Day 37 – Ludington to Mt. Pleasant, MI

Today: 113 miles, 3061 feet of climb
Cumulative: 2751 miles, 94871 feet of climb

Today was our last century ride of the Bike Ride Across America, 113 miles to Mt. Pleasant. And we only have one ride in the 90’s between here and the Atlantic Ocean. The sky was mostly cloudy in the morning and the clouds looked like they had rain in them. But no rain fell, as the forecast predicted, and the sun came out in the early afternoon for the last 30 miles of our ride. In all, it was a good day for a ride.

We leave Ludington in the early morning

I was feeling rested after yesterday, but not particularly energetic. I started the ride with Dave, Mark K. (Baltimore Mark), Mark W. (Toronto Mark), and Jeff. Baltimore Mark pedaled a bit slower after ten miles. So it was a foursome for the next 50 miles of the ride. Then, we all rode our own pace for about 20 miles until I rejoined Toronto Mark for the last 30+ miles. SAG stops were at 29, 64, and 82 miles, plus we stopped at two stores along the way.

A late morning scene

Our route today was not unusually scenic in comparison to prior days. We meandered to get south of Ludington and then took country and state roads due east to Mt. Pleasant. We passed several lakes along the way. The farms here are smaller and grow a variety of crops. We did see corn, but it was not very high or mature like the fields we saw in South Dakota and Minnesota. Soybeans and asparagus are also grown here, not that I knew what asparagus looked like in a field until someone told me.

This was in the afternoon, about 15 miles from Mt. Pleasant

As the ride starts to wind down I find myself less willing to speed past everything and wanting to not miss anything. That’s what I attribute my lack of energy to today. I could have gone faster, but I didn’t want to. There remain only 12 riding days and less than one thousand miles to the Atlantic. A distance still to respect, but certainly doable.

I'm pretty sure this was Clear Lake.  We saw many small lakes like this.

We have two more nights in Michigan and then will be riding in Ontario for three days before reaching Niagara Falls. I think it will be fun to ride in Canada, though Toronto Mark and Jeff (who is also from Canada) don’t think so.

Would you want to own a house on this street?

Tomorrow we ride to Birch Run, which sounds a lot nicer than saying we’re in the Flint suburbs. We’ve been joking that if the ABB brochure had said we were going to Flint, they would have had fewer takers.

Today’s route:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/42076954