Week 5: Bicycling Millington, MI to Ludington, MI

Total distance: 251.9 miles

Day 29 – 0 miles – Millington, MI – Rest Day # 3

Happy 4th of July!

Theme: Playing Wingspan, a fun game about birds that Paul and Maggie brought.

We spent the day hanging out with our friends and playing games. We interrupted a Wingspan marathon only to eat and to venture out into Frankenmuth. We strolled around the incredible Christmas shop there which sells Christmas tree ornaments of every color and theme imaginable.

Christmas ornaments galore!

Highlight: The Ultimate Mirror Maze and ice cream from Zak and Mac’s Chocolate Haus

Afterwards we went to the Ultimate Mirror Maze which was a crazy experience. The goal is to get from one door to the other by navigating through this maze of mirrors. Since everything reflects many times, it is hard to tell the difference between a mirror and an open path until you are right in front of it. Eric, Maggie and Jess went through it once and eventually succeeded. Eric and Jess tried again with 3D glasses which made it harder to see, but we still knew the pattern we had discovered without them, so it was much easier. They give you these hilarious plastic gloves so you don’t get fingerprints on the mirrors when you run into them!

Exploring the Ultimate Mirror Maze

Overnight: Airbnb in Millington. We made burritos and played Wingspan… again!

Wingspan

Day 30 – 46.5 miles – Millington, MI to Bay City, MI

Theme: Can we make it to a bike shop before Jess’s tire explodes (again)?

Finally the day had arrived when we were going to make it to a bike shop and get Jess a replacement tire. She had biked on this one for 206 miles since it exploded, and it seemed she might be riding on borrowed time. Roughly five miles before Bay City, Jess looked down at her front tire and noticed it had an ‘S’ bulge in it. While the internet seems to think many things, including a poorly seated tire bead, can cause this ‘S’ bulge, we were pretty certain this was an indication the tire was severely weakened. We biked the last five miles slowly and limped into Jack’s Bicycle just in time. We realized when we got to Jack’s Bicycle that it may have been a mistake to have only ordered one new tire. Jess’s original front tire which would have suffered some wear as a front tire, had now been subjected to 127 miles of wear as a rear tire. There wasn’t any evidence of a problem yet, but the first problem had seemingly come out of nowhere.

An alarming ‘S’ bend in Jess’s tire!

Highlight: Getting to a bike shop just before a massive rain storm hit and then getting a high, dry field to ourselves at the Bay City State Forest while other campers’ sites were flooding.

Since we don’t have enough going on, we were also working on passport renewal applications and Eric needed new passport photos. While Jess was sitting at Jack’s Bicycle waiting for the tire and brake caliper replacements, Eric went to CVS to get passport photos. On his way back he narrowly avoided an absolute downpour, making it back to the bike shop just before the worst of it hit. When Jess’s bike was repaired and the rain had passed, we got back on the road to bike out to the Bay City State Forest.

Overnight: When we arrived at the office to the Bay City State Forest Campground, there was a woman in front of us asking if there was anything the people in the office could do since the sudden downpour had caused their campsite to flood. The rangers said there wasn’t really anything they could do other than suggest she move her tent to the highest part of the site. This didn’t bode terribly well for us – our stuff getting wet would be a huge problem as it could take forever for it to dry without a washing machine, dryer, clothes line in the sun for days, etc. When it was our turn, the ranger said, “well, they are on bikes, so we have to give them a site. It’s just a matter of where.” Michigan is one of a handful of states that requires through-cyclists be given a place to camp at state forests. He said he had a high spot that would likely be dry, but it didn’t have electricity. We said we didn’t need electricity and were directed to the organizational camping spot which was a huge field that was completely dry. We ended up having the entire field to ourselves even though many of the campsites on the other side of the trees had four inches of water in them.

A very dry field all to ourselves

When we woke up the next morning, people in the main campsites were walking in ankle deep water from their RVs to their cars and sitting in lawn chairs on plastic tarps outside their RVs resting their feet on pieces of firewood to keep them out of the water. Most of the tents were precariously positioned on the edge of small, newly formed lakes. We felt very lucky!

A very flooded campground!

Day 31 – 53.9 miles – Bay City, MI to Clare, MI

Shortly after leaving the Bay City State Forest we discovered that Eric’s bike computer wasn’t registering anything. Upon further inspection, Eric noticed that the cable linking the wheel magnet to the computer was completely severed. It must have happened when the bike fell over the day before while we were setting up camp. Eric twisted the cables back together and duct-taped them in place and it seemed to work again. We had previously noticed that there seemed to be some error between the readings on Jess’s computer and those on Eric’s computer, but we couldn’t figure out why. All we knew was the error seemed to be around 2%, with Jess’s always being higher. The circumference calculation Jess’s bike computer uses seems slightly off the actual circumference, but that error is more like 0.5%, so there was clearly something else going on. Since we were using Eric’s bike computer mileage as our official record, and Eric’s was now not reliably recording the distance, we started using Jess’s computer and adjusting the final mileage by 2%.

Theme: Pere Marquette rail trail. 

Pere Marquette Rail Trail

Highlight: Meeting lots of nice people including two cyclists doing our path in reverse.

On the way to Midland, we met Allan and Betsy who were biking from Seattle, WA to Bar Harbor, ME following our route in reverse. They had way less stuff than we do even though they were also camping which confirmed to us we are carrying way more than we need! They were also moving much more quickly than we were as Betsy had to finish this ride before heading off to another one.

From Midland to Clare, we were on the Pere Marquette rail trail which runs for 30 miles. It’s a nice, mostly flat trail with trees on either side. For once Jess was complaining. Her hands and butt hurt, and her socks were bunching up in her shoes. Eventually we made it to Clare where we stopped at Hungry Howie’s for a pizza before heading to the campground.

Overnight: We set up camp at the Pettit Park campground in Clare, MI, which is a small city-run campground. It is very simple, but it was perfect for our needs. There was a nice breeze blowing through our campsite all night.

Pettit Park Campground in Clare

Day 32 – 67.2 miles – Clare, MI to Luther, MI

Theme: Michigan mountains. First hills in weeks!

Most of our route across the top of Lake Erie and into Michigan was relatively flat and we were pleased to have left the hills of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York behind, especially while Jess’s rear break wasn’t working well. Now that it is fixed, we are ready for downhills. It turns out the flat roads have made us lazy, and we aren’t that prepared for uphills. This section of the route included 2,359 feet of cumulative climbing!

Highlight: New distance record!

Despite the hills, we still set a new distance record, smashing the 60-mile hurdle quite thoroughly. We stopped for a snack break at Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground along the way. When we were getting ready to go again, Jess noticed her front tire (the second original tire) now had an ‘S’ bulge forming in it. It was not as severe as the first one yet but was definitely something to keep an eye on. Since we were planning to be in Ludington in two days, we tried calling a bike shop there to see if we could do the special-order plan for a second tire, but it was Sunday so the bike shops were closed.

Resting at Sunrise Lake State Forest Campground

We pulled into Luther shortly before dinnertime. We couldn’t find a grocery store, so we stopped at a restaurant for subs we could take to our campsite. There were some very friendly locals who wanted us to stay and chat, but we were tired and ready to set up camp.

Luther, MI

One of the friendly locals told us we had just missed a big 4th of July celebration and that there had been 3,000 people in the town over the weekend. Luther’s normal population is 318! He had been camping in the area, and a bear had come for his empty beer cans! If bears like empty beer cans, they probably really like peanut butter, so after 32 days we decided we should finally put our food bag in a tree. We have been carrying 500 feet of paracord which has not been useful yet, but we now had an opportunity to use it. Eric tossed the bundle of cord up towards a tree branch aiming for a sturdy-looking one. Instead he snagged the smallest branch possible! He was still able to hoist the food bag into the air and tie it off, and no bears ate our food!

Overnight:  We stayed in the Carriesville State Forest campground just outside Luther. It was totally empty aside from some people who came by to take water from the pump and some people who came by to look for items in the dumpster. We were the only campers.

Our campsite at Carriesville State Forest complete with bear-safe food bag

Day 33 – 54.7 miles – Luther, MI to Ludington, MI

Our goal today was to make it to Ludington, MI, to the beach cottage of one of Jess’s coworkers. As soon as the bike shop in Ludington opened, Jess called to ask about ordering a tire. The owner was very helpful and said he could order the tire, but it would cost $50 to overnight it whereas it would be free if we could wait an extra day. We had been intending to spend one night with Rick and Noreen in Ludington and then keep going, but we decided to stay an extra day so we could wait for the tire.

Theme: Lots of small towns without food.

A closed food establishment on our route

For some reason, today’s route passed through lots of small towns that did not have any food. We did mistakenly pass one restaurant early in the day thinking there would be other options for food and then didn’t find any more after that. There was a gas station/convenience store, but Jess didn’t want to try to make a meal out of snack food. We’ve had to rely on gas stations for dinner before, but that works better when we’re planning to cook something as suddenly cans of soup or chili become reasonable options. Since we weren’t planning to cook lunch, it would have looked more like a bag of chips and a snickers bar.

Highlight: Lunch at Doc’s Sauble River Inn which had good food and a fun craft beer selection.

With the help of Google Maps, we finally abandoned the route in search of lunch which we found at Doc’s Sauble River Inn. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but the food was good and the beer fridge had a wide selection of local craft beers. Jess tried a Kombucha IPA which was very interesting.

Doc’s Sauble River Inn with a funny sign outside

Overnight: We arrived at Rick and Noreen’s beach cottage around 5pm and spent the evening chatting on the back porch and eating delicious food.

Day 34 – 0 miles – Ludington, MI – Rest day #4

Theme: Hanging out at the beach cottage

Beach cottage in Ludington, MI

We spent almost the entire day at the beach cottage. Eric was trying to get some work done for his upcoming presentation. Jess went out with Rick and Noreen to run some errands, including picking up a new gas canister for our camping stove and stopping in at the bike shop to find out when the new tire would be coming in the next day. In the evening, Rick and Noreen had a golf outing to attend, so we borrowed a car and drove into Ludington for dinner.

After dinner, we came back to the cottage and went for a walk to the beach to see the sunset.

Highlight: Beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan

Sunset over Lake Michigan

Overnight: Rick and Noreen’s beach cottage

Day 35 – 29.6 miles – Ludington, MI to Manistee, MI

Rick was heading back to St. Louis today, so we had planned to leave relatively early this morning. However, we still had to deal with getting Jess’s tire replaced. Yesterday Jess had noticed that the ‘S’ bulge now had a slight gash in it, and she was worried about riding it even the three miles to the bike shop. Rick and Noreen offered she could borrow the car again and just take the wheel to the bike shop, have the tire swapped, and come back. When Jess went out to take the front tire off the bike, she discovered the rear tire was entirely flat!

Front tire with bulge, obvious wear, and small gash

Theme: Murphy’s law of bicycle touring definitely applies to Jess’s bike. 

The bike shop errand was quick and easy. The new tire was installed and they checked to make sure there wasn’t anything else wrong with the wheel that could have been causing the ‘S’ bulges to form. At this point the front tire was thoroughly worn to the point where the threads were starting to come apart, and the bike shop confirmed the tire was just weak.

Inside of Jess’s front tire which seemed to be disintegrating

When Jess returned, we had to take apart the rear tire and see what was causing the flat. There was a puncture in the tube that appeared to have been caused by a spoke hole. Jess’s rim tape was askew and the tube must have gotten pinched. We patched that tube and then put in the tube we had previously patched twice. Eric was concerned about putting a new tube in only to have it pierced again. This time we were careful about making sure the rim tape was properly positioned. Finally we had to get the tire properly seated in the rim and pump it up. To go with the theme of Jess’s bike, her wheels could support tubeless tires, which means it is difficult to get the tires to sit properly. There is a handy guideline around the tire that should be visible all the way around when it is positioned correctly. Despite having done this what feels like a hundred times now, it is still a process of trial and error to get the tire to pop into the right place so the guideline is showing. Jess tried all sorts of tricks she found online until it finally snapped into place, and she has no idea which one actually worked.

A now-familiar position for Jess’s Space Horse

With Jess’s bike finally functioning again, we set off around 2pm. It was the latest departure so far, but we still managed almost 30 miles to Manistee.

We had thought we might take the Badger ferry across Lake Michigan from Ludington, but it turns out we are WAY ahead of schedule (maybe as much as two weeks) and have plenty of extra time to go up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and across. This adds approximately 200 miles and should eat up a few of our extra days.

Highlight: Crazy clouds on the horizon over Lake Michigan

Awesome rain clouds over Lake Michigan

Overnight:  We camped at Orchard Beach State Park which was right on the shore of Lake Michigan. At the site next to us, a woman showed up with five kids and a dog in tow and set about setting up two tents. At first we thought this was going to make for a crazy evening, but while the kids did race around on their bicycles, they were relatively calm. The dad showed up later in the evening and we started talking to the parents, Cassie and Josh, while admiring the rain clouds.

Camping at Orchard Beach State Park

There was a fast-moving storm off the coast that had these intense-looking clouds and we could see the streams of rain coming down. The storm moved right past us without hitting us and gave way to a spectacular sunset. One of the kids later brought us a bowl of our first Michigan cherries. When it got dark, Cassie and Josh invited us to their campfire to chat for a while. We had a very lovely evening.

Sunset over Lake Michigan

With two rest days, week 5 was a lower-mileage week, but we managed a 50.4-mile average each day we were biking keeping our average (36 miles) above our 30-miles-per-day goal once the rest days were factored in. Week 5 was about as exciting as week 4 in terms of bicycle challenges with two ‘S’ bulges, one flat, a new rear break, not one but two separate visits to bike shops for tire replacements, and some electronic repairs. It definitely felt like a continuation of the one-thing-after-another chain of events Jess’s bike has experienced. Meanwhile, Eric’s bike is just chugging along. We are starting to wonder if we should be paying more attention to his, but it has given no indication of having any issues.

Average cost of week 5: $90.10 – This was an expensive week given two sets of bicycle parts/repairs, and an Airbnb plus groceries, which resulted in three days above $100. However, we still managed to keep the week below $100.

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