One Helluva Ride

Overwhelmed

That's the word of the day. We planned for 1,700 riders and actually got over 2,000. There were people everywhere. Volunteers were scrambling to the local stores trying to keep us stocked with plates, watermelon, bread, fruit, cookies, etc that we needed to feed the extra 300 hungry cyclists that showed up. It was truly amazing to see how people could get creative to solve such problems and make sure that everyone was taken care of.

I started my day loading up the supplies trucks at 4:30am, and embarked on the 76-mile bike ride at 7:30am (broken toe and all). The ride itself had perfect riding conditions and I really enjoyed seeing all the people who turned out. At noon, I stopped at Portage Lake State Park to help with the lunch stop and work with the folks who closed down the stop and cleaned up. We packed up at 3pm and I continued on the last third of the 76-mile route. I arrived in Chelsea just in time to help close up there.

I'm sure the local towns felt overwhelmed. We used to be the only real event that clogged up the roads during the summer, but more and more events such as 10K's, triathalons, charity bike rides, and even motorcycle cruises are invading the area. 2000 bicycles on the road even with the extremely light traffic probably frustrated a few drivers. At least this year, they were civilized. I was only accosted by one motorist, and that was while I was putting a sign on the road. He seemed to think that the portion of the road left of the white line belonged solely to cars (which is the entire road), but I just explained the state laws regarding the matter and apologized that we were going to invade the area for about 3 hours that day.

Anyway, my day started real early, and ended around 9pm, and I got a 76-mile ride squeezed in between all the chaos. I went home feeling great that things went extremely well.