Okemos to Rome via Canada and the Erie Canal

The itinerary is set. Next Wednesday I set off from my house heading east, toward the Canadian border. I'll spend the first night near Lake St. Clair (north of Detroit), then two nights in Ontario, then two more nights in New York, along the Erie Canal (most of which I've already ridden). The long day will be 104 miles; the short day will be the last one, something like 68 miles. I'll catch the 4:30 train in Rome headed for New York City, where I have obligations.

Why do this?

Good question. I know Jon wonders why I have started doing these bizarre endurance tours. I do, too, a little bit.

First, I don't really like camping by myself. Other than saving money, I don't get much out of staying in campgrounds that are close enough to the road to be convenient. (I realize saving money can be an important advantage; if I were doing a two-month tour, staying in motels wouldn't be acceptable.) These trips are about the biking, not the camping.

So if I'm staying in motels, I want to maximize the distance between nights. As long as my body can take it, I don't mind riding 8, 9, 10 hours; if there's no setting up or cooking to do, rolling in at 7:00 PM isn't a problem. My trips last week and last year proved that I can do up to 130 miles in a day, even into the wind and over rolling hills, and I can do at least three long days in a row. I'll do five long days, plus one normal day this trip.

Why not just ride five 100-mile days out and back from my home? Somehow, a large part of the pleasure is actually getting somewhere, even if it's not somewhere I really want to be. (I have no interest in Rome, NY, even though that's my destination.) There's a metaphor there somewhere, the compulsion to keep moving forward through life or something. It's all about setting a personal goal and accomplishing it; setting the goal of riding 500 miles in five days without actually getting somewhere doesn't do it for me. In fact, I'm not sure I could make myself stick to it. After two 100-mile days, I think I'd say, "Just kidding. Didn't really want to do five of these." When I'm in the middle of nowhere, 300 miles from home or my destination, I've got to keep going. Plus, I just like exploring, studying maps (I love maps), figuring out how to get from point A to point B.

 Stay tuned. The ride reports will commence in five days.