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Clint:
Hey folks,

Reporting in from Manton, MI after a great but very windy Friday on the bike. Let's take it from the start though... Thursday night.

As you may have guessed I was pretty wasted after the first day on the bike. Food helped, but it was not until I sat in the high school (air conditioned) for a few hours that I felt like I had a little more energy back in the legs and body. It was nice to feel up again and it lasted the evening of chitchatting. We knew we were going to get storms during the evening so we all packed into our tents for some rest. I slept well for most the night until about 3:00 am when the storms rolled through. A little lighting and rain, but not enough to be bothersome. For the next couple of hours I awoke off and on about every 30 minutes. I think I kept worrying that people would wake up and start the day without us... something I don't need to worry about, but at 3:00 in the morning those are the kinds of things that run through your head.

After a little breakfast and teardown of the tent and gear we started the second day of 100 miles up to Manton, MI. The second day is a tough one, but in some ways it could be better then the first. That was the case for myself at least. Despite some heavy winds out of the north west (read: head wind) all day I felt strong in the legs and I didn't have a real drop in energy levels in the last 25 miles of the ride. Part of that was some great team work with all the tandems and taking shorter breaks, but I also think my body is starting to pull itself up for the challenges in front of it. Even now, post-shower and pre-dinner (the time you're MOST fried), I feel pretty good.

As you can see in last year's profile, the elevation is very much uphill for most of the day coming into Cadillac and then topping off and heading into Manton. I'm not sure if Robyn and I just like the hills more, but I really, really enjoyed the climbs of the day. Some short, medium steep ones, long graduals, and long stair steppers that go up, level out, then up again. Some we had to take slow because of the nature of the long ride and head winds, but the group of 4 tandems worked very well together pacing each other up the hills. Kudos to all of the tandems for working as a team.

Well, 30 minutes to dinner so I'm going to sign off... looking forward to tomorrow's ride... many lakes, hills, and a wonderful stop at the wooded YMCA camp on Torch Lake.

Thanks for reading,
Clint

Robyn:
No rain during the day, perfect temperatures - what a contrast from last year, when I took a wrong turn and it was blazing hot. All day long I kept remembering points in the route (which, for today's ride, was mostly unchanged from last year) and realizing that by the time I had gotten there a year ago, it had been hours later in the day.

Clint mentioned the great teamwork of the tandems, but I'd like to elaborate a little more because it's so enjoyable to participate in the group pacework. Having an even number of tandems in our group, we spend most of the day doing a double paceline. The lead two tandems will work together setting the pace for anywhere from a few minutes to several miles depending on the conditions. This pair tries to match each other's pace evenly and ride close together so the rest of the group gets the maximum benefit from the draft. At a mutually agreed upon signal, when the road looks clear and there is no traffic approaching, the lead tandems split off to the right and left respectively and the second set of tandems comes up through the middle to take their place. As the groups pass by, there is always a courteous "Thanks, great pull!" and other words of encouragement. By the middle of today we had these handoffs working out pretty smoothly. All of the singles stay in back of the tandems, and the spot directly behind the second tandem pair is usually reserved for whoever is doing "stop sign duty" - sprinting ahead to check out the intersections, then signaling back to the rest of the group whether it's safe to continue on or whether we need to halt the train.

We covered 101.4 miles today in 5 h 1 min, with an average speed of 20.1 mph.

Finally, I have one important message. Colleen Deatsman-Kelly would like to wish her daughter, Lauren Ritter, a VERY happy 17th birthday. Best wishes, Lauren!

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