishrag feeling came from riding 70 out of 76 miles against very strong headwinds. Wilson, Rich, Chris, Van, Julie and I tried all kinds of pace lines, but the wind was erratic and not much seemed to help. The temperature was good, though, the roads were flat, and the landscape and houses were pretty. Hopefully, tomorrow's winds are pushing us forward instead of sideways and backwards.
/Gunnel