Clint:
Hello from Manton MI! Had a great day today so let's get started. After a toss and turn sleeping night in the tent 5:45 am came along and I was up. After some packing and pulling down the tent and some breakfast, the crew was ready to pull out for the day by 7:30. We had our 4 tandems plus one more in our group and as we pulled out of the parking lot the Ann Arbor cycling club joined in behind with their 3 tandems. So in short order we had a 9 tandem double pace line going with countless single riders in tow (guess is about 30).

Much like last year the mornings brought a HUGE amount of fog into the area and at times I could hardly see 2 or 3 riders in front of me. At a 23mph pace line, it was a tad iffy, but as soon as we climbed out of the valleys and the sun came up (about 1.5 hours later) the fog lifted and the day was shaping up to be just as great as yesterday. Blue skies, little wind and a great pace line.

Now with 9 tandems at the front, things were pretty fast for most of the day. We pulled through Chippewa Lake, Evart, and Leroy where we stopped and had lunch. After a great meal, we were on the road again to finish up the final 40ish miles into Manton via Cadillac. Our group of 9 tandems was still going strong and at times the pack was "cruising" on the flats at about 30mph... Given the slight uphill going into Cadillac, it was an amazing group to ride with. For the most part I felt pretty good so once the fog lifted, I resumed my role as the intersection watcher which is now kind of becoming a tradition with the group of friends I'm riding with. I just feel the single riders need to help the group out as much as the tandems are helping the singles...

Everything was going great just outside of Cadillac when I got a flat in the rear. As I pulled to the side I noticed that a few of the tandems had pulled to the side as well... It was nice to see friends waiting along side... I imagine a little payback for all the intersections I helped out with.

With a fixed tube, we were on the road again and the much reduced group headed through Cadillac and on to Manton. We were all a little toasted after the first 75 miles of which gave us all an avg of about 21.4mph... That's race speed for me so I was happy, as were many of the tandem teams.

The last 15 miles are always the toughest for me. I'm tired, hot, hungry, and just in the mood to get in and make camp. Today was no different and the hills were waiting for us outside of Cadillac. The fun thing for me was that I remembered some of the hills and also remember being dropped on the 3rd day. Today had a much different outcome and I'm pretty happy with how I did. After everything is said and done I came in with an avg of 20.9 mph and finished 102.5 miles in 4 hours and 54 minutes.

Tomorrow should be a great day as we head north into lake country... Seems we always pass a lake every few miles and has some of the best vista views from the saddle. A really great day is in store for tomorrow! Talk more tomorrow, Clint

Robyn:
The mantra for today was: Turn every obstacle into a positive challenge. To summarize: 118 miles total. Allow me to explain....

I awoke at 5:30 am to a rain of mist. The fog was very dense and everything was wet - tent, bikes, etc. I got ready for the day, helped take the tent down and we packed up the bags. Then we grabbed some breakfast and were on the road. The fog, of course, had not dissipated in this time, and in fact seemed to be growing thicker. Though it wasn't raining, the steady mist of droplets against us soaked outerwear and fogged up glasses. Needless to say, visibility was low, but it did make for a beautiful, fairy-tale scene.

I had headed out from camp with the pack of riders that Clint described, but was at the very back. My legs were slow to wake up today and I just didn't think that it would be wise to push it all day long. So I dropped back and headed out on my own, though there were plenty of other riders nearby. I passed through Chippewa Lake, where mist was rolling off the water surface, and settled into a comfortable pace. Unfortunately, shortly after that, there was a nearly universal misunderstanding in directions. Riders ahead of me were following painted markings on the road provided by DALMAC. I was following them, while keeping an eye on the course map. I realized at one point that we should have been on one road, but were still on another, and the directions just weren't making sense. I asked other riders if they were sure we were headed in the right direction..."Oh, sure, we take a left turn at mile 35"...and even pulled off to check the map at one point. I figured that either the map was wrong, or all of us were wrong, and it seemed inconceivable that some 50 people had all made the same mistake. Well....we did. The markings for the turn in question had been there, but had been paved over in the past four days. This mistake meant that I had to backtrack, along with a number of other riders, and I ended up doing an additional 18 miles.

At that point, the strategy changed. I had never done over 100 miles in one day, and it would be foolish to try to maintain a fast speed and blow myself out. So my goal was simply to finish and chalk up my first 118-mile ride. I road for most of the day by myself, though I met a couple of nice guys (one from Tennessee, one from Indianapolis, IN) about 25 miles from the end and we road together more or less to the campsite. The route today was hillier than yesterday - but not bad, the same kind of rolling terrain I'm used to out near Madison.

There were many opportunities to exercise positive thinking. There were many miles...but there was no headwind. There were hills...but they weren't too steep, or too long. There was fog...but no rain. It was sunny and bright later in the day...but not too hot, probably in the high 70s or low 80s. There was even a dog that chased me at one point - a common concern of bikers in rural areas - this one was a springer spaniel, not a breed I would normally be concerned about, but I had invaded his territory and he was miffed. In terms of biking, there are two types of dogs: sprinters and endurance runners. Unfortunately, this dog could both sprint AND maintain his speed. After realizing that he was running alongside of me for a while and showed no signs of tiring (and was gaining fast), I turned around and shouted, "GO HOME!". He stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me, bristling, and walked stiffly back to his house. Thankfully he wasn't the biting type.

One of my biggest motivations throughout the ride was the thought of looking down at my bike computer and seeing the final statistics. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be either. At mile 93, my bike computer magnet, which had been rubbing on the sensor, fell off during a downhill. So I don't know what my final finishing time or overall average were. But I do know that my average for those 93 miles was 17.1 mph.

So, what will tomorrow bring? The route to Torch Lake is supposed to be one of the prettiest, with lots of hills and descents to enjoy. The weather forecasts continue to be good. And the route is only 100 miles - a mere sprint!! Stay tuned for details!