Route
Traverse City, MI to Frankfort, MI - 44 miles
For details of today's route, click here.
Weather
Sky condition: About 500' overcast in the morning, then broken, then clear
Temperature: 33 to 43
Visibility: Good
Precipitation: Snow flurries in the morning!
Wind: 10 to 15 knots (headwind of course)
Comments: A cold and windy day.
Significant Events
Started the trip!
Today's Song
"Bluebird Bluebird Through My Window" - Traditional
Wildlife Observed
Wild Turkey
Squirrels
3 Orioles
Numerous unidentified blue birds
Some unidentified pink bird
Domesticated: cats, dogs, donkeys, chickens, horses
Today's Ride
We delayed our departure waiting for the snow to stop and the temperature to rise. Got a good start on the TART Trail, but I found out I have a shimmy in my front wheel. I haven't fixed it yet...I think it is unbalanced load (too much weight in the front). I will experiment with it tomorrow.
On the west side of Traverse City there is a steady climb, about 600' over two miles. Not too steep, but constant. Ileana did great using her gears and we crawled right up the hills. Unfortunately, we had an ever present headwind. It just would not let up.
We stopped about the 20 mile mark for a test and a snack. Ileana had some banana with peanut butter, I had an Otis Spunkmeyer blueberry muffin. Delicious!
We hit the road again and pedaled our way west. We rode around quite a few lakes. There are lots of them up here. Eventually we hit a rail trail which led us to our campground. It followed around a lake that was very nice (Crystal Lake).
Upon arrival at the campground, with the temperature forecast to dip down to 28, we opted for a cabin. A bit warmer inside!
Now for a little bike maintenance and some rest. And hoping for a little warmer weather tomorrow!
Ileana's Two Cents(hereinafter called "Dos Centavos"
When we were leaving the hotel this morning, I stopped right before I exited it. I was putting on my helmet and so on and this lady came in, she looked at me and said 'you brave soul.' I thought what does she mean by that? Once I went outside I understood completely, it was freaking 33 degrees outside! It's a good thing that I know how to apply 'positve self-talk!'and convinced myself that 'I can do this' however, about 20 miles out (including some very long hills, one of them I swear to God was about 2 miles long!). We stopped to get a snack (picture of Nolan trying to peel a boiled egg, which took him about 10 minutes, he was about to throw it into the woods, it was comical, really!). Anyhow, once we started going again my fingers were frozen! So, positive self-talk was not working anymore! Nevertheless, we had some good laughs and overall a good ride! Here are some pictures of ride today. Michigan has beautiful lakes!
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