8/31/2025. Sunday
Weekly Stats (6 days): Total miles: 258. AIS: 22:45 Speed avg: 11.3 mph. Total Elev: 2618 ft.
4 friendly honks … defined by a quick toot-toot.
0 Asshole drivers: This is actually not surprising because we had such great shoulders on the roads all week. I call them “everybody’s happy” shoulders.
To be honest we knew that cycling the perimeter up Lake Michigan and over the top in the UP would be busier with fewer backroads options and the fact that it all landed on Labor Day weekend made it all busier… it is what it is. We were fine and travelled it safely. I wanted to see the west side and go into the UP, if only a small part of it. It would be worth going the shoreline of Lake Superior on another trip… maybe into Ontario. After this weekend we head into “the mitten” lower peninsula and can free ourselves of busy highways.
It’s Labor Day weekend Sunday. There are not alot of breakfast cafes and the one closest to us is closed Sundays… even on the holiday but the Wild Blueberry Muffin up the hill was teeming with people (like us) willing to wait 45 minutes for a seat. It was a good choice. Plus we picked up a lemon blueberry cake and blueberry muffin for breakfast tomorrow. We plan to catch an early ferry (7:30am) over to Mackinac Island.
I have been to Mackinac Island about 47 years ago with Paul. We took a car trip to the east coast from Montana. We did a quick tour of the hotel and saw the island. Jim and I will pretty much do the same thing tomorrow and then continue on another ferry to Mackinaw City. Note: Paul says they are all pronounced the same whether it ends in a naw or mac… it’s all pronounced “Mack-in-naw”. I might have to consult my sister-in-law yooper Linda. She knows how to pronounce all the places!
Paul is going to take the quick ferry straight to Mackinaw City because his e-bike is NOT allowed on the island. No motors of any kind on the island. I do think there is a handicapped allowance. Even though Paul’s bike is not easily recognized as an e-bike, it’s not worth the fine or getting turned back. He’s going to go across and he’ll have to kill some time waiting for us. He mentioned he might join the Bridge Walk for a couple of miles.
The Mackinac Bridge Walk…
Labor Day Monday is famous for thousands of people walking the Mackinac Bridge…5 miles across. Any or all of it, round trip if you like. The bridge is closed from 6:30am to 12pm. We are expecting it to get very crowded in town today. The governor will be leading the walk at 7am start. They’ve been doing this walk for 67 years!!!
Training for Long Distance Adventures
As a rule I do not specifically train for these multiple day touring rides. I’ve been out on my bike a few times early in the summer but not much else. We just get in shape as we ride. Now that our rides are usually less than 50miles/day (I like about 40 miles/day) it doesn’t take but a few days to get accustomed to the saddle and effort.
There was a day when we went on multi day (6-7 day) group supported rides with hundred of riders that I would train hard for daily efforts of 70-90 miles with mountain passes and lots of climbing. Now we are happier on our own routes and timeframes. And we also have more time for these adventures… the pleasure of retirement and good health.
Fun Mascot Fact: the mascot for Detroit Tigers is “Paws”…to anyone in the Lemire family pay attention… you might be playing a game where you need to know mascot names. Because Paul was wearing this hat he had other Tiger fans ask if they’d won today.
French influence: it becomes quickly apparent the French influence in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Most of the towns and places have French names. Or they are Native Americans names adapted to the French language. Have you noticed?
What is a Michigan Troll? The people who live in the UP “yoopers” “the upper hand” refer to the people who live south of or “below” the Mackinac Bridge as Trolls🤣.
Upper Hand vs The Mitten. If you’ve ever visited with a Michigander and ask where they live they always put their right hand up, fingers together and thumb opened, palm facing you … then point on their palm about where their town is. Then the upper peninsula people take their left hand and put it above “the mitten” palm going lateral above the fingertips and touching fingertips.
Today’s Highlights
I took care of the laundry early this morning at the local laundromat a few minutes away about 8:30am. No one was there…as I figured. We went to breakfast while all our clothes were drying. Worked out pretty well.
Walked around the community today. There were a couple of live bands playing this afternoon. They have a social district law that you can have an open container from 11am-11pm. So we bought a beer and sat across the street from the music overlooking the bay before dinner. Nice sunny warm day for our layover.
Tomorrow is an early ferry departure to the next week of bicycling in the lower peninsula.
cinnicrew 