Ludington to Farwell Aug 1, 2022

Ludington to Farwell

Aug 1, 2022

This morning I was quite pleased that the rain had not started when the alarm went as this meant that I did not have to take my tent down in the rain.  However it was so windy that rolling my tent up wasn’t really an option, so it was just stuff it into the tent bag. So besides the wind it was totally pitch black as we have lost an hour and are on the extreme west side of the time zone.

Breakfast was down the road in a café where they make this deep fried French toast.  Of course it is really good as it is deep fried.   I rolled out of breakfast at about 7:15 totally stuffed. 

It wasn’t too long before the rain started.  I realized that it was time to pull on the rain booties and rain jacket about 2 minutes before it really started coming down so I never got soaked.  At least it wasn’t cold. It was about 70 F so riding along in the rain was ok other than you had to be really careful that you didn’t lose traction and go down.  There were lots of lefts and rights but picnic finally came up at the 43 mile mark in a little town called Idlewild.   It was the first place which allowed black musicians to play.  The picnic was in a park right on a very pretty lake. I had just started to have lunch when the rain started to come down in earnest so I jumped back on the bike and headed off.   

About 5 miles out of picnic I got a flat on the front tire.  Nothing like changing a flat in the rain. My favourite. Fortunately it was easy to find the cause. A large three cornered but sharp stone was imbedded in the tire.  Fifteen minutes later I was off.

At the 57.4 mile mark I came to the trailhead for the Pere Marquette Trail.  This is a paved rails to trails bike path.  From there I had only one tun to make in the next 36.3 miles, which was to turn into the school.  It was almost flat and with what was at times a tail wind I was able to make pretty good time. I was thinking I could make it in by 2:00 pm.  However one of the other cyclists in front of me had a flat and when I rolled up I could see she was having problems so I stopped to help.  My big pump and special tire tool were what was needed and I was glad to help. 

In the school in Farwell I cleaned all the grit off my bike and got my tent set up in the sun as the clouds had parted and the sun was now out.  After a very nice hot shower I felt great.

Strava shows that I did 92 miles and 2100 feet of climb.  Not a bad day all things considered. 

Terry