Departure from Theo's
About 650 of us departed from the Gier Community Center in
Lansing between 7:00 and 9:00 AM toward Mt. Pleasant--72 miles
to the north. After registering and picking up ride maps and the
club clothing I had ordered at the Gier Center, I rode over to
Theo's, a block south, for breakfast with Denny Vandecar (Denny's
Cycling) and some of his family and friends, departing at around
9:00. Anybody who has kept up with my Tailwinds
website, knows what I ate (not a good choice at Theo's).
Just 5 miles into the ride (near DeWitt), I came upon a couple
of close friends, Steve and Rao, who had crashed. The road was
recently repaved and the pavement was several inches higher than
the shoulder. Rao wandered a bit too far to the right and down
onto the shoulder. When he tried to get back onto the pavement,he
fell and Steve ran over his rear wheel, falling himself. Neither
rider appeared much the worse for wear, but Rao's rear deraillier
was bent and his rear wheel was knocked out of true. Luckily,the
repair van (from a Big Rapids, Michigan bike shop) was only about
a mile back. They hauled the bike and Rao to the first rest stop
in DeWitt. Steve and I rode. After waiting about 45 minutes,a
bicycle mechanic arrived on the scene and repaired the bike(Rao's
wheel rim was broken and would need to be rebuilt, but that could
wait until the evening in Mt. Pleasant). By the time the three
of us got back on the road, I think we were at the end of the
pack. The weather was so beautiful that we maintained a pretty
brisk pace (around 17-18 mph) and it didn't take us long to move
up the line.
I was riding my Trek 2100 carbon fiber bicycle (21 lbs), that
I hadn't ridden since early in the Spring. The Trek is fast, but
I had a horrible time with the change in frame geometry and saddle.By
the time I got to Mt. Pleasant, my leg muscles ached and I was
experiencing terrible saddle sores. Everybody knows you don't
ride a new bike or saddle on a tour like DALMAC. You need to train
on the bike you ride. I thought though that having ridden the
Trek more than 3,400 miles in '95 and about 300 miles in the Spring,my
body would be acclimated to it. I was wrong. Riding more than
5,000 miles on my Cannondale T-700 touring bike this summer bike
changed the geometry of my muscle conditioning and the comfortable
Vetta saddle on my Cannondale spoiled me.
When I got to Mt. Pleasant, I called my daughter, who is a student
at Central Michigan University (CMU) in Mt. Pleasant, and asked
her to drive me (and my Trek) home. It took us about 2 hours to
drive from Mt. Pleasant to Williamston because we stopped at McDonalds
in Ithaca for dinner (yucch). At home, I removed the low rider
racks from the front of the Cannondale and moved my Vista lights,flag,
tool kit, etc. from the Trek to the Cannondale. I then took a
quick shower and rode (along with the Cannondale) back to Mt.Pleasant
in my daughter's car in time to hit the sack in my tent at 10:30.
Rushing home and returning after dark, I didn't get any opportunity
to take a photo of Mt. Pleasant this year.
