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DALMAC Bike tour completed and conquered
Recap of Ride from Lansing to Mackinac Bridge
MACKINAW
CITY, MI SEPTEMBER 2, 2001
Four days
and almost 300 miles later, the cycling ride from Lansing to the Mackinac Bridge
on the DALMAC (Dick Allen Lansing to Mackinac) was completed today by Greg
of gregdooley.com, his dad Ron, and
several other cyclists. The trip was outstanding--at times an easy haul,
at other times a grueling battle into the wind.
Here is Greg's recap of each leg on the tour
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DAY
1:
Okemos
to Mt. Pleasant
87
miles
After a great meal the night before at the
Dehlin's, we set off on Thursday morning at around 7:00am from Okemos.
From there we met up with more riders in Haslett, then made our way West to the
DALMAC route.
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It was an hour or so before we saw any other riders.
Once we turned North towards Mt. Pleasant we had a very strong wind at our
backs. At times we were pumping along on flat roads at around 27 mph -
we probably averaged around 22 throughout the day. The roads were
smooth, the landscape nice and all in all it was a pretty easy ride. Two
nice stops along the way were the VFW Hall
in Perrinton,
and the Shepherd Bar.
We saw one DALMAC rider in the bar drinking his beer
while puffing cigarette - I guess he needed an extra boost.
That night we stayed at the Comfort Inn in
Mt. Pleasant, had a nice dinner at The Embers and caught a little of the Central
Michigan vs. Eastern Kentucky game.
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DAY
2:
Mt.
Pleasant to Lake City
78
miles
Unbeknownst to two
fellers tucked away in the Mount Pleasant Comfort Inn, it rained hard during the
night. No big deal to us, but you see most of the DALMAC riders slept in tents at the designated camp site each evening. This was
a reason that Day 2 would be a grumpy one for many riders. It didn't
help that the students at CMU were pretty loud during and after the game that
night either.
We knew we would be lucky to
catch the tailwind like we had the day before, but unfortunately we experienced
a complete turn of events: the 20 mph wind at our backs on Thursday had turned
into a 25 mph wind in our face on Friday.
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There were times when it was a
struggle to get the bike going 10 mph on a straight away. And on this leg we
started to experience some hills. Facing a steep climb with a fierce
headwind is physically and mentally brutal. The topper was that even when
we occasionally turned to the West, the NW wind was still basically in our
face.
We grinded it out however, and about 65
miles into the ride we had lunch at Duane's family restaurant. After a
nice feast, we had a enough energy to cut through the wind and make into Lake
City. We blew past several grumpy, grumpy riders during those last 12
miles.
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That night we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in
Lake City run by a nice lady named Gerry. We had a nice dinner of lasagna
on Friday night and a large breakfast on Saturday morning.
DAY
3:
Lake
City to Torch Lake
67
miles
We woke the next day to a very cold
morning in Lake City. All of us were interested in the local weather forecast to see how
cold, and of course if the brutal wind would ease up. At around 7:00am, fellow
rider Larry Vering gave us the update - no wind, but it was about 40 degrees outside.
We all put our gear and headed up into the
cold morning from there. Fortunately it was a clear day and before long
the sun heated things up. Once we got out of town we started on a good
clip, at times hitting speeds over 20 mph. The 3rd day was nearly
perfect. Incredible scenery, nice weather and a good pace. The hills
were bigger today (including one climb where some were walking their bikes up),
but the payoff on the down slope was worth it. I took this picture
of Dad - both us of us cruising at 25 mph.
We ended up at the Dockside bar on Torch
Lake. We had a few pitchers of beer, a late lunch and hung out with some
other riders out on the Dockside's large deck out in the sun.
From there
we were picked up and driven to
the Stafford Bay View Inn in Petoskey where we spent the night.
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DAY
4:
Petoskey
to The Bridge
55
miles
The last day started off with an
outstanding breakfast at the Bay View Inn. Afterwards we checked out of the
hotel and started riding toward the Mackinac bridge at about 10am. The
weather was once again perfect.
The ride took us around the top of the
state, through Petoskey and Harbor Springs. After a short break outside
the Legs Inn in Cross Village, we made our final push towards Mackinaw City.
The scenery on the miles of northern Michigan coastline is unbelievable.
I was jacked when we drove into the
finish. We pulled into a school just outside the Bridge at around 1:30pm. The DALMAC allows
riders to cross the bridge during certain times during the day. We decided
to pack it up and leave because the next crossing wasn't until 3pm. We
were lucky enough to have the ladies pick us up at the Bridge and take us home.
Overall the DALMAC was a great
experience. Next year my dad and I plan to do it again, and hope to bring
some other guys along to join us on the ride.
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