Day 49 -- Kalamazoo, MI

Michigan is great—we had rumble strips for the first time since Nebraska! I’ve developed a new appreciation for clean asphalt roads with large shoulders and no debris since the start of this trip. It’s quite a relief after weeks of bad roads, rare shoulders, and aggressive drivers. We were able to pull a good pace today, averaging 21mph over 65 miles into Kalamazoo, Michigan. I really enjoyed my pace-line as well. I rode with a couple of old friends and others I rarely ride with. It was a nice change of pace, no pun intended.

After a smooth ride in, we spent an hour before our arrival into the city in a parking lot by a small lake. Since we were the first group in, we had time to lounge around and spend some time uploading pictures in a coffee shop across the street. Parents of past riders dropped by to give us a much-appreciated snack. Around 1 in the afternoon, we biked into Western Michigan University where the brothers of Theta Rho chapter greeted us with a Qdoba burrito lunch. We talked about their recent founding, shared countless stories from the road, and had a few good laughs. Afterwards, we left for lodging at a YMCA camp 15 miles out of the city. With the night off and nothing to do, it’s given me a lot of time to catch up on the blog entries.

PS. If you read yesterday’s blog entry—the icy hot challenge went great! Two of them were in my pace line and were screaming for the entirety of the first hour. One of them practically jumped off his bike to rub it off because he almost couldn’t take it anymore. He said it was one of the top 5 most painful experiences in his life.