Aug 11, 2015
What a trip #1000milesaround Lake Michigan and what a welcome home for #Bike4ROW. Being able to see ground breaking for the new boathouse that we all cycled so hard to support. #goROW
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What a trip #1000milesaround Lake Michigan and what a welcome home for #Bike4ROW. Being able to see ground breaking for the new boathouse that we all cycled so hard to support. #goROW
Day 14 of #Bike4ROW saw the arrival of our 2-day cyclists, come to get us through the last leg of our #1000milesaround.
A little rain won't get us down on our trip from Cleveland to Milwaukee. Also, if you're helping to drive the #Bike4ROW bus #1000milesaround, you get to pick the music. #UptownFunk #goROW
Dude, where'd I park my bike? #1000milesaround #cominghome @bike4row #bike4ROW #donationswelcome
If you were cycling #1000milesaround as part of #Bike4ROW what would you do with your rest day? #WillWashforDonations #goROW
Day 1 & Day 2
Greetings from absurdly adorable South Haven, Michigan, 130 miles up the shore from Chicago! Members of Team Bike4Row are spread throughout the town (the beach, Hotel Nichols, and Eclectic Coffee Shop) recovering from Day 2’s 63.3 miles.
How’d those first two days go? They were exciting, inspiring and utterly exhausting…save for one or two bugs that flew into my mouth, it was exactly what I trained and signed up for.
Day 1.
The Bike4Row riders met down at Buckingham Fountain at 6:30 am, for a safety tutorial and to zip into our stylish and flattering Bike4Row jerseys. Then we zoomed single-file like a highly-synchronized (or at least matchingly bejerseyed) squad, following the Lakefront Trail down to its southern end, where a trusty trail guide named Frank met us.
After lunch, which turkey and PB&Js in the parking lot of a Cabella’s (as you do), we picked up a trail system in Hammond that took us almost the entire way to our Michigan City destination. The trails were beautiful, passing through meadows and forests, and wide enough to allow us to pedal in small groups and get to know our fellow riders. We shared stories about biking, rowing and, for some, being a breast cancer survivor.
Oh! We met a 72 year old woman named Hannah, who’s biking in a solar-powered craft of some kind to raise money for rescuing dogs. Read about her here: http://bringmethenews.com/2015/04/27/at-72-this-mn-womans-dream-of-biking-across-the-country-is-coming-true/
A great part of being is the unavoidable momentum…the honks and waves from passersby, the questions you get about Bike4Row when you pedal up as a group to one of your rest stops. When we got to the Shoreline Brewery right by our hotel, some nice guy even slapped a ten dollar donation on our table and yelled “A toast to the greatest invention ever: the bicycle!” We cheered. (We chugged.)
(Sponsor shoutout alert! For my money, the second greatest invention ever might be Clif Bar’s new chewy energy blocks. I kid you not, these little things are amazing. I’m really digging Citrus Flavor. We have a barrel full of them, and the bars, and the gel. Thanks kindly, Clif!)
After checking into the Bridges Inn in Michigan City, we showered and got dinner and drinks, and hugged the first-day riders goodbye through droopy eyes. I crawled in bed and tried to start a new book—the bookmark is on page 2.
Day 2.
Today was a whole different story. We got to start slow and sip coffee, which was huge since I woke up feeling like someone may have hit me in the legs a bunch of times in the night with the back of shovel. (Primary suspect: Alan, our amazing cameraman, with whom I’m sharing a room. Or maybe I just biked 67 miles the day before.)
Also, with far fewer riders doing the entire first week, we’re now a lean, nimble group. No trails today; we took Michigan coastal highways—the Red Arrow, then the Blue Star—up toward South Haven. So we stayed close together with the van guarding and navigating right behind us.
Speaking of, props to our van team of Connie, Lily and Alan. Sorry that I’m usually in the back, so you get front row seats to my readjustment exercise of standing up on my pedals and scratching/tightening/shimmying my sore buns. Props, too, to Jenn’s family, who set us up with breakfast and took care of our laundry.
Gotta go meet the team in the Nichols lobby for dinner somwhere. More to come. In the meantime, GO ROW. (And feel free to go donate! And to try Clif Bar chewy blocks.)
Bike4ROW - Chicago to Michigan City - Day 1