Perry to Ortonville
Temps in the upper 90's predicted today, lots of hills and very heavy traffic. We all wanted an early start and were rockin' and rollin' by 6:44AM. The traffic is very heavy on this side of the state and the roads have been awful, they say worse is ahead of us today.
Jeff is riding with Kiersten. Hope they have a great ride.
He found someone to drive his van. I have heard many say this will probably be the most grueling day of the ride. We'll be relying on the Lord for our strength today, for sure. We have our Frogg Toggs wet down and packed in our pannier and will be very concious of resting and staying hydrated today. Tony doesn't sweat much, and having experienced a heat stroke many years ago in a race, he is more susceptible to another. I know many back home, will be praying for us.
Ortonville is in northern Oakland county and has a population of 1442. It was founded in 1848 by Amos Orton, who brought his wife and 2 children to the heavily wooded, rolling hills from upstate NY. His means of transportation for this trip were boat and oxcart. With an artesian spring nearby, a creek and many area lakes, Orton saw much potential here. He built a dam for his sawmill, across Kearsley Creek. in 1848 he built a small grist mill, which he expanded 8 years later. In 1856 this building was replaced by a larger one, which now houses the historical museum of Ortonville. Farmers brought their crops to the grist mill and the area grew. Soon there was a blacksmith shop, carriage maker, general store, stable and a saloon. Later the village added a hardware store, hotel, dress making shop, bakery drugstore and undertaker. The railroad brought even more growth and prosperity to the area.
Due to the heat today, our plan was to stay together until we knew that the other pair of riders was part of a group. This is not a day to be riding alone, between groups. Jeff and Kiesten were riding together, separate from the 4 of us.
Not sure what this building was, but it was in a shady spot and cool to look at.
After hearing what we would be facing today, we made hotel reservations at a hotel in Grand Blanc tonight. It's about 15 minutes from Ortonville. Ariann doesn't know it, but her Dad is going to show up tonight and surprise her. She thinks she won't see him until the end of the tour. Having never been away from him this long and is really missing him. She has been quite a trooper through all of this.
No complaining and whining and Kiersten has renamed her, "the girl with legs of iron." We are all so proud of her. She is pretty amazing, especially considering the fact that her steed has mountain bike tires on it. Those are what she wanted to ride on, even though we all told her it would make rider tougher. On the rough roads we have faced these last few days, she has been glad to have them.
It truly has been a joy to all of us to have Ariann along. Her uncle says ,"That girl is one tough cookie."
The morning air wasn't nearly as cool as it had been on other mornings. At about the 12 mile mark we had to ride around the Mt Holly Ski Area. The resort has about 18 trails for skiers and snowboarders of all levels. When I see the ski resorts in Mi, I think of how our son-in-law in WA would laugh at what we call a good ski run. Nonetheless we faced a big hill and many aggressive, impatient drivers were behind us. At last nights meeting PALM organizers had stressed the importance of single file riding today, and the riders were mindful of that. In many places the shoulders were so deteriorated, we had no choice but to ride on the road. This only held up traffic and infuriated the drivers more. Swearing and honking was common as we made our way along the road and over the hills. At one point a Fed-X driver wouldn't move over for Ariann, practically forcing her off the road. We heard later that he had actually did force some riders off the road. I'm guessing that many cyclist called him into Fed-X. He might be able to get by with driving that way with a small group of riders on the road, but not when there are hundreds of us strung out. I hope he was written up. He is on the roads enough to know that cyclist do have the same rights as cars.
There was a section of road in such bad shape, just past Fenton that we walked our trike. Even with that it rattled and shook everything. I dealt with a loose mirror for half the day, after that experience, because there was no safe place to pull over and tighten it. Even after I tightened it, it came loose again and again. I had to constantly move it back into a position that I could see the traffic behind me.
Shortly after the Fed-X experience, a truck pulling a boat, pulled across the road, honking and cussing. We couldn't figure out what was going on, since we really weren't in his way. About 10 fett past us he pulled in his driveway and stopped. This is what he had to say, "Sorry for my language back there ladies, but I probably just saved your life. Some idiot was going to pull around me and floor it, so I blocked him. He would have hit you for sure. But still I should have not cussed like that. Have a good ride today and try and stay safe. "
"Thanks, we sure appreciate it, wish there were more like you out there." and we continued on.
PALM is such a family ride, and these high traffic roads put all cyclist at risk. I'm guessing PALM will be a bit more conscientious about choosing the route next year. I hope and pray no one gets struck by a car today or tomorrow.
As always many pretty sights along the way.
As the heat of the day continued to build, we began to dread stop lights. The heat would radiate up from the pavement, plus off the cars, and since we are only 18 inches off the ground, it was hotter yet. It felt like we were in an oven. It wasn't even noon and Tammy's odometer, read out said it was 105 degrees. If we keep moving we at least get a breeze, even though the air is hot.
Tammy was looking pretty whipped on the verge of the bonk, so we decided to stop for lunch at about 11:30, an Italian restaurant was calling our names.. We had already ridden almost 35 miles, had only 12 to go. We had a delicious lunch, the best I've had in a long time. Our vegetarian lasagna was wonderful and so were the breadsticks.
When we came out of the air conditioning 45 miles later, the heat hit us like a heavy oppressive wall, pushing down around us as we got back into the saddle on Rollin. Tony and I had filled our water bottles with ice at the restaurant. Tammy and Ariann didn't, so they pulled off at the next water stop. Knowing they were with other riders, Tony and I rode ahead. When they didn't catch up with us, we stopped in the shade to wait, pulling out our frog Toggs and putting them to use. Many were pulled off in the shady spots resting SAG came by and gave us each a bottle of ice cold bottle water, some of which we poured over our heads. We had only been riding about 30 or 40 minutes and already we were so hot. I tried to call Tammy again, but got no answer, we figured they were riding and started on our way. Right after that she called. Ariann had stomach upset and was a bit disoriented, signs of over heating so Tammy made the wise choice to pull her from the ride. Thank the Lord, they were in an air conditioned Subway sandwich shop. We said we would send SAG back when we saw them. We didn't see any SAG's, we told other riders to tell them where Tammy and Ariann were, and decided we would ride onto the next water stop.
The heat was cooking us from below and beating down on us from above. Thankfully Tony was sweating. He was riding with his Frogg Togg on his head, or under his arms in an attempt to stay cool. I had mine around my neck, clipped with a clothespin. We were glad to find a convenience store to cool down in. We bought cold water to refill our bottles. A SAG, the first we had seen since Tammy's call, pulled up just as we were coming out of the store and Tammy and Ariann were in it. We were so glad to see them. They had waited quite awhile for SAG to come because so many riders needed help or were dropping from the ride. Ariann was still a bit shaky and pale, but praise the Lord, she was doing OK.
Margo and Ken were there and we had a little visit with them. They graciously offered to give us a ride to the hotel tonight if we need one. Their son Timothy who is around 10 or 11 had ridden the first 11 miles of the ride today and then they decided it was just too hot for him, so his sister came and picked him up. We have seen no kids on the ride this afternoon at all. Glad the parents are mindful of the heat for them.
As we struggled on, stopping to cool off in the shade often, we could feel the prayers of our people holding us up. Tony kept saying, "I have never sweat this much in my life."
"Honey, that is sweat from heaven. God is answering the prayers of those that are praying for us." I replied as we pedaled on.
The rest of day consisted of ride a bit, drink water, rest in what shade we could find, ride and rest, ride and rest. Others were doing the same thing, mascots were resting as well.
We slowed down when we came to sections like this, cherishing the cooler air of the shade.
We were constantly looking for water stops. As we crested the top of one hill, there was a man handing out bottles of cold water from a cooler. We thanked him and told he was an angel from heaven.
About 3/4 mile from the school we stopped and got an A &W root beer. That was a mistake. Our legs felt like they each weighed an extra 20 pounds as we climbed back on Rollin to finish the course. After 10 hours of riding, we finally made it in at 4:30 PM. As he stood up off the trike, Tony staggered and nearly fell down. Tammy ran over and doused him with the water she had left in her camelback. We parked Rollin and got into the air conditioned school as soon as we could. Tony laid on the floor, giving his body a chance to absorb the coolness beneath him. A bit later we headed to supper. So grateful we don't have to put up the tent or sleep in it tonight. Even after supper the heat was oppressive and the humidity was worse than it had been all day. The thought of sleeping in a real bed with AC tonight, kept myself, Tony, Tammy and Ariann going today. I don't think I could sleep in that hot tent tonight, if someone held a gun to my head. Well, I could probably do it, if the gun was loaded, but i am glad we don't have too. Ariann still has no idea her Dad is showing up.
Once again Jeff got our hero of the day award, (a smile and a thank you.) as he drove us to our air conditioned hotel.
We rode 47 miles today, 47 grueling miles. So grateful to the Lord for getting us through this day and for those who were holding us up in prayer. We found out later that at least 25 riders riders had sagged in today. Later, one of the volunteers, told me they were surprised there wasn't more. I think the riders really took to heart the advice about riding in the heat, and SAG did a great job monitoring the riders through out the day.
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