Biking Across the U.S (hopefully)
Kalamazoo - south haven - Zeeland 74
From Kalamazoo I was pretty set on doing a shorter 50 mile day, and shooting straight to my next destination - Holland, MI. Somehow though, the woman's words a couple days ago of 'always go to the lakes' stuck out in my mind... so I felt like I had to hit a small town more south on the Lake Michigan shore called South Haven. This would give me more precious time along the shore, and in the end what's a couple handful of miles? Plus there was a sweet trail that led directly from Kzoo to the shore. Riding along the trail I totally misjudged the amount of rain that fell while I was soundly sleeping in the Kalamazoo crack den. Coming to a stop for a road crossing I completely misjudged a mud puddle and slide about 10 feet through it on my shoulder. Burned a hole in my pannier, frame bag, and elbow. But, the extra miles and slight stumble were totally worth it for the shoreline vista AND the tailwind I got for the next 30ish miles. Crashed with a dude named Jonathan who has done more than 17,000 miles of bike touring across the U.S. Pretty awesome to take a break and hear his stories. When he caught a glimpse of my bike I apologized that it's not really a traditional touring bike, and not a great bike in general. 'Dude' he said 'it's perfect - it's the bike that's going to take you across the country'. Knock on wood for that one... but I guess any bike is perfect if it does what it's supposed to.
1 Comment
John Soper
7/1/2017 05:29:37 am
Of course, it has to be the perfect bike for you! Ride on... with all our love.
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AuthorHey I'm Alex Soper, a dude living in Durham, NC. Shoot me an email if you want [email protected] ArchivesCategories |