I resisted the impulse to talk about the daily routine of a transcontinental PAC Tour in the early blog entries because at that point it was somewhat theoretical. As you know, in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is. Its safe to say that at this point there ain't no theory left in that puppy. We have thoroughly practiced the rote steps, efficiently allowing precious energy to be diverted from the brain to the gut and legs.
Here is the chronology for today which follows the pattern "breakfast in hotel dining room" (the other option is "breakfast at trailer in parking lot"). The stuff that was unique for today is in italics. Or just skip this detail and see the title of this post.
5:50 AM Get up, bathroom, get into bike kit except shoes.
6:15 Go to breakfast area, fill cup with swill hotel calls coffee, prepare bowl of oatmeal, eat it all.
6:45 Apply sunscreen, pack up rucksack and computer case.
6:55 Take bike and computer case to parking lot, stow computer case, fill tires, prepare water bottles.
7:00 Return to room, final check nothing left in room, take rucksack to parking lot, change into cycling shoes, hand rucksack into trailer for transport to next destination.
7:05 Turn on bike lights, start Garmin, roll out!
* pedal 28.0 miles *
8:43 1st rest stop, spend 5 minutes grabbing food and refill water bottles while enjoying other riders signing along to a Bob Segar song on the player that I don't know.
* pedal 27.1 miles *
10:23 2nd rest stop, spend 2 minutes grabbing food and 25 minutes in order to make phone call for wheel repair.
* pedal 26.1 miles *
12:25 PM Lunch stop, spend 28 minutes ingesting food, soda, desert, refill water bottles.
* pedal 30.3 miles *
2:32 3rd rest stop, spend 14 minutes grabbing watermelon, refill water bottles while enjoying Almond Brothers on the player. Also meet up with Mike, local friend of Asheville Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, who came out to meet us.
* pedal 22.0 miles with local guide *
4:04 Arrive at hotel, put bike on rack, stop Garmin.
4:05 Give tour of ride finale to Mike who is appropriately impressed.
4:10 Turn off bike lights, lubricate chain, wash bike.
4:20 Bring bike and rucksack to hotel room, plug in chargers for lights, phone.
4:30 Shower, put on street clothes.
5:05 Meet Heather, another local friend of Asheville BRBC, who will take us to dinner.
5:30 Order and consume large meal of Thai food with Heather grabbing the check! (over our objections I might add)
7:00 Get tour of Midland including critical refueling stop at local ice cream shop.
7:30 Return to hotel. Housekeeping: do laundry, enter ride data into Strava, transfer pictures.
9:00 Work on blog entry
10:45 Sleep
The stuff not in italics is pretty much the same every day, although your mileage may vary.
Our first day in Michigan revealed a completely different environment than what we left on the west side of Lake Michigan. Much of Wisconsin is contiguous farmland, but at least the part of Michigan we saw had mostly forests of pine and oak which farms and fields rarely interrupted. About half the roads we rode on get the "worst yet" ranking --- Michigan is giving South Carolina a run from its money in the race to the bottom of road maintenance.
My standard start-of-ride shot. Yes we are still going East!
The route went through some National Forest land. It was cool in those trees --- around 53 degrees!
Grrr:
Fellow tourists Tom and Paul in my first attempt at a moving selfie:
The most elaborate aircraft display I've ever seen in front of a VFW hall:
One of the rare fields
Greetings Barry!
This house may take the cake for prettiest of the tour:
The last 20+ miles were on the Pere Marquette Rail Trail. Michigan may not fund its roads, but it has an extensive network of bike trails.
With local BRBC friend Mike S
Here is the chronology for today which follows the pattern "breakfast in hotel dining room" (the other option is "breakfast at trailer in parking lot"). The stuff that was unique for today is in italics. Or just skip this detail and see the title of this post.
5:50 AM Get up, bathroom, get into bike kit except shoes.
6:15 Go to breakfast area, fill cup with swill hotel calls coffee, prepare bowl of oatmeal, eat it all.
6:45 Apply sunscreen, pack up rucksack and computer case.
6:55 Take bike and computer case to parking lot, stow computer case, fill tires, prepare water bottles.
7:00 Return to room, final check nothing left in room, take rucksack to parking lot, change into cycling shoes, hand rucksack into trailer for transport to next destination.
7:05 Turn on bike lights, start Garmin, roll out!
* pedal 28.0 miles *
8:43 1st rest stop, spend 5 minutes grabbing food and refill water bottles while enjoying other riders signing along to a Bob Segar song on the player that I don't know.
* pedal 27.1 miles *
10:23 2nd rest stop, spend 2 minutes grabbing food and 25 minutes in order to make phone call for wheel repair.
* pedal 26.1 miles *
12:25 PM Lunch stop, spend 28 minutes ingesting food, soda, desert, refill water bottles.
* pedal 30.3 miles *
2:32 3rd rest stop, spend 14 minutes grabbing watermelon, refill water bottles while enjoying Almond Brothers on the player. Also meet up with Mike, local friend of Asheville Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, who came out to meet us.
* pedal 22.0 miles with local guide *
4:04 Arrive at hotel, put bike on rack, stop Garmin.
4:05 Give tour of ride finale to Mike who is appropriately impressed.
4:10 Turn off bike lights, lubricate chain, wash bike.
4:20 Bring bike and rucksack to hotel room, plug in chargers for lights, phone.
4:30 Shower, put on street clothes.
5:05 Meet Heather, another local friend of Asheville BRBC, who will take us to dinner.
5:30 Order and consume large meal of Thai food with Heather grabbing the check! (over our objections I might add)
7:00 Get tour of Midland including critical refueling stop at local ice cream shop.
7:30 Return to hotel. Housekeeping: do laundry, enter ride data into Strava, transfer pictures.
9:00 Work on blog entry
10:45 Sleep
The stuff not in italics is pretty much the same every day, although your mileage may vary.
Our first day in Michigan revealed a completely different environment than what we left on the west side of Lake Michigan. Much of Wisconsin is contiguous farmland, but at least the part of Michigan we saw had mostly forests of pine and oak which farms and fields rarely interrupted. About half the roads we rode on get the "worst yet" ranking --- Michigan is giving South Carolina a run from its money in the race to the bottom of road maintenance.
My standard start-of-ride shot. Yes we are still going East!
The route went through some National Forest land. It was cool in those trees --- around 53 degrees!
Grrr:
Fellow tourists Tom and Paul in my first attempt at a moving selfie:
The most elaborate aircraft display I've ever seen in front of a VFW hall:
One of the rare fields
Greetings Barry!
This house may take the cake for prettiest of the tour:
The last 20+ miles were on the Pere Marquette Rail Trail. Michigan may not fund its roads, but it has an extensive network of bike trails.
Live action riding on the rail trail:
With local BRBC friend Mike S
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