June 16-19, 2011
OK, keep it short... Had a great time, although in the end my legs weren't up to it. Northwest Tour bases out of a private campground near Empire, Michigan. It features four days of riding in the hills and back country in the 'pinkie' area of Michigan's lower peninsula. The great part about the format is that you're not limited to what you can bring. You don't have to break camp daily, and if you want to hop in the car and go to town, you can. My group used that feature to our advantage, to transport our bikes to various nearby starting points and avoid some serious hills getting back to camp. Pics below.
Wednesday night the group I rode with hopped into cars and drove to Empire for dinner. The tour only serves meals on riding days, so we were on our own for check-in day. After dinner, we went over to the City Beach. It was small and well-kept, nestled between the sand dunes. In fact, this beach was recently named Lake Michgan's best beach. That's saying a lot, since the entire west coast of Michigan's lower peninsula is sandy beach! The wind was a bit nippy, and I was sorry I left my sweatshirt in camp.
Thursday morning was wet and foggy, so we hung out and didn't ride until 11:30. The route went to Lake Ann, then on to Traverse City. There were a couple of nice downhills, and a couple climbs to go with them. When I could, I'd take the hills like a recumbent, get a good run-up and try to survive to the top. When it worked, I would have to wait for everyone at the top. When it didn't, I had to chase them for a while. The route after Traverse City was a bit hillier. Near the end of the ride, we hit the biggest climb of the tour. Deb, who was doing the tour for the third time, had walked her first time; then, last year, she’d made it but jumped off her bike to cheer the others on and promptly fainted. This year, someone had planted a ‘tombstone’ commemorating the occasion. (She made it this year and didn’t even faint.)
Dinner was Spaghetti and Chicken Alfredo. Having left so late, we went straight to dinner, and then got cleaned up afterward. I cleaned the bike, and re-lubed the chain. Then I put it away in the truck so that if we got more rain I wouldn’t have to sit on wet foam. Note to self: Get a bike cover for the NoCom! Near the dining tent, there was a bonfire, with the tour organizers supplying the material for s’mores.
Friday started out foggy and gray. Weather reports said it would clear by 9:00 or 10:00, and then warm into the 70s (F). We took off at around 9:30. The day’s ride went to Frankfort, to the south. Generally, I was having fun on the hills, charging up and bombing down. We went through Honor, then on to Beulah and Benzonia. There were a few monster hills. On a big downhill just outside of Beulah, I was set to break my trip’s high speed, but just as I crossed the 43-mph mark, a truck pulled out in front of me. The oncoming lane was clear, but I opted to hit the brakes rather than trying to pass and risk the dummy turning left into me without signaling.
Lunch was in Frankfort, in a small restaurant overlooking the water.
The return trip was mostly along M-22. It’s a scenic 2-lane highway, and this stretch had nice wide shoulders and light traffic. The pavement was beautifully smooth. We followed it into Empire, at which point we had a 3.5 mile climb to the campground. Of course, this was the time when the clouds finally broke up and it got warm. Most of the climb was easy grade, which we took at 14-16 mph; but there was that one section that got us down into the single digits. As I discovered this weekend, there is no way to get to camp without climbing; there are hills in all directions!
This time, we got back in time to clean up before eating. I rode around camp a bit more and talked with other friends who were camped apart from the group I was with. I should have taken a nap, but my legs didn’t feel too bad despite the hard ride today. Dinner was Chicken, red potatoes, and a summer vegetable stir-fry. And for dessert, we had strawberry cheesecake! After dinner we partook of a few adult beverages, then went over to the bonfire area. No bonfire tonight; tonight was raffle night. Prizes were mostly t-shirts and free ride give-aways. As a first-year rider, I got a multi-tool.
Saturday’s route was up into the
Leelanau Peninsula to Northport, with an optional loop to the Grand Traverse
Light Station at Lighthouse Point. Nobody felt up to big hills today, so we
drove to Glen Arbor for the start, instead of riding from camp. That only cut
about 5 miles off the ride, but it eliminated two huge climbs. My legs told me
right away that they were not going to cooperate today, and gave me
problems all day.
Lunch was in Northport. There were several
significant hills while re-crossing the peninsula, but eventually we got back to
M-22 and were able to push the pace again.
It was quite warm by the time we got back to camp, so I rode over and hit the pool. The pool was too small for lap swim, but I splashed around and cooled off. Then off to our catered dinner of hamburgers and kielbasas, with potato and pasta salads. We also got all the desserts that had been left over from the previous two days. The cheesecake was just as good the second night!
Sunday started out dreary and foggy, with rain threatening. I decided I didn’t want to ride wet anymore; and besides, my legs were toast from yesterday’s ride. So I opted to break camp and head home. Lots of others were doing the same thing. Although I didn’t see any rain while breaking camp, I did go through several showers on the way home.
All in all, this was a great ride. I’m just sorry I wasn’t in proper shape for it. Additional notes for next year: Have lower gears and remember to bring a cooler.
Pics: If you have an intelligent browser, you can right click on the pics and view a larger image. If you use Internet Explorer, then Microsoft knows you don't want to do this.
Thursday
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Wet tents in camp Thursday morning |
View of horse farm behind my tent |
I think this is Empire International Airport | ||
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| Paceline moves down the road | Chris loafs along | Downtown Lake Ann | ||
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| Does the rain jacket in my pocket make my butt look big? | View of the bay in Traverse City |
Billed as the world's largest lawn chair. Compare it to the5'-tall T-bars behind it. | ||
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| More scenery | Hustling to catch back up! |
Deb's 'Tombstone' at the top of Plowman Rd Hill | ||
Friday
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| More fog in the morning | Riding out past the campground HQ | Threatening sky, but no rain | ||
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| Here comes the gang! | Waterfront in Frankfort | Lunch at Dinghy's | ||
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| "I've never met a hill I couldn't walk." | Sign along M-22, reminding us where we are | |||
Saturday
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| Finally, some sun! | Nice road on M-22, although not as smooth as yesterday. | I don't get this view very often! | ||
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| Typical scenery | Some nice splotches of shade here... | Dang! They're dropping me off the front again! | ||
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| Lunch in Northport. I'm the only dummy wearing sunglasses on the shady patio. | Ahh! Back to M-22 for a quick jaunt back to Glen Arbor. | View from Inspiration Point, about a mile from camp. |
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