A Weekend of Riding in Leelanau

What a fantastic weekend. We left early Friday morning ready to go north to Leelanau County. ONly 4.5hrs later, we arrived at our little motel a few miles from d-town Glen Arbor(can you say no night life). After indulging in a few bagels, we headed out to do part of the TDL race loop around Maple City, Empire, Glen Haven and Glen Arbor. I ended up hitting 2 of the KOM's and then a turnoff to Tower road to ride the 20% grade. All of the route was rideable in the big ring except for Tower Rd. It was a great ride with some awesome views of both Glen Lakes, the Sand Dunes, and cool small towns in-between. There were a few fun sweeping downhills that were easy to hit 45mph with some fun no-braking corners!

Saturday was race day in Leelanau County. I went out and watched the Tour de Leelanau at 4 different spots. First was about 25 miles in at Fredrickson Rd which had a good steep climb for 1/3 of a mile or so. From there it was over to Tower Rd. to watch the guys and gals climb the 20% grade. That was a good site to see struggling and progressing. Then it was off to M-22 and Carlson Rd where we saw the lead guy riding for Priority Health come by 3:00 ahead of everyone else. There was also a small group of 4 off the front a couple of minutes before the peleton came sweeping through the turn. Following that sighting, we drove a mile down the road to see them returning with 6 miles to go. There were no marshalls or cops, so the 10minute car threw me and another person an orange vest and had us stop traffic and guide the racers left. It was fun watching how the group really split up by then. It turned out to be a gorgeous day and a fun day of watching cycling. After the race we went into Leland's "fish-town" ad cruised around for a while before heading off to the Dunes to run around.

Sunday was the Leelanau Harvest Tour. All of the people we were with decided on the 67 miler. There is no way I can turn down a hundie, so I went off solo. It was another good scenic ride-some of which we dd a few days prior. At the 52.5 mile mark, I had an average of 21.5 and was feeling pretty good overall. From that stop at Lake Leelanau, the route headed up into Northport and rode by Lk. MI for a while. The wind really picked up there and was a steady 15-25mph the whole way back. At mile 83, I joined up with a group of 8, eventually splitting it up a few iles down the road. I took a few 10 minute pulls and helped the guys out in the wind. At the end of the ride, I had and average of 20.6 and feeling good. I ended up getting back just minutes after evryone else, so it all worked out. The CCCC put on a good route, only confusing me on the route a minimal amount of times. I was dissapointed that there was only 3500ish feet of climbing, but I guess the wind made up for it.

This week I am tapering for the Addison race after 4 good solid weeks of XC training. I went to PT for me knee after school, put on some new rubber on the Yeti along with grips, and took a 35 minute ride on the trainer while studying to make me smarter and flush the lactic acid out.

Blogger is being lame. I actually have some good pics to put up but it's not working for me. I will get them up tommorrow. I have one of the TDL here with this guy solo off the front.