Mini-Tour, 2014 (USBR 35, etc)

In all the touring I have done in the last ten years, I have had very little rain. Some torrential rain last summer (a few hours), and a few hours here and there in past years. But nothing epic. This year's rain was epic; torrential; biblical. It rained and rained, steadily, for eight hours on the third and final day of this experimental trip.

I was almost prepared for the rain. The plastic sheet wrapped around my back bag worked perfectly. The contents were bone dry. The plastic sheet draped over the handlebar bag worked and then didn't work. There was a hole where the strap went through, and I think it let in enough water during the day that the contents in the bag got wet. Rain preparedness can only be tested in the rain, and you can't prove that your rain-proofing works; you can only prove that it doesn't work. My handlebar bag was totally dry on the first morning of rain, but that proved nothing. During the deluge, it succumbed, letting in water where it hadn't before. Back to the drawing board.

Anyway, more about rain later. First the details of the trip:

Instead of a long, heroic voyage (see previous posts), I opted for short and functional, commuting (as it were) from northwest to central Michigan, down the west coast of the state, to meet my wife. Three days, 290 miles. Motels all the way. This was to be an experiment in credit card touring. 

I wanted to find out if I could happily sustain long (90+ mile) days over three or four days, staying in motels with reservations each night so that I knew what I was headed for, and not trying to cook. It seemed appropriate that when staying in motels I would go long days. I could arrive, take a bath, look for a restaurant or grocery store with prepared food, watch a little TV, go to bed. Rolling in at 6:00 PM or later  was ideal, which meant that I had 10+ hours or so to ride. Even with regular breaks, I can do 100 miles in 10 hours.

I followed US Bicycle Route 35 from Empire to Muskegon, then I jumped on to the Muskegon-Detroit route as mapped out by the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB). (I jumped off the route on the third day, since I had already ridden most of it, and it was slightly less direct than I wanted.) I rode my Bike Friday New World Tourist, which has become my go-to touring bike, it seems. My old Trek 620 is actually better suited to touring, with its beefier racks and just overall beefiness, but I didn't have it at my starting point. It's easy to have the NWT at all times, because it's so easy to transport. And it rides like a dream, with super easy gears for whopper hills (which I didn't encounter this year), and it's easy to carry up stairs at motels without elevators. Rather than a full rear rack, I opted for a seatpost rack, which is much easier to make fit on the NWT. (Plus, when I need to travel with it, the rack goes on and off much easier.)

Velo Orange handlebar bag (with homemade bag support) and Riv ShopSack on a seatpost rack

I had already ridden all of the USBR 35 route on previous trips to and from Ludington, but it is the most direct route (and quite beautiful). So down M-22, through Frankfort, Elberta, up and down four significant hills between Elberta and Manistee, then back roads to Ludington. The most beautiful stretch is from Arcadia to Manistee along the coast. (Well, my regular ride between Empire and Frankfort is awfully nice, but I do that at least once a week.)

This first day was the hardest of the three. Perhaps because it was a well known route, perhaps because it was the first day, perhaps because my saddle wasn't set right at first, perhaps because of the hills. Probably all of those. It was only 84 miles, but it felt long. I cheered up after Manistee. (Probably the McDonald's milkshake helped.) Ironic that the hardest day had the nicest weather.

I stayed in the Baymont Motel in Ludington, right on US 31 at the beginning of the freeway. Not a very scenic neighborhood three miles outside of town, but then, I wasn't after scenery. I was after convenience, a bathtub, an ice machine, and a grocery store nearby. I found all of those. I'm not very picky about motels; as long as they're reasonably clean and don't smell bad, I'm satisfied. This was actually pretty nice, for such an old place. They're trying to fix it up; I appreciated the effort they are making.

Dinner from the grocery store while watching old movies. Beats eating baked beans from a mess kit while fighting off mosquitos.

The next morning was the first rain of the trip. After an adequate motel breakfast, I set out in full rain gear: Marmot Precip raincoat (protected me from two hours of rain on this first rainy day), Rivendell "splats"

"Splats"

covering my shoes (mostly worked this day), and 6 mil plastic sheeting covering my bag on the back rack and my handlebar bag. As I mentioned above, my rain gear worked fine for the two hours of steady but fairly light rain. I was wet from condensation inside my raincoat, but that's hard to avoid. One shoe was wet at the toe from the splat being set wrong. Ominously, though, the insides of the splats were saturated by the end of the day. Despite Riv's claims, the canvas is not even remotely water proof. What would a full day of rain do to them? Not too hard to guess; I confirmed my guess the next day.


But the ride was beautiful south of Ludington, even in the rain. Right along Lake Michigan (which I mostly couldn't see because of trees and fog), quiet riding, little traffic. I don't mind rain, as long as the riding is nice. My first break was in Pentwater, right on Pentwater Lake, at a picnic table in a nice covered pavilion. It was nice to get out of the rain, take off my raincoat, adjust my splats, have some trail mix. If there had been a coffee shop nearby, I would have gotten a cup of coffee, making the stop perfect. Alternately, if I had carried my mini-stove and pot, I could have made myself some coffee. Even instant coffee would have been good. Must consider for the future.

Once I made it around Pentwater Lake and crossed under the freeway (US-31), I was ready to jump on the Hart-Montegue bicycle trail, which runs  for 22 miles from Hart (in the north) to Montegue (Whitehall). The trail loops far to the west at the beginning, so I thought I'd outsmart it by staying on the road across the loop. I soon discovered the reason for the detour. There was some significant climbing. I don't mind hills, but there was probably no time savings by going the shorter route.

In any case, starting in Shelby, I followed paved rail-trails most of the way to Muskegon. Obviously, this was easy riding. In Montegue, the trail turns in to the White Lake Trail, which goes through Whitehall. The map at this point proved to be out of date. According to the USBR route map and the maps along the trail, the trail was supposed to end at White Lake Dr. But it just kept going beyond where it was supposed to end. Naturally, there were no signs identifying the roads the trail crossed (one of my pet peeves), so I didn't really know where I was until I checked GPS. Turns out the White Lake Trail has been extended! Beautiful new pavement heading toward Muskegon. But how far? They need some signs.

There were no signs, no indication of where the paved trail might end. So I took my chances and followed it to the end. I was not amused when it ended on a dirt (sand, really) road. I don't mind dirt roads when they're dry, but this one was still nicely moist from the recent rain. I didn't need to ride very far on it, but it was far enough to make my bike a sandy mess. And then I found myself on the busiest road between Whitehall and Muskegon. Sigh. Not pleasant. I could have detoured farther west to a quieter road, but I chose to take my chances with the traffic. I know I shouldn't have the attitude that the cars (and trucks) will just need to avoid me, not my problem. Because, really, it IS my problem if they don't avoid me. But they did avoid me, so I guess it paid off.

I have never liked riding through Muskegon, and I didn't like it this time either. I hate to besmirch a city's reputation with unfair words, but Muskegon has always seemed grungy to me. They have this beautiful lake that they lined with factories, power plants, and used tire heaps. Ick. I bought a nasty sandwich in a nasty convenience store and ate it at a nasty picnic table in a nasty little park across from a nasty used tire dump. Get me outa here! Rather than follow the USBR 35 route all the way around the lake to where the LMB route starts, I set off cross-city on Marquette Ave. I wanted out as quick as possible.

Once across the freeway, I found a nice Arby's and had a jamocha shake. From Muskegon, the route guide suggested that I should jump on to the Musketawa Trail, which I had never heard of. Turned out to be a very nice paved trail that runs much of the way to Grand Rapids. I got off after 10 miles to head down to Coopersville and my motel for the night (the fairly grubby Rodeway Inn). Total mileage: 92 miles.

After a bath, dinner at yet another Arby's (I like their Reuben Sandwiches), and a little TV, I was asleep by 11:00. Breakfast the next day was awful except for the waffle maker (Fruit Loops, Cheerios, and Rice Krispies were the cereal choices, for example). And when I got out the door, I discovered rain. An ark floated by, animals two-by-two, cluing me in to the nature of this rain.

Oh, it rained. Rained and rained. Eight hours of steady, at times heavy, rain. Here was what worked: the plastic tarp covering my back bag. Totally dry. Success. Here is what didn't work: Everything else. My top was soaking, my shoes were soaking, my handlebar bag was partly soaking. I was sopping, soggy, sloppy. The air was warm, so at least I wasn't freezing. But I was thoroughly wet.

The biggest failure were the splats: Waterproof? Hah! Not even remotely. By mid-day, my feet were exactly as wet as they would have been without covers. The splats work ok for brief rain; I'll use them for commuting, I guess. But for long rides in the rain, I won't bother. Perhaps an equivalent design in visqueen would work? I'll try it.

I trudged (the bike equivalent of trudged, at least) through the rain, heading toward Grand Rapids. I was not amused after 10 miles to find my road closed for construction, with a several mile detour. In a car, such detours are annoying. On a bike, they can be catastrophic. (The detour Jon and I were forced to take around the Cut River Bridge in the UP comes to mind.) This one was mostly just annoying; a little extra riding in the rain.

The LMB route through Grand Rapids worked well. In fact, crossing the city on Three Mile Rd. was one of the highlights of the trip, thanks to the adorable little houses all along that street. Even in the rain, this was a nicer experience than riding across Muskegon in the sunshine.

When I got to Ada (home of Amway!) on Grand River Ave, I decided to leave the LMB cross-state route. It was going to take me farther south than I wanted, to roads I had already ridden. Instead, I just stayed on the river road, as far as Saranac. It rained like crazy, but the road was nice, and the traffic was very light.

I stopped once at a park that had a nice covered pavillion, thinking I could get out of the rain. I got out of the rain, all right, but into clouds of mosquitos. Even with repellent on, I was overwhelmed. I immediately headed back out into the rain.

By this point, I had been riding in the rain for six hours. It had not stopped for even a minute. I needed someplace to get something to eat and dry off a bit. The route I had planning to take, David Highway 30 miles straight across to near St. Johns, had no real towns on it that were likely to have fast food. So I altered course and went down to Grand River Ave, which paralleled I-96. More traffic, probably, but also more direct, and guaranteed to have fast food and convenience stores.

Mostly, this was an acceptable route. Traffic was relatively light, and the road was mostly in good shape. I did find a truck stop with a Subway, where I gratefully got out of the rain and got something to eat. Unfortunately, the air conditioning was turned up so high, I couldn't stay very long. I was sopping wet, and the last thing I wanted to do was hang out in a refrigerator. I went back outside and hung out under the gas station canopy for a while to warm up, then I headed back in to the rain. Surely it would let up soon.

But no. I followed Grand River Ave through Portland, not even stopping for the many fast food choices, and continued on Grand River Ave south of the freeway. This is where my route choice proved problematic. Grand River between Portland and Eagle was pretty awful. Narrow, potholes, lots of traffic. One of those roads where I constantly watch in my mirror for overtaking cars, ready to preemptively pull off the road if there's oncoming traffic (which I did several times).

Beyond Eagle, the road widened again, but the rain didn't stop, even though the sky was getting markedly brighter. The sun was almost out, and the rain was coming down harder than ever. I believe I said, "NOT FAIR!" a number of times. And worse.

By the time the road crossed M-100, the rain had finally stopped. I squished in to McDonald's, had a chocolate shake, and started the final drying out process.

From there, all was sunshine and warmth. Continuing down Grand River, straight into Lansing past the airport, I didn't care about traffic. It was the most direct way into the city, so I was going to take it.

I turned off at the Turner Dodge Mansion on to the River Trail. Less direct, but always fun riding. This was my normal riding turf. I arrived home at 5:30. Total mileage: 102 soggy miles.

Was the trip a success? Yes. Despite the rain. Was the new motel-hopping, high-mileage format a good alternative to the old camping model? I hate to say it, but yes. More about that in a future post. Will I do it again? I'd like to ride Empire to Okemos down the east side of the state at the end of the summer.