Day 26. Short and sweet

9/19/2025 Friday

Byron Center to Holland MI

Stats: Miles: 23 AIS: 2:05. Speed: 11.1 mph. Elev. 413 ft

Edit: Greater Grand Rapids has 1.1 million people! No wonder it was so challenging traffic-wise. And we were just in the south half. I’ve added a couple of maps so you can see all the big trails in Grand Rapids and the big blank donut hole we had to navigate yesterday.

Exiting out of Bryan Center was easy today. We quickly got on a rail trail then onto another one that took us out in the farm fields and gentrified homes in the country. We quickly arrived in Zeeland. Two reason to stop in Zeeland… 1 Bike shop for chamois butter and 2. New cycling shorts for me! Quick update: somehow yesterday I lost my cycling shorts I “ thought” I had attached to my rear pannier. Much to my surprise when we got to our campground my shorts were missing! How the hell did that happen??!! I needed another pair… one to wash, one to wear is my rule. Someone out riding (wherever they fell off) is going to be so perplexed. Just imagine their thoughts?

Zeeland was a pretty cute Main St. The Jr High had just dismissed as we arrived (10:30am). It’s literally downtown. The junior high kids were teeming in their favorite downtown eateries and stores. They were so cool and confident like they knew everyone and exactly which places they wanted to go into and out of. The Burger Diner was completely filled with preteens…. every single table and the lunch counter too! It was quite a scene. Groups of 3, 4 , 6. All kinds of clothes and fashions… and the HUGE backpacks. I was too busy watching to take the photos … sorry.

Short hop from Zeeland to Holland. We took bike paths and sidewalks to get to our hotel for the night. Early checkin at 1pm. Laundry was done by 3 and we took an Uber the 3 mikes to downtown Holland. Friday afternoon and another warm and sunny day. Holland is much bigger..35,000. They also have improved their downtown with big wide sidewalks, outdoor dining for their restaurants and a smaller two lane road down the center.

We found an authentic Irish pub/restaurant. Had a Guiness (on tap) and good meal in the outside patio and watched how busy it was. Seems like Holland Friday nights is a low key parade of old sports cars down 8th St. It was fun to see everyone outside tonight.

We also stopped earlier at a brewery that opened cans of beer by taking the whole lid off. It was a nice way to drink out of the can. Took a photo of the opener gadget they used,

That was it for Holland for us. We will see the northern part of it tomorrow on our way north. We are headed to Muskegon tomorrow night.

Things I notice…

There was an older gentleman riding with his wife in the downtown area. He had a helmet with LED flashing headlight strip on the front and flashing red lights on the back…. but… he was talking to his wife through a Bluetooth microphone on his helmet strap. He said it’s a motorcycle gadget. Made by Sena. I might have to check that out. It’s hard for us to hear each other…. Harder and harder… go figure.