ODRAM – One Day Ride Across Michigan

[SilverSpring]

Geoff,

My Dad, in Kalamazoo, sent me a flier about this and it seems like it’d be a fun, and probably scenic, challenge. Unfortunately, I’ve got too many family vacation things bumping up right at that time. Good luck!

[consularrider]

Can’t do it this year, but maybe I can put it on may calendar for and R&R in 2015 or 2016. Thanks for the heads up.

[tdebruyn]

I signed up a while back. I’m riding, but will suffer as I have not been able to ride as much as I wanted. I just moved this past month, that and the kids sports schedules have put my way behind. Hoping to cram in long rides in the next few weekends.

[Geoff]

@tdebruyn 89708 wrote:

I signed up a while back. I’m riding, but will suffer as I have not been able to ride as much as I wanted. I just moved this past month, that and the kids sports schedules have put my way behind. Hoping to cram in long rides in the next few weekends.

Great! Glad to hear someone else plans to take part.

I’m planning to ride with my brother, who still lives in Michigan, but I’m not sure he’ll really be ready. He did it once before, so he knows what is involved, but he doesn’t seem to be training very hard. Hope he surprises me, I would like us to ride together.

[tdebruyn]

@Geoff 89712 wrote:

Great! Glad to hear someone else plans to take part.

I’m planning to ride with my brother, who still lives in Michigan, but I’m not sure he’ll really be ready. He did it once before, so he knows what is involved, but he doesn’t seem to be training very hard. Hope he surprises me, I would like us to ride together.

Did your brother mention anything about staying in Bay City? We’re staying in Norton Shores Friday night w/ my sister-in-law. My wife & kids are driving across state and meeting me in Bay City Saturday, but we’re unsure where to stay. We’re driving up north the next day to take in the mighty mac and go over to Mackinaw Island. I’ve looked up a few places in Bay City, but not sure how decent they are.

[Geoff]

@tdebruyn 91062 wrote:

Did your brother mention anything about staying in Bay City? We’re staying in Norton Shores Friday night w/ my sister-in-law. My wife & kids are driving across state and meeting me in Bay City Saturday, but we’re unsure where to stay. We’re driving up north the next day to take in the mighty mac and go over to Mackinaw Island. I’ve looked up a few places in Bay City, but not sure how decent they are.

No, after the ride we’ll head down to Port Huron, near where we grew up and where he still lives.

[creadinger]

@Geoff 89712 wrote:

Great! Glad to hear someone else plans to take part.

I’m planning to ride with my brother, who still lives in Michigan, but I’m not sure he’ll really be ready. He did it once before, so he knows what is involved, but he doesn’t seem to be training very hard. Hope he surprises me, I would like us to ride together.

Is he doing intense strength training or kettle bell workouts?

Last summer I did a 125 mile ride with a friend who had never ridden more than 50 miles 2 weeks before the event, and 80 miles 1 week before the event. Despite the fact that I had done a 188 miler 2 months prior, he kicked my ass. Especially on the headwind bits, and on the last 20 miles where I struggled to keep up. The only thing I can attribute it to was he did lots of intense weight lifting/kettle-bell style workouts and I was WEAK.

Hey, thanks for the heads up on a new ride. I like traveling to do these types of things to see other parts of the country. I’ll try to keep this in my mind for the future. It’s not expensive either… unlike a big charity ride like PanMass.

[Geoff]

@creadinger 91355 wrote:

Is he doing intense strength training or kettle bell workouts?

Last summer I did a 125 mile ride with a friend who had never ridden more than 50 miles 2 weeks before the event, and 80 miles 1 week before the event. Despite the fact that I had done a 188 miler 2 months prior, he kicked my ass. Especially on the headwind bits, and on the last 20 miles where I struggled to keep up. The only thing I can attribute it to was he did lots of intense weight lifting/kettle-bell style workouts and I was WEAK.

My brother, Chris, does do a lot of weight training. In fact, he is thinking of entering some power-lifting competitions after we get ODRAM behind us. Also, he’ll be riding a recumbent, which should help.

I have been worried about his training especially because he is quite a bit overweight. When I asked a while back how training was going, he just joked and dodged the question. But I was encouraged last week; he sounded much more serious and had just done a 98 mile ride.

[Geoff]

With only 350 or so riders, this was a “small” ride, and I saw many of the same people all day. The lunch stop and two rest stops were simple but well done. The route, going through farms and small towns, had little traffic. The steepest hills were maybe 3-4%, and they were short (though some 1-2% grades went on for a ways).

The weather was mostly good. High of 80 degrees, low humidity compared to DC. But the wind! They said the winds are “generally out of the west”, but on this particular day they were out of the east. 140+ miles of headwind gets tiresome after a while. A good number of people didn’t make it all the way.

It was a good ride and I’m glad to have done it, but next year I’ll stay closer to home.

[tdebruyn]

@Geoff 92504 wrote:

With only 350 or so riders, this was a “small” ride, and I saw many of the same people all day. The lunch stop and two rest stops were simple but well done. The route, going through farms and small towns, had little traffic. The steepest hills were maybe 3-4%, and they were short (though some 1-2% grades went on for a ways).

The weather was mostly good. High of 80 degrees, low humidity compared to DC. But the wind! They said the winds are “generally out of the west”, but on this particular day they were out of the east. 140+ miles of headwind gets tiresome after a while. A good number of people didn’t make it all the way.

It was a good ride and I’m glad to have done it, but next year I’ll stay closer to home.

Geoff,
Glad to hear you finished. I heard the same at the last rest stop about several people bailing and loading their bikes on SAG vehicles. I thought the section between lunch and the last stop was the toughest mentally. There really wasn’t a single place to escape the wind and no where to stop to refuel fluids. I took off shortly after 6:30 and headed out at an easy pace. I was passed within a few miles by a group of 6 riders. Three of them from a team all dressed in green out of southern Indiana. I rode with them until lunch. I’m not sure if I went a little too hard riding with them or if the fact that I was by myself for a stretch after lunch, but it was definitely slower after lunch. Could have also been the amount of food I at at lunch. The 3rd stop couldn’t have come at a better time. I was out of water and needed a break from the wind. After that last stop I felt refreshed and a group of 3 of us road together until just about the finish. Total time was something like 10hrs and 7min. I averaged 17.5mph which is way better than I anticipated after my W&OD trail ride the week before. Like you said, minus the wind, the weather was great. The morning was nearly perfect, 60’s and no wind. I really didn’t notice the wind until after lunch when the course was “downhill”. I’ll be back next year with a buddy from the area and I think I’ve convinced by brother to do it.

[Geoff]

Just a couple more things I should mention.
My brother Chris did start the ride with me, as did our cousin Dennis. I pulled out ahead on the first hills; I waited for a bit, but eventually learned that they had missed a turn and were waaaay off course. Chris dropped out with a pulled hamstring and Dennis, who hadn’t been certain he was even going to do the ride, dropped out after 50 miles.

The best part of the trip was actually a couple days later in Port Huron. My wife and son and I were walking along the St. Clair river and I happened to recognize a passing jogger. We ran cross country together in high school and did a little biking. It must have been over 35 years since I last saw him, but it sure was nice to chat for a while.

[Author]

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