Ride 3: Cheboy...er...M-119
This ride is a metaphor of some sort for struggle but at the moment I lack the capacity to flesh it out.
After about a mile of riding 8mph and our wheels sliding all over, I stopped and tried to re-route us. That’s a task that’s always fun in an unknown area. Lisa, smart person that she is, said, “Instead of being frustrated, why don’t we just go ride M-119?”
It took us about an hour to reach Cross Village. In that time, we had already climbed more in 17 miles than we were supposed to in 43 miles for the planned Cheboygan ride. In Cross Village, you make a left and go South on M-119 and enter the Tunnel of Trees. Routes like this look nice from the inside of a car but you don’t really get to soak them in.
The last bit of the tunnel features a 1 mile climb of 8-9% grade with a bit around 11% just to make it super fun. The first time I tried this on my old flat bar bike, I ended up walking as my pace had slowed to “tip over” speed. Once at the top, it flattens out before a nice descent that lets your legs recover. We stopped for a second so I could take this picture.
By the time we got back to the car in Harbor Springs, we had done over 1,500 feet of climbing in 38 miles. Near Columbus, we have to ride almost twice that distance to climb that much. Heck, we only climbed 1,000 feet in the total of 110 miles the first two days of this week! So, yes the ride is very scenic and we like it but we earned this last minute change.
But what about the toast? We were now 45 miles away from Cheboygan Brewing. Fear not. We passed Tunnel Vision Brewing during our ride.
One the left: “Master Beet” Ale. I’m a fan of beets and now apparently of this beer.
When time finally allowed after checking in to our hotel tonight, I checked. Tomorrow’s route is paved.
We made our drive up US 23 this morning to Cheboygan. The bike path we(I) thought was paved was gravel. But it looked packed down. We figured we’d just slow down a bit. Lisa and I took our setting out picture and pushed off.
After about a mile of riding 8mph and our wheels sliding all over, I stopped and tried to re-route us. That’s a task that’s always fun in an unknown area. Lisa, smart person that she is, said, “Instead of being frustrated, why don’t we just go ride M-119?”
Brilliant!
We had to drive near there anyway for our next hotel. The route is one we have ridden several times. It’s absolutely beautiful even though it’s challenging. And it’s paved.
Back to the car, reload the bikes and make haste for Harbor Springs. Once, there we re-situated the bikes, water bottles, etc. and set off...again.
I love this route. Even the county road we use to go North from Harbor Springs to Cross Village is good cycling.
It took us about an hour to reach Cross Village. In that time, we had already climbed more in 17 miles than we were supposed to in 43 miles for the planned Cheboygan ride. In Cross Village, you make a left and go South on M-119 and enter the Tunnel of Trees. Routes like this look nice from the inside of a car but you don’t really get to soak them in.
The last bit of the tunnel features a 1 mile climb of 8-9% grade with a bit around 11% just to make it super fun. The first time I tried this on my old flat bar bike, I ended up walking as my pace had slowed to “tip over” speed. Once at the top, it flattens out before a nice descent that lets your legs recover. We stopped for a second so I could take this picture.
By the time we got back to the car in Harbor Springs, we had done over 1,500 feet of climbing in 38 miles. Near Columbus, we have to ride almost twice that distance to climb that much. Heck, we only climbed 1,000 feet in the total of 110 miles the first two days of this week! So, yes the ride is very scenic and we like it but we earned this last minute change.
But what about the toast? We were now 45 miles away from Cheboygan Brewing. Fear not. We passed Tunnel Vision Brewing during our ride.
One the left: “Master Beet” Ale. I’m a fan of beets and now apparently of this beer.
When time finally allowed after checking in to our hotel tonight, I checked. Tomorrow’s route is paved.
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