Pedal On and On...: Day 38 - Ridding the Flats

Mt. Pleasant, MI to Birch Run

The weather is still with us, cool in the low 60's with partly overcast skies in the morning and warmed up to the low 80's by early afternoon. The county and the route that we are traveling is becoming fairly flat, we only had 800 feet of climbing today at it will remain flat until we get closer to the east coast. This is a good thing if we have tail winds, but it makes ridding difficult if we ride into a head wind like we did today. Today's ride was 35 miles shorter than yesterday, but due to the headwinds it was a tougher day on the bike. Although there are no hills to climb, there are also no downhills to cost on, so you end up pedaling a lot more. We continue to road through more farm land with corn, wheat, soybeans, and a few other crops. We also road through more woodland areas, but not as dense as the past couple of days. We are also ridding through more local neighborhoods and small towns. The days of the endless stretches of roadway are behind us and the Atlantic Ocean is in front of us.

The day after day of cycling is starting to take it's toll on my knee. It usually takes 20 to 30 miles of slow ridding for my knee to warm up where ridding is comfortable and I can pick up speed and apply more pressure to my pedal stroke. Yesterday and especially today, my knee was in constant discomfort all day and I could not find a comfortable position to ride in. Hopefully this will only be temporary as we have 11 more ridding days to go.

Tomorrow we have a 87 mile ride to Port Huron, MI and on Friday we ride into Canada.

Distance: 75 miles
Time: 5.5 hr
Elevation Gain: 801 ft

Link to My GPS Route