The third day proved to be much more relaxing than Friday and Thursday. We woke up to a finger-numbing temperature of 36-40 degrees, and we were all still pretty tired from the previous day's wind and cooler temperatures.
I can't express the feeling of riding two centuries in a row and then waking up to these temperatures to go ride again in words. At five miles out, I could not honestly tell you if my legs were tired from riding, or if the temperatures made them so numb, but the net result was that I had two long columns of cement hanging from my hips and they did not want to spin the pedals very much. As we were still warming up with an 18 mph pace, I mentioned this to some fellow riders, and they expressed the same feelings. But regardless, my body was not ready to be on the bike yet and about ten miles out of Cadillac, I was dropped from the group when they did a wicked descent. My legs could just not pedal fast enough to keep up with the tandems as they came down from a small hill. So, I eventually got dropped.
But the show had to go on, because I didn't see a five mile long bridge over Lake Michigan yet. So I kept pedaling and pedaling and pedaling and pedaling.
Just as I came into a small town, where I thought I was going to take a stop and let my feet warm up, I saw that my friends were just about to leave from their break. I could not pass up this chance to ride with them a little longer today and perhaps give myself a little break from the slight winds. My legs were starting to warm up and for the first time that day I thought that I was feeling pretty good. I hung out with the pack again for another five to ten miles, but yet again I got dropped during another descent.
The show had to go on….pedal, pedal, pedal, pedal…
One mile turned into ten, which turned into 40, and then I met up with a few guys around Traverse City. They were pretty nice guys, but I don't honestly know their names, or where they're from, or how long they had been biking, but they were enjoyable to ride with during the ten or so miles coming out of Traverse City. By the time you hit Traverse City, riders had their first glimpse of large bodies of water, which told me that I was getting somewhere with all this pedaling since I came from a fairly land-locked city (Lansing.) Such a great reward it is to see the beauties of Michigan after being hit with such high winds the previous day!
As we pulled out of Traverse City and back into the farmlands and fields of the state, we came to a fairly busy road crossing where we had to wait longer than normal to get across. All of a sudden as we were looking for an available time to cross I heard this loud "Clint!!" from behind. It seemed my group had stopped once again in the city, and this gave me a chance to get ahead of them a little bit. We all rode together once again for another five to ten miles but I was dropped again after back-to-back steep climbs. I'd hazard a guess that they were some of the steepest and longest hills I've done this year. Honestly, I didn't mind getting dropped much today. I think I really needed a mental break from the constant push push push pace of the group. So after meeting the bunch up at lunch after another 20 miles, I decided to keep going at my own pace and finish the ride solo for the day. It gave me a chance to really take in the beauties of the Torch Lake area and let my system unwind a little, and enjoy the scenery that would have been just be a blur if I was in the group trying like mad to keep up. This also gave me a chance to enjoy the roads that I had ridden last year with our friends Roy and Andi during the Fourth of July holiday we spent at Torch Lake and remember all the good times that we shared. Oddly enough, the campsite was only about two miles away from their family's cabin on the lake.
Getting into camp was pretty enjoyable. The cold morning temperatures were replaced with a beautiful sunny afternoon with not a cloud in the sky. But with Torch Lake being so close, there was a nice gentle breeze and it seemed to be cold in the shade. By the time I had my tent up and had stuff dried out from the dew of the morning camp site, the rest of the pack had arrived and I enjoyed hearing all the stories of their day's adventure from Cadillac. For the first time in two days I felt relaxed, recharged, and ready to take on the last day.
There were points during the ride where my body amazed me how fast it recovered after so much time on the bike. But one thing that is constant is the contact between human and bike, and that main contact point is the saddle. After 300 miles and almost 18 hours on the bike, my backside was getting pretty sore. There's no amount of cream or medication that would fix this problem. I needed to endure another six hours and 100 miles on the bike, but at this point six hours seemed like a day in the park compared to the last three days, again… isn't it amazing how our reference points can get skewed?
I was also feeling a slight pain in my right shin where the leg meets the ankle that went up about four inches from the base of the ankle. It's a tough pain to describe but it basically seemed like muscle pain possibly caused by overuse. As the night progressed, the pain got worse, despite taking some pain relievers as I went to bed. I was hoping I would wake up with relaxed muscles and ready to fight my way up to Mackinaw City.
The
group has decided that for the last day they will go off the planned 4th day
route to fit in a hill that is nicknamed "The Wall". I've given myself
until the morning to decide completely if I'm going to join them or not, but
if I had to make the decision tonight with my backside pain and my tight muscles
near my ankle, I would have to say that I would skip out. I considered finishing
in Mackinaw City a higher priority than experiencing "The Wall" at
this point and was glad they had a chance to go do what sounds like a great
hill.
Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - The Day After