All week long I was looking forward to this ride. We got home late last night from a Jeep event which allowed me a grand total of 5 1/2 hours of sleep. When the alarm sounded at 5:00 I hit the ground running. I shoved down a couple of leftover pancakes, grabbed my frozen bottles of Tailwind and the Snake and headed out to ride to Macomb to join my family to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday.
I had a couple routes planned depending on gravel conditions and time. I basically abandoned the routes 20 minutes into the ride. I was feeling great and the weather was amazing. After I passed through Canton I hopped the side gate into Giant Goose Ranch and rolled through to the back gate. After our Jeep cruise last night someone needed to do some recon on one of our favorite closed roads. It was only a few miles out of the way so I figured I’d check it out. There was one monster oak down across the road. I traversed it and then proceeded to carry my bike through 1/8 Mike of mud.
There was so much to see! Amish kids walking down the gravel road, massive combines, amazing gravel. A tiny little town by the name of Bernadotte was just a little past my halfway point. I had been through many times by Jeep but the only other time I’d venture through on bike was with my late friend Tim Elliot. He and I passed through there and made an attempt at Hoke hill and we both failed spectacularly. He was overjoyed because he had never seen a hill I couldn’t clear. Well, today that hill was only about two miles off my original path so I decided to give it another go. As I approach to the hill I removed all the extra water bottles and gear from my bike. Now, this is no ordinary hill. This is a brutal gravel climb. Pictures as usual do not do it justice.
As the burning in my muscles increased so did my desire to not only complete this climb but to take the Kom on strava. As I would find out in a couple of hours after I uploaded my ride I completed both of those tasks successfully.
No, all of this area is part of a former military base. Everywhere you look there are remnants of buildings or other pieces of evidence remaining of its former days. The most notable feature remaining is the enormous quarter mile long concrete wall that made up the end of the rifle range. It has been tagged with graffiti over the years but it is the neatest thing to look at. I wrote another mile or two out of my way to go get a picture of it with my bike.
Once I managed to get a couple miles away from the rifle range the scenery changed. Everything remaining was farm Fields filled with corn and beans. The hills became smaller. I approached Macomb at around 10:15 and made it just in time for the beginning of my grandma’s birthday celebration. As I rolled into the backyard and sat down on the deck with my grandfather and uncle I looked over my ride. Both of my original routes had me writing somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 mi. Well I was feeling so well that by the time it was all said and done I managed 82 miles and still got there in time.
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