Iowan Debora Wiley rode DALMAC(5 day East) in 1997. She had a great time and you can read allabout it in the April, 1998 edition of Midwest Living. Tosubscribe to Midwest Living, go to their website by clickingon the masthead below or call 1-800-374-9378. -- Ed
Pedalers Parade Debora Wiley, senior writer on our staffand an avid bicycler, discovers organized cross-state rides area great way to see the Heartland up close and to get a good workoutwhile you're at it.
It's a triumphal moment. As I pedal slowlyand majestically through town, crowds of people line the streets,all clapping and cheering . . . for me! Well, for me and severalhundred other bicyclists.
No, it's not the Tour de France, although it's my personal equivalent.
To someone like me, who doesn't really enjoy exercise, completinga Midwest statewide bicycle tour feels like winning Olympic gold.
PEDALINGPARTIES
I started cycling 5 years ago to prepare for RAGBRAI, the DesMoines Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, foundedin 1973. Now, I can't seem to stop; I've done that ride everyyear since.
RAGBRAI, a 7-day rolling party of about 7,500 riders, lasts afull week (July 19-25 this year) and covers 450 to 500 miles.The ride begins in a town along the Missouri River and finishessomewhere beside the Mississippi. It's an awe-inspiring sight:Ahead and behind you, as far as you can see, bicyclists own theroad.
Small towns open their arms welcoming riders with Midwest hospitality.Farmers in bib overalls wave from their pickups at the paraderolling by. Riders consume thousands of homemade pies and spaghettidinners that volunteers prepare in towns along the route. Whenstrangers knock on townspeople's doors begging for hot showers,they're seldom turned away. Local singers, tap dancers and Elvisimpersonators strut their stuff in park band shells.
By contrast,DALMAC, the Michigan cross-state ride I also pedaledlast summer, was much smaller and more sedate but just as friendly,if a little less silly, than the Iowa ride.
Dick Allen, a former Michigan state representative, started theride 27 years ago to promote bicycling awareness (the acronymstands for "Dick Allen Lansing to Mackinaw"). About1,600 riders choose from four routes, 300 to 400 miles, 4 or 5days long.
As with the Iowa ride, there were plenty of characters on my journeyacross Michigan.
Dedicated DALMAC rider Jerry Grewe of Midland, Michigan, celebratedhis 25th ride by wearing a wild Hawaiian shirt instead of a jersey."I run into a lot of the same people year after year,"Jerry said. "It's just beautiful."
Bob Gibbs, 79, of East Lansing, Michigan, pedaled a heavy hybridbicycle. Babe, his 14-year-old beagle, rode shotgun in a laundrybasket duct-taped to the back rack. Bob explained why he stillrides 4,500 miles a year: "Most of my classmates are dead,and they didn't ride bicycles."
DEFINITEDIFFERENCES
Overall, the Iowa and Michigan rides are surprisingly similar,though I noted two differences: More hills in Iowa than Michigan,and more heat and humidity in Iowa in late July than in Michiganin late August.
On both, ride organizers, haul your tent and luggage. Pedalerscarry water bottles, rain gear, sunscreen, cameras, and sparetire tubes. Repair service is available along the route, and a"sag wagon" patrols for ailing riders.
Mornings are golden. I'm fresh and have nothing to do all daybut ride to the next overnight stop. A silver crescent moon hangshigh in the southeast sky, as dawn breaks in strips of pink androbin's-egg blue.
So it's an 80-mile day? I think of it as four 20-mile rides. It'snot a race. There's time to enjoy the view of red barns with intricatefieldstone foundations. A rainbow of roadside wildflowers cheersme on.
Motorless motion allows the chance to hear the cattle mooing andtractor engines purring. In Michigan, apple orchards and sugarbeets punctuate the grain fields. The scent of pine grows strongerthe farther north I glide. Fields of corn and soy beans rollingin perfect rows shape the Iowa landscape.
Riding 300 to 500 miles in 5 to 7 days, I've known the joy oftail winds and the agony of head winds. There's too much sun ornot enough. My shoulders ache, but my legs are nicely toned. Ishower daily, but my helmet ensures it's always a bad hair day.
Nobody cares. We're all camping out, eating the same foods, sharingthe time of our lives. I'm surrounded by new friends, people whoenjoy the camaraderie of a vacation where the destination reallyis the journey.
I meet stay-at-home parents, ophthalmologists, secretaries, truckdrivers, plumbers, retirees, factory workers, engineers and teachers.They come in all shapes and in all levels of fitness, though mostof them have trained enough to ride 50 to 80 miles a day for upto a week. The children are old enough to ride responsibly.
Mary Newton of Webberville, Michigan, rides DALMAC every year.She brings along her husband and some of their four children."We love it," she says. "It's a great way to keepyour family together."
BIKING"BIGMAC"
Riding north, I and all the other DALMAC riders converge the daybefore Labor Day in Mackinaw City at "Big Mac," oneof the world's longest suspension bridges. The ride ends at thenorth end of the 5-mile-long bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinacbetween lakes Huron and Michigan.
The bridge crossing brings DALMAC to a spectacular conclusion.And just pedaling Big Mac is something of an honor. The bridgeis open to bikes only this one day of the year, and only to registeredDALMAC participants.
Crossing the bridge by bicycle is an act of faith, embarked onwith equal parts pleasant anticipation and fear. This is, afterall, a bridge so high, so long, so swept by winds so formidablethat some people can't even build up the nerve to cross it ina car. On a bike, the only thing between you and the straits isa metal mesh roadbed that affords nerve wracking view of the choppywater hundreds of feet below.
Ten minutes before my crossing;, the clouds part, and the sunbegins to blaze. Thankfully, there's only a slight breeze. Salutedby honking cars and their waving passengers, we ride across thebridge to the town of St. Ignace and a crowd cheering at the finish.
In wonderment, I realize that I've crossed one more entire state.It's a real achievement and it makes me want to try another nextyear.
© Meredith Corporation (MidwestLiving) 1998
Reprinted by permission
 Back to the DALMAC Page |  TCBA home page |