As the Cycle of Hope comes to an end, I would like to say that though I have blathered on for almost two weeks, to the annoyance of some, about the ride, it isn’t really about the ride.
Category Archives: Cycle of Hope 2015
Big Falls to Little Falls
I wonder if the people who planned this trip had a bit of a sense of humor when they picked out our final destination for the ride. Twelve days ago, we set out from Niagara Falls, not the tallest waterfalls in the world, but the one which has the largest flow rate of any waterfall in the world. Today, we finish at Little Falls, Minnesota. Big Falls to Little Falls.
Part Boot Camp – Part Holiday
So what does the typical Cycle of Hope day look like?
The Slow Road
We have been very lucky to experience a ride that has taken advantage of some of the most dramatic waterways in North America. We have ridden on the shores of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. We ferried across Lake Michigan on the S.S. Badger. Today, we followed the Mississippi River on the Great River Road. It is a scenic byway that follows the Mississippi from its headwaters in Minnesota until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico in New Orleans. It is 3000 miles long and touches on 10 states. (Details are available at Great River Road).
Don’t Tell Anyone But
We have been at this for over a week now, having left on Monday, July 6, with one day off this past Saturday. I have to admit that the fatigue from riding lots and lots of miles every day is finally setting in.
97 F
Here’s all you need to know about today. Hilly. Windy. 148 kilometers. 97 degrees Fahrenheit.
Waubun? Waupun? Wisconsin
Here’s the story about tonight’s rest stop. Waupun was to be called Waubun, meaning “dawn of day” in Ojibwa, but someone working for the State of Wisconsin made a spelling error and the town never bothered to change it. (I can empathize with this poor guy. As I was writing this post, I had to keep checking the spelling of the city name, only to find that I actually spelled it incorrectly.) Every place has its own little peculiarity and that is it for Waubun/Waupun.
Sailing the S.S. Badger
Every year on the Cycle of Hope, we will get one day off in two weeks, a reprieve from riding. Usually, our day-off falls on a Sunday, but this year, on Saturday we reached the shore of Lake Michigan and the organizers have found a creative way for us to cross the lake and enjoy a day-off. Today, we were lucky enough to ride on a floating entry in the National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP), the S.S. Badger. The NRHP is the United States government’s official list of “districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation.” There are more than 1 million such registrants in the NRHP, but less than 100 of them are ships or boats, and we are lucky to have spent our morning on one of these ships as we cross Lake Michigan.
A Century Day
Leaving Mt. Pleasant this morning, we put in our longest day yet, arriving in Ludington on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, after a 185 kilometer ride.
Heading Stateside
Day 4 – Sarnia, Ontario to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Today, we say goodbye to Canada, as we leave Sarnia and head west into Michigan.
Well Spoke'n 