July 18, 2021
Marquette - Michigamme, MI
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 1 | Link |
In honor of today's climbing (advertised as almost 2,000 feet!), I decided to get out the door early. We had two routing choices today. The first one had a back road to a paved bike path and would cover 16 miles before getting on Highway 41. The second choice is 41 the whole way.
I ended up going for the easy routing. End of story for Jacinto was that he took the bike path from town for about 18 miles. He said the surface varied from paved, to good packed sand/fine gravel, to unrideable hike a bike dirt. After the walking section, he got on the road as fast as he could.
Highway 41 continued to have an excellent shoulder, although trash started to show up and also rubble on the shoulder. It's Sunday, traffic picked up as the day went on. Just the past couple of days we've been seeing more motorcycles and motorhomes. Red pick up trucks are still notable in number.
I saw one random double logging truck today. I don't know where the semi trucks are, but they aren't traveling these roads.
At the top of the climb, I saw a brightly painted veteran's center with a helicopter displayed. I stopped for a photo and the veteran who happened to be mowing the lawn, stopped to chat. He said the helicopter was flown by a local member, they have his uniform, logs, and medals on display inside. The helicopter is owned by the federal government.
My very good shoulder turned into a curbed sidewalk in Ishpeming. That wasn't good as I had to stop and bump my bicycle up and down the curb. Some curbs were ridable, but with a bump. My back was starting to dislike sidewalk riding. I looked at the four lanes of traffic. It wasn't too busy. I moved to the road way. The few cars moved on around. Wait, here comes a big clump of cars. I'd better get back on the sidewalk. Happily, I was through town rather quickly.
Today there were more short climbs and descents. I always stayed in the middle chain ring. I was sure to take more breaks to prevent hot foot. We had finally opened the jar of pickled eggs. I had two along for a snack. I've discovered I'm not a pickled egg fan. But, we are eating them. Jacinto has been carrying them for 10 days!
I didn't seem to be moving quickly. I can climb, but not speedily. It took me one hour to go 5.5 miles. My average moving speed was 8.8 mph. It's my first day averaging less than 10 mph. Jacinto averaged 10.8 mph, but he points out he walked a piece.
In Champion, I saw a potty in front of an unmarked, small, red brick building. It didn't look private and was well placed for me. When I exited, a man in a kilt asked me what I was doing? At this moment? Peeing. Or in general? We ended up having an extended conversation. David has traveled extensively, was familiar with our area of Colorado and lived in Arizona for six years. After he told me how much snow this area has (215" a year!) - I told him I would have never left Arizona! David told me about his plowing jobs and how he has to shovel the snow off of roofs so they don't collapse. He shared a few photos, included below.
I called Jacinto to see where he was. He had been moving slowly on the bike path. Now he was on the pavement and catching up. I told him of my plans to stop at the grocery in Michigamme before moving on to our motel. He said to buy only what I wanted, he would stop and buy what he wanted. OK. I pointed out that we needed to eat breakfast and that David assured me it would be a tough day with, "Oh, boy - there's a lot of big hills between here and there!"
I sure wasn't getting anywhere quickly for such a short day. We were supposed to have a tailwind, but it seemed to be more of a mild headwind. Temperatures were supposed to warm up into the low 80's. The sky was gray. I think the forest fire smoke has finally caught up to us. I've been coughing yesterday and today. That's the only reason I can think of. I don't typically cough and don't have any other symptoms of illness.
I saw the turn for Michigamme. I doubted myself about the placement of the store, but I was sure it was on the main road. I continued. There it is - a small convenience store, packed with vehicles waiting for the two pumps. I stopped, turned off my lights, took off my helmet, etc. I was combing my hair when a lady came out and asked the usual questions. She was from Green Bay and was quite impressed with our trip. I told her that we were headed towards Green Bay. She assured me we would like the area and the wind doesn't blow too much there. I had mentioned the video Scott showed me of the trees bent over.
I headed into the store. They had a little of everything, even fresh produce and meat. I wanted apples, but would have to buy a bag. I settled for two bananas. Blueberries. Milk. Yogurt. Peanuts. A beef stick (can you believe I'm stooping that far?). My hands were full by the time I got to the counter.
I had four more miles to our motel, Three Lakes Motel. According to AD Carson, it is MON (Middle Of Nowhere) - it's my favorite kind of place! I love no stoplight towns. Although this can hardly qualify as a town. It's a motel and a bar/grill. There's another motel on down the road and I think another place to eat.
The ladies who checked me in were very nice and I had another extended chat about COVID and regulations. They said their township had one of the lowest rates in the state and that they were fortunate their motel opened direct to the outside. Motels that had interior doors had a whole different set of protocols to follow.
I went back to the room.. The office lady was doubltful that our bikes would fit inside, although we were welcome to keep them in. Or, we could put the bikes in the garage. Plenty of room! I have my bike inside and we will put his in before bed. Right now it’s hold his drying clothes.
Jacinto had stopped at a BBQ truck in Michigamme and bought a pound of brisket and sides. That was for me. So nice! But aren’t we going to dinner? I won’t need dinner. It was excellent. He made a good choice stopping. I suggested we could share it and that would be dinner. But Jacinto likes the activity of going to eat.
He went next door to get a menu and ask what time they close. It had burgers and sandwiches. It’s a good thing I had brisket! One of the sides was grits, I think they were fixed with cheese and other add ins. They were good.
We talked about our days. Jacinto had another flat tire. He’s very frustrated. None of these flats are on the tread side, but they keep moving around on the spoke side or the side walls. I told him because they move around, I think he’s just having bad luck. Although the placement is odd.
We went next door to eat. I told Jacinto I was going for the company as I had eaten the brisket. I ended up with a bowl of broccoli cheese soup. Jacinto had a basket of fish and chips. This was the place with all of the recommendations for cheesecake. I tried a piece of key lime. It was tasty, but not enough lime flavor. Jacinto had two $2. modelo beers. He was way happy with the price, but noted that the beers expired in March. I didn’t know beer expired. He said they tasted fine and too bad Oren wasn’t here to have a couple at that price.
I asked if he was going to patch his flat and look just where on the tube the flat was. No. He didn’t want to think about it.
Everyone here is talking about the heat. It was 85 today. They had fans going in the bar and we also have a fan in the room. I’m a wuzzy for both heat and humidity, but I did okay today. The motel ladies agreed with David that there were a lot of stiff climbs tomorrow. It looks like a downhill day to me. I guess we will be out early anyway because motel check out is 10 AM. I really like this little place. I think we are the only customers. The ladies are nice and the room has some thoughtful touches, such as the phone holder in the bathroom. Plus, they gave me some of their private ice supply!
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
e my bike insdie and Jacinto is going to put his
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 791 miles (1,273 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 6 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
3 years ago
Jacinto is all over that one! We have checked the map - it is 25.3 miles from here. Jacinto says I had cheesecake tonight, so a cinnamon roll sounds great tomorrow.
Here's a referral that we are actually going to follow through on. Thank you!
3 years ago