Biking with Bill

MICHIGAN FAREWELL !

I turned on the television this morning at 5: 30 am to see the local news broadcast of a story on our cycling trip. A reporter had interviewed a couple of our guys, including Stephen (NJ), a great kid biking across America with his dad. He is 15 years old and had some choice quotes for the reporter. His best was: “I HATED South Dakota (due to the heat and wind, of course), but also, “ I thought Michigan was supposed to be beautiful”. The producer at Channel 25 decided against “airing” those comments, and went with some less inflammatory remarks. He is quite a young man!

The route today was a flat 88 miles to Port Huron, MI (pop 32,000), located on Lake Huron at the site of the Blue Water Bridge to Canada, and “Boyhood home of Thomas Edison”. The bridge, a massive structure, crosses over the St Clair River which flows out of Lake Huron. We will make the crossing and GO INTERNATIONAL tomorrow. We are all excited about biking in Canada! New adventure.

It was a bit foggy this morning, but we were pleased to see the sun shining early. The morning fog produced a haze over the farm fields in the distance. It did cloud up later in the morning, however.

“New guy” John passed us –as he does every day–in a flash. He is an incredible cyclist with a steady, steady 105 to 110 pedaling cadence ALL DAY LONG. That is very fast spinning, his legs are like pistons going up and down. He is definitely in a different league.

Our first SAG at the 26 mile mark was at Artesian Well (photo). We then biked on to Brown City and into the town of Yale for a SAG at Andrae Park, named for the family of one of our riders, Nancy (FL).

On the outskirts of Port Huron–passing beautiful houses on the lake– we caught a glimpse of Lake Huron at Lakeport State Park Beach. It was a good day for a swim-hot and humid–, but we cycled on to get lunch.

We again moved right along today, averaging 16.3 mph. We were on the road for 5 hours and 28 minutes, getting into town about 12:30 pm. Keith, Dan and I rode together most of the day–and finished together.

Floyd Landis: (if proven) SHAME.... for what you have done to the sport of cycling! WHY?

Bill

ps ** See photo of road conditions–and call your county supervisor if you live in Michigan.

** Naples Cyclery, my bike shop, would be proud of my biking clothes today. It is their team colors.