Traverse City – Ludington
Today was going to be the “Etape Reine”
or Queen Stage of this year’s trip. It
was not the longest in terms of miles at only 110 but the climbing was beyond
compare. The elevation profile for the
day was over 4,000’ with a hilly morning followed by three large climbs in the
afternoon one after the other. I vividly
remember the difficulty of this day last year but this year’s route took it up
a notch. Because I wanted to avoid the
busy and dangerous Highway 31 I rerouted to some back roads that added even more
miles and more climbs to the day.
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| Silver Lake |
The morning was beautiful and sunny as
Dad and I ran up for breakfast at the Omelet Shop which was a nice little
restaurant up the street. I knew it was
going to be a tough day and was a little nervous. Immediately after leaving town there is an
800’ vertical climb straight up going west to the town of Empire. I delayed at breakfast trying to delay the
inevitable but finally we had to leave and I readied my gear for the day. I headed out into the morning commuter
traffic of downtown Traverse City and was immediately reminded of hometown
Chicago traffic. I started the climb and
it seemed to be over before I knew it.
Not as hard as I’d remembered but still an epic climb. After that it was lots of hills and some
highway traffic until I got to the town of Empire.
At Empire I turned south and ran into
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park which was a very scenic and hilly section of
road. The other strange factor about
this section is the roads paved surface is not concrete or asphalt but a
mixture of small stones which get adhered to the road with a tar of some
sort. This rough texture has a huge
effect on the tires and makes it incredibly hard to pedal on. The tires don’t roll smooth so the result is
a huge amount of power wasted just to maintain a minimal speed. Even going downhill you have to pedal hard to
maintain speed. It is a really strange
feeling to be working so hard to go downhill… obviously uphill is even worse.
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| Following the Lake Michigan Circle Tour Signs |
The day heated up and by late morning I
realized that I’d forgotten my sunscreen at home and I was getting burned to a
crisp under the hot sun. As it happened
every day, hour by hour morning gave way to noon and into the afternoon I rode
on without stopping. I passed a turnoff
for a lighthouse which I’d heard was really cool. It was a mile off the road up a big
hill. I climbed it excited about what it
would look like. At the top I rode
another mile to find the lighthouse was closed for construction and you
couldn’t get to it. Another 2 miles back
and 4 total out of the way. A sign would
have been helpful.\
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| Lighthouse I drove out of the way to see |
Most of the road was shaded by trees and
with the hills provided a nice but challenging ride. I rode around a number of lakes which I can’t
remember the names of but were beautiful and shimmering in the sun. When I reached the scenic lookout off highway
22 just outside of Arcadia I knew I still had over 50 miles to go and I was
tired. The view at the top of the bluff
is spectacular and I took some pictures and even saw a school of fish swimming
far below. The sun was bright and the
blue/green water was completely transparent.
I stopped to talk with a couple who seemed curious about my ride but
then continued on.
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| At the lookout with 50 miles to go |
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| Can you spot the school of fish in the water? |
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| Looking south to my afternoon route |
The afternoon was hot and the three huge
climbs were still to come. One after the
other I tackled them and each seemed bigger than the next. I flew on the downhill’s as fast as I could
and that made it seem somewhat worth the climb.
Finally I made it to the town of Manistee which I knew was only an hour
outside Ludington. I didn’t stop to take
in any of the fall scenery and took notice of the leaves that were turning color
and starting to fall even though it was only September.
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| Get ready to do some climbing |
Things flattened out for the last hour of
the day and I rode through cornfields and country roads all the way into
Ludington. I felt a lot better than I
did last year but it was a rough day on the bike and by the time I made it to
the Blue Spruce in I was hurting. When I
got off the bike my first thought was “wow it’s over” I knew the hardest parts
were behind me and I was on the home stretch.
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| Nice lake view in the afternoon |
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| Apple storage building I rode by in the afternoon |
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| Turkeys at the side of the road |
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| Finally getting into Ludington |
Dad and Karna met me in very short order
and we checked into our hotel rooms. We had finally gotten the Live Track feature
working on the Garmin so they could see my exact GPS location on their phone. I changed and showered and then we went for a
walk on the boardwalk to go grab dinner.
Dad treated us to a delicious dinner right on the harbor and I had a seafood
pasta which was excellent. We relaxed
and enjoyed a great meal then headed out to watch the sunset and ferryboat “Badger”
come into port.
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| Ludington Harbor |
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| The Badger |
The Badger is the last running, coal
powered, ferry boat that runs between Michigan and Wisconsin. At the time it is on the brink of being shut
down by the EPA due to the coal ash pollution the boat dumps into the lake
during the trips. It’s a huge boat and
really cool to watch it come in and dock.
The boat comes in full steam then drops the anchor on the front which
whips the boat into a 180 putting the back end right at the tip of the dock
then it just backs in slowly. It’s
incredible to watch.
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| Sunset at Ludington |
We walked and talked until the sun was
just about ready to set and then we went out to take a few final pictures of
the day. By this time my legs were sore
and I was beyond tired. The sunset was
beautiful but I was ready for bed.
Getting into bed my abs were so sore I couldn’t sit up in bed. I had to roll left and right to get out of
bed in lieu of sitting up. It was
amazing how all the riding was taking such a toll on my body. I ate the rest of the pie dad brought from
Traverse which was a delicious snack before bed. My appetite was incredible and I seemed to be
hungry all the time. As I lay in bed
unable to sit my sunburn was aching and I was sore from head to toe. But I was on the downward slope to home and I
knew it.
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