1. Food tastes better when you're exhausted: Anything tastes better when you're tired and hungry and was just on the bike for the last 4 hours.
2. Some trucks with trailers sound like semis: Semis are interesting in the fact that some move over with oncoming traffic and some seem to don't care that I'm on the road. Other vehicles are the same way, but for the most part no one got too close. I was fine, but it's also Michigan law to give cyclists at least 3 feet of space when possible when passing cyclists (Public Acts 277, 279, and 280 of 2018). 3. You'll start pooping on a regular schedule: It's just like any other form of daily exercise + eating relatively the same thing for a week. 4. Feeling sluggish? Eat, drink, or go to the bathroom: REally. Most of the times when I checked in with my body I was hungry, thirsty, or had to go to the bathroom. 5. Ditch some of the extra clothes: Do you really need the ball cap and the two t-shirts for after you're done riding for the day? No. If anything, bring another pair of cycling shorts. 6. Read up more on how to portion food for bikepacking: This is one of the things I just kind of skimmed on because I thought I already knew some of it from camping all my life and reading about hiking the Appalachian and Camino de Santiago trails. It turned out that 1 serving of instant brown rice is w a y too much rice for myself to eat in one sitting, and I could probably make 5 servings out of the '1 serving'. I would also bring slightly more variety of food, and remember to bring utensils and a bowl. 7. Use every single downhill to your advantage: Speed downhill = potential speed to get up the next hill or extra acceleration to jump up to a higher gear. 8. Wave at construction workers, motorists, kids, trees, Subarus, that cute house you just passed: A few times I probably looked pretty crazy because I would wave at the giant White Pines I passed or the Subaru that was parked in a parking lot. IDK, it passed time … and I'm a dork. 9. Small towns are your friend: Small towns don't have as much traffic as highways or larger towns (imagine that!). Plus they have bathrooms. And a change in scenery. And a chance to check your map again because you haven't saw a road sign in forever. 10. Talking: When stopping at said small towns, people will ask you where you're going and how many miles 11. Rain is inevitable, but fun: Fun? Fun you say? (idk man, I just really like biking) Cars generally drive slower in the rain, and it's a way to make sure your panniers are actually waterproof (mine are). 12. Detours may be longer, but they're scenic: At least up here, our detours are on roads less traveled. So that's cool. If there wasn't a detour I wouldn't have been able to stop by Lake Gogebic State Park and through all those amazing hills. 13. You'll pass time in many different ways: Um lets see, counting in different languages - English, Spanish, French, and Korean; counting down the mile markers, adopt-a-highway markers, and passing lanes; identifying trees; singing the same verse of the one Front Bottoms song that is stuck in your head 14. Construction areas are sort of nice: Cars always have to drive slower in construction areas, so its better for when they pass you lol 15. Tamaracks may be one of your fav types of trees, but they like swampy areas: And seeing lots of tamaracks do not help when you're trying to find a spot to pee inside the tree line. Jack Pines are good. They like dry sandy areas and your shoes won't get wet there (unless it just rained). 16. Chamois butter is your BFF: o man o man the last thing you want is sores on your behind from bike shorts rubbing. Chamois butter can solve that! It's definitely worth the extra ounces in your panniers. 17. Your knees and legs and elbows and butt will hurt, but you keep going: After enough hours on the bike you become kind of numb to the pain, then once you start thinking about pain, it comes in waves. Sort of the 'out of sight, out of mind,' but like 'out of mind, out of feeling' 18. People you meet will be surprised that you're bikepacking: Multiple times people stopped me and were like "How far are you going?" "Are you doing this alone?" "Where are you biking to?" "Where did you start?" "When did you start?" Yeah, people were kinda nosy, but I usually just said that I was going to Ironwood and started in the Soo, not mentioning where I was going to sleep that night. #Idon'twantstalkers 19. There is an adjustment period for coming back into 'normal' life after the trip: At first you'll wake up earlier thinking that you still have to pack up camp and cook breakfast, but in reality you don't. [The morning after finishing the UP Cycle, I woke up at 4am (my explanation is cuz my pain meds and Icy Hot wore off) in pain and starving. I tried to go back to sleep, but nothing came of it so I ate two more pieces of pizza and played on my phone until breakfast at 7:30.] So yeah, it's a real thing. 20. I absolutely love the sport and camaraderie: All the hills and detours and small shoulders on the roads won't stop me from continuing touring. The cyclists I met in Mass City were great, and offering tips that were useful for a greenhorn like myself.
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Day 6: 70 miles, start 9:20am in Bruce Crossing It was nice sleeping in a dry environment, because it rained a few times during the night. I made oatmeal outside on the picnic table with the backpacking stove (carried in the car). Guess what, we met two other bike tourists! They were from Canada and touring from Duluth MN to Isle Royal and back. They were pretty cool! I mentioned that after college I wanted to bike across the US in a gap year before grad school, they looked at my bike, and bluntly responded, "you're gonna need a new bike." hehehe I know I'm touring in just a normal mountain bike, which is probably no small feat, but it works. :) Then along with a new bike I'd need front panniers and a stove and solar charger … so lots of expenses for this broke college student. They also told me to get on WarmShowers, which I would totally do for a cycle across the US. They took off for the Keweenaw Peninsula, and we left soon after back to Bruce Crossing. Once at Bruce Crossing, I placed everything on my bike, and took off on M28. I noticed right away that when I pedaled, my knees hurt a great deal. Like enough to wince, and ibuprofen did little to numb the pain. However I made good time and passed the miles by singing parts of Front Bottoms songs and looking for the mile markers counting down to the state border. Little did we know that we would have to take a detour that would add on 34 miles. The plan was to ride on M28 until it hooked onto US2 in Wakefield - but, M28 from Merriweather to Wakefield was open only to locals due to a weak bridge, resulting in taking M64 South to US2. Everything still worked out, because it was a nice day, traffic wasn't too bad, and I got to stop at another state park. I took a short break in the day use at Lake Gogebic State Park. From the little that I saw of the park, it was cute. Just south of the park, there were like 4 tall and short hills one after another that were really fun to ride. One nice thing about riding on US2 was the large shoulder. Some cars still moved over, some didn't, but they still kept their distance. You want to talk hills? Let's talk hills. The hills between the intersection of M64 S and US2 and Wakefield are I N S A N E, they held my knees hostage in constant pain that kept on coming. At this point, I texted my Dad to try to find Icy Hot for my knees - they hurt that bad (didn't get Icy Hot until Wakefield because we're in the middle of nowhere). From Wakefield, it was only 12 miles to Ironwood! Knees still in immense pain - even with Icy Hot - and through the "foothills" of the Porcupine Mountains. This section was hilly, but they were more longer and gradual uphill rather than hill after hill of the previous US2. AND THEN, AFTER 70 MILES, I REACHED IRONWOOD! The ride was glorious, and the food tasted better, and it was a fantastic way to see the western end of the Upper Peninsula. I rode to the Comfort Inn in Ironwood, where we stayed the night. It was pretty nice to finally have fast wifi again, to take a shower, and just relax. Not that all that riding wasn't relaxing … you get what I mean. ;) The first thing I did when I reached the hotel was I called my Mom, Carlee, and Suna. They were excited to hear from me, and I was excited to share the details from the last leg with them. The stairs to our hotel room ON THE SECOND FLOOR were killer, but I made it there with all my stuff. It was really nice to sit down and have my whole butt supported lol, even though it wasn't my butt that hurt anymore. I called the contact station at the park to let Kelly and everyone else know that I made it to Ironwood okay, man o man they were just as excited as I was. For dinner we both ordered a pizza, I asked for broccoli, pineapple, and sausage - I know, weird combo but it was delicious. Hills walked up: 0 Construction zones: 2 Detours: 1 Pounds carried on bike: roughly 25 Other bike tourists passed: 2 Pasties ate: 1 1/2 Lifelong memories made: 300 miles worth :) Happiness level: 105% Special thanks to my parents, who supported me throughout the planning process of the ride and taking time out of working to be in a support vehicle; to aunt Julie, who supplied the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for s'mores; and to everyone else who commented or encouraged me throughout the UP Cycle 💖 Day 5: 63 miles, 10am start The campground was still wet and moist when I got up in the morning. I allowed myself to sleep in because of how tired I was the day before, and it's probably better that I did because of the rain. I was pleasantly surprised that my tent held up with the all-night rain, even though it was new and waterproofing fresh. I love the size of my Eureka Solitaire tent, but I wish that it had a vestibule so at night I could store my shoes outside and they wouldn't get wet. Who knew that Van Riper would also clean their one modern bathroom at 9ish, the same time we do at the park? I realize I also work at a state park, but now I see how campers might get slightly flustered when we're cleaning them. But, at the same time, we have a second modern bathroom plus vault toilets and Van Riper did not have either in the modern campground. It is what it is and I waited to use the bathroom after eating and packing up my camp. Due to having a support vehicle following me, I was able to take liberties (ugh even though I didn't want to) and I placed my wet tent and soaked chacos in the car. I took off on the road around 10am with overcast skies and lots of hills in my path. This was the first day where it was colder, windier, and muggy enough to wear a raincoat while I rode. Throughout the first 40 miles or so, there was intermittent rain. When the rain came, I would pull the hood of my raincoat up over my helmet, so I would be as dry as possible. As a result of my hood being up, it would cause my chin to drop lower to my chest and a few times, when it was raining really hard I could only see a few feet ahead of me. And, to be honest, I really don't remember that much of those miles because I was trying not to hydroplane over the new pavement in construction zones, and maneuver downhills and curves in the pouring rain. It was fun though. 😂 I stopped at a roadside park that was sandwiched between two hills and a river. I was sheltered from the rain at last when I saw that there was a roof over the water pump. I had a snack of a Chocolate gel pack 1x caffeine* and a peanut butter chocolate chip clif bar. After my short stop, I starting riding again, and I felt like I was flyin' for the next 15-20 miles after. I probably wasn't going that fast, but you know, it's the perception that counts. I reached Bruce Crossing relatively dry (my panniers held up wonderfully in the rain) and my Dad and I decided to try to find a motel to spend the night in to dry out our tents. The closest motel was the Adventure Motel and Café, 16 miles north east in Mass City. I loaded the bike onto the car, and we drove to the motel. This motel, was um, interesting to say the least. We rented the cheapest room that was equipped with two twin sized beds, a TV roughly the size of an average laptop screen, a couple pieces of furniture, and a bathroom. The room was T I N Y and just about everything in it was the same color blue. The lady at the front desk was nice and the room was clean, it was just a little dated. *Sometimes gel packs taste gross and fake but this one actually tasted good. It tasted like homemade chocolate pudding made from avocados and agave. 8/6/2018 0 Comments Day 4: Marquette to Van RiperDay 4: 25 miles, start 9am outside of Marquette Biking through Marquette was the only part of the UP Cycle that I was slightly worried about. I know that as a cyclist I just follow the same rules as vehicles do, just on the side of the road or sidewalk, but I uh did not want to bike past the Target and whatnot on that road. To be clear - it was not the hill that gave me qualms, it was the traffic of the largest city in the UP. Anyways, I had breakfast of eggs and hash browns and we were on our way. We could not think of an alternate route through the city that would eliminate the traffic, so Alli dropped me off at the Tractor Supply right outside of Marquette. There was plenty of construction between Marquette, Negaunee, and Ishpeming, which was fun to bike through. Other than the construction, the ride was glorious - hilly, but glorious nonetheless. I wrote in my journal after the ride, "... the whole ride here was constant hills & lousy downhills, I biked up all of them though, didn't walk up any." I joked to myself during the ride that afterwards I'd have legs of iron, because the area is known for iron deposits. I reached Van Riper State Park roughly 1pm and began to set up my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad on site 8. I originally wanted this ride to be unsupported and solo, but my parents debated against that and requested that someone followed me the whole way to Ironwood. With this being said, my Dad arrived at the campsite around 2pm and would accompany me the rest of the way to Ironwood and back. Due to the large increase of exercise, gradual less sleep, and also being mentally tired, I was extremely tired after this leg of the ride. I also found out here that a half cup of instant brown rice (1 serving) is way too much rice to eat in one sitting; that is good news for future bike tours, I would be able to carry more food with not a lot of extra weight. Van Riper State Park was a nice campground, it was just a little loud with children screaming/crying and dogs barking. And then it started raining. Not just a little sprinkle here and there, but full on down-pour. We decided to call it a night and we went to bed around 8pm because of the rain. The good thing about the rain was that it drowned out the noise of screaming children and barking dogs 🤔 I slept relatively well, and did not hear any of the rain all night. 8/3/2018 0 Comments Day 3: Munising to MarquetteDay 3: 39 miles, start 8:45-9am in Munising Lake Superior was beautiful when I was packing up camp, it was like glass with the reflected sunrise. It took me longer than expected to pack up camp (it was also my first time and only time packing up camp alone). I made an effort every morning before I left on my ride to have a picture taken of me with my bike, so I asked the campsite next to me to take my photo. They were really nice, took a great photo, and took the peanut butter cups and gel packs that I forgot to put in the Subaru the night before. I could have carried the extra few ounces, but I wanted to try to do this cycle as if I was alone. My legs definitely had more feelings about the ride than the day before, as they hurt when I started cycling. I made it to Lakenenland slower than previously thought, but that's okay. Sometimes you just gotta take it slow for a while. I stopped at Lakenenland to use the outhouse and to take a photo by a sculpture. I picked the globe and big dipper metal sculpture as the background for the photo with my bike. Soon afterwards, I was back in the saddle headed towards Marquette. My uncle Marc drove out from Marquette to check up on me, and he drove behind me on the rest of the stretch on M28. With uncle Marc driving behind me, I felt an extra pressure to pedal faster and to push through the pain in my legs. When we reached the intersection of M28 and US 41, I went on the bike path, and we agreed to stop at the Michigan Welcome Center between Harvey and Marquette. From the Michigan Welcome Center, I continued on the bike path until it came to a T, then I turned onto the crosswalk and continued the short distance to uncle Marc's house. When biking on the highways, I had became so accustomed to biking alone and not passing any other cyclists, that when on the bike path a cyclist passed me and said "on your left," I jumped a little in my clips. I reached my destination, took a shower, and took a walk with my cousin Alli and her Leader Dog pup. The walk was not only fun for hanging out with Alli, but it also stretched my sore legs. We had pizza, ice cream, watched Forged in Fire, and played with the dogs before heading to bed. Thanks, uncle Marc, for helping me out! |
Author: Eryn corinthCyclist. Feminist. Outdoor enthusiast. Tree hugger. Archives
October 2022
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