I was able to raise $655 for the ACS.
Thank you very much!!!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Donations
I will be delivering a check to the ACS today(tuesday, sept 13)
Thank you to everyone! Your donations, support and encouragement were very appreciated!
I will still accept late donations and pass those along as they come in, but everything that I have today will be dropped of this afternoon.
If you would like to mail me a check or hand deliver (check or cash) to me, then email me @ TheBret@gmail.com and I will give you information to make that happen.
---------------------------
Thank you for donating!
100% of donations go to the American Cancer Society.
Thank you to everyone! Your donations, support and encouragement were very appreciated!
I will still accept late donations and pass those along as they come in, but everything that I have today will be dropped of this afternoon.
If you would like to mail me a check or hand deliver (check or cash) to me, then email me @ TheBret@gmail.com and I will give you information to make that happen.
---------------------------
Thank you for donating!
100% of donations go to the American Cancer Society.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Final leg
I did it, i made it!
4 days 21hrs and 30 mins
I biked 723 miles for the total trip. (i had est. over 800, but that was just a guess)
It was a perfect end to the trip, as the weather was nice and cool and i didnt get rained on.
I cant explain the feeling of accomplishment that i have right now, its so good to be done!
Thanks again to everyone that offered words of encouragement, support and help.
Donations can still be made for another week or so. If you want to mail them to me, thats fine, just email me for an address to send it to. Ill be dropping a check off at the ACS after i get back from Germany.
There will be a few more updates over the next few days, and hopefully some pictures also!
- Bret
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Leg #5
I am now in Bay city. it was a very long day, but the weather was very nice. there was only some strong head winds to battle, but ill take that over the rain anyday!
i realized while i was riding today that a lot of the posts are not very positive. they seem dry and almost negative, and thats not what what i intended. i think the reason for this is that they are all written at the end of the day, when i am the most tired and sore. the days post should be written while i am on the road, flying down a hill, going much faster than the bike was ever intended to go, with cars flying by me head on, just inches from my handlebars. or maybe when i crest a hill, after fighting it all the way up, only to see a beautiful landscape in every direction. its times like that when the posts should be written, but they cant be. i just wanted everyone to know that its not all doom and gloom out here. i WANTED to do this trip, i wasnt forced to do it. i took vacation days from work to do this. i just wanted to clear up that not everything is bad, there have been plenty of great moments along the trip. its just not easy, thats all.
back to what happened today.
it was a slow start, i slept through 3 alarms, so i got going later than i wanted to. once i got going it took quite awhile to warm up, but then my right knee began to act up. it has given me problems before on the trip, but i can usually adjust to make it go away. this time it kept getting worse, so i had to pedal with one leg for a few miles. that didnt work out, so it was grind through the butt AND knee pain now.
it got to the point where i was going less than 10mph, and stopping about every mile or so. i finally got to a kmart and picked up two important items: aleve and a "granny cruiser special" bike seat. i took too many aleve, and swapped out the seat, the seat worked out great right away. the aleve kicked in about an hour later, and worked out better than i had hoped. it was then that i really kicked into high gear and covered some serious ground. i made it into pinconning with less than an hour of daylight left, but decided that i wasnt done yet. i pressed on another 20 miles and made it into bay city in the dark. it was 135 miles today, and a top speed of 39! (that hill was huge!)
i am looking forward to getting the last leg done tomorrow, as i need to be back so that i can depart for Germany on tuesday afternoon. not much time to recover, but ill be ok as long as i can get packed and sleep in my own bed.
im sure this trip has taken some years off my life, but it has been a very good experience overall. thanks again to everyone that is following, supporting or otherwise helping me get throgh this.
i will have a short post tomorrow after i finish, but hopefully a more detailed one to follow while i am overseas, maybe filling in some missing points from some of the previous days.
its very late now, and i still have some work to do tomorrow... not done yet.
time for bed.
i realized while i was riding today that a lot of the posts are not very positive. they seem dry and almost negative, and thats not what what i intended. i think the reason for this is that they are all written at the end of the day, when i am the most tired and sore. the days post should be written while i am on the road, flying down a hill, going much faster than the bike was ever intended to go, with cars flying by me head on, just inches from my handlebars. or maybe when i crest a hill, after fighting it all the way up, only to see a beautiful landscape in every direction. its times like that when the posts should be written, but they cant be. i just wanted everyone to know that its not all doom and gloom out here. i WANTED to do this trip, i wasnt forced to do it. i took vacation days from work to do this. i just wanted to clear up that not everything is bad, there have been plenty of great moments along the trip. its just not easy, thats all.
back to what happened today.
it was a slow start, i slept through 3 alarms, so i got going later than i wanted to. once i got going it took quite awhile to warm up, but then my right knee began to act up. it has given me problems before on the trip, but i can usually adjust to make it go away. this time it kept getting worse, so i had to pedal with one leg for a few miles. that didnt work out, so it was grind through the butt AND knee pain now.
it got to the point where i was going less than 10mph, and stopping about every mile or so. i finally got to a kmart and picked up two important items: aleve and a "granny cruiser special" bike seat. i took too many aleve, and swapped out the seat, the seat worked out great right away. the aleve kicked in about an hour later, and worked out better than i had hoped. it was then that i really kicked into high gear and covered some serious ground. i made it into pinconning with less than an hour of daylight left, but decided that i wasnt done yet. i pressed on another 20 miles and made it into bay city in the dark. it was 135 miles today, and a top speed of 39! (that hill was huge!)
i am looking forward to getting the last leg done tomorrow, as i need to be back so that i can depart for Germany on tuesday afternoon. not much time to recover, but ill be ok as long as i can get packed and sleep in my own bed.
im sure this trip has taken some years off my life, but it has been a very good experience overall. thanks again to everyone that is following, supporting or otherwise helping me get throgh this.
i will have a short post tomorrow after i finish, but hopefully a more detailed one to follow while i am overseas, maybe filling in some missing points from some of the previous days.
its very late now, and i still have some work to do tomorrow... not done yet.
time for bed.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Leg #4
today was rough. i traveled from traverse city north, on 31 up to petoskey. it rained the whole time, and didnt let up until an hour or so after petoskey. i made a decision today, to modify my route. i chopped off the northern most section and skipped mackinaw and cheboygan, and shot across from petoskey to rogers city. i did this for a few reasons, but the biggest ones were weather and time. when i got to rogers city, i still had a little bit of daylight left, so i decided to go south to alpena, where i am staying the night. i rode about 177 miles today, but again dont have good numbers due to the rain taking its toll on the bike computer, still.
as for my body, everything feels ok so far except for my rear end, it is basically raw. i think its a combo of long hours and rain that are really taking its toll. my legs and hands are sore, but usable. my feet are destroyed from being in wet socks so much, but dont hurt. im very tempted to try to put one of those hemeroid doughnuts on my bike seat for the rest of the trip! i had to bike standing up for the last 12-15 miles inyo alpena, because i couldnt sit down. not fun. hopefully this was not too much information for everyone...
i will be attempting to get down to the bay city area tomorrow, and then home on monday, if all goes as planned. weather doesnt look great for tomorrow, but we'll see what happens
thanks again to all of you who are reading this, passing it along to others or in some other way supporting me. i really do appreciate it.
as for my body, everything feels ok so far except for my rear end, it is basically raw. i think its a combo of long hours and rain that are really taking its toll. my legs and hands are sore, but usable. my feet are destroyed from being in wet socks so much, but dont hurt. im very tempted to try to put one of those hemeroid doughnuts on my bike seat for the rest of the trip! i had to bike standing up for the last 12-15 miles inyo alpena, because i couldnt sit down. not fun. hopefully this was not too much information for everyone...
i will be attempting to get down to the bay city area tomorrow, and then home on monday, if all goes as planned. weather doesnt look great for tomorrow, but we'll see what happens
thanks again to all of you who are reading this, passing it along to others or in some other way supporting me. i really do appreciate it.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Leg #3
Very long day. got very wet from some thunderstorms that came off the lake, and im still very sore.
Im in Traverse City now, with a long day ahead of me tomorrow. i started very early this morning, and plan to do the same tomorrow. bike computer didnt like the rain, so i dont have any numbers this time, but google says i went about 146 miles today. thats all for now, i need to rest. thanks to all who are following me, its very encouraging.
i wish i had more time to make these posts a bit more detailed, but i have no energy left at the end of the day, and i can fill in with more detail after the ride is completed.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Leg #2
I made it Muskegon today, short of my goal, but still in one piece.
there was a slight issue today, when I was rolling through Grand Rapids.
I was on the sidewalk clipping along at around 17-18mph, when i saw a red car stop for me short of the next driveway. as i was crossing, the person driving accelerated and ran right into me. she must not have seen me, as she was talking on her phone, but to make things worse, as i'm trying to get up she backs up and races for a different exit to the parking lot. this was not an ideal time to get hit, as i was in a very bad part of town. it took a bit of time to get the bike adjusted and back to an operational state. i rode away very sore, but that was it. i wasnt able to ride as fast from that point on, as my knee and shoulder took the brunt of the fall. i would hope that i could have made it farther had this not happened, but i cant say that for certain. the bike computer is not happy anymore, so the only figures that I have are 118 miles traveled today with 13.5 mph average. i dont have time or max speed, but i started around 8am, got to the hotel around 8, and would guess that i was in the saddle for 9 or so hours.
Tomorrows route will be modifed to accept this change, but im not sure to what extent. I will try to get out at sunrise and get an early start.
Thanks to all those following!
Still not able to post pictures, will try to solve that soon.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Leg #1
I made it out to Lansing, no problems or issues.
I'm sore and tired but otherwise ok.
I rode 68.1 miles in 4.5 hours, 45 min total stopped time
avg speed was 14.6 mph, with a max of 29.6
For those of you familiar with the roads, I took white lake rd to clyde rd. Then argentine to m59, out to grand river. grand river to 52 just past webberville, then holt rd all the way over.
I'm staying with friends tonight, looking forward to resting. Tomorrow will be a very long ride (see route posting).
I have a picture to upload from when I started, but its not working right now.
Thank you everyone that is supporting!
I'm sore and tired but otherwise ok.
I rode 68.1 miles in 4.5 hours, 45 min total stopped time
avg speed was 14.6 mph, with a max of 29.6
For those of you familiar with the roads, I took white lake rd to clyde rd. Then argentine to m59, out to grand river. grand river to 52 just past webberville, then holt rd all the way over.
I'm staying with friends tonight, looking forward to resting. Tomorrow will be a very long ride (see route posting).
I have a picture to upload from when I started, but its not working right now.
Thank you everyone that is supporting!
Updates!
There are a few updates, as you might have noticed.
- You can now track me. This will not be live, but whenever I turn my phone back on, it should update to the site (map). This was a last minute update, we'll see how it works. If it works well, it should be very cool.
- You can now donate right on the site, with the "DONATE" button on the right side. This will take you to PayPal, where it will be easy to use a card. Unfortunately, the ACS currently doesn't have a way to link directly to their site. So, I am using my PayPal account as a workaround. I can assure everyone that this will be a safe and secure way to donate, and all the money in the account will be transferred to the ACS at the end of the trip.(any questions about this, please email me)
Again, 100% of money donated goes directly to the American Cancer Society.
- You can now track me. This will not be live, but whenever I turn my phone back on, it should update to the site (map). This was a last minute update, we'll see how it works. If it works well, it should be very cool.
- You can now donate right on the site, with the "DONATE" button on the right side. This will take you to PayPal, where it will be easy to use a card. Unfortunately, the ACS currently doesn't have a way to link directly to their site. So, I am using my PayPal account as a workaround. I can assure everyone that this will be a safe and secure way to donate, and all the money in the account will be transferred to the ACS at the end of the trip.(any questions about this, please email me)
Again, 100% of money donated goes directly to the American Cancer Society.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Why
As some of you may know, and others are just finding out, I am going for a bike ride soon. I will depart the evening of 8-31 and return the evening of 9-5, for a total of 5 full days on the road. As you can tell, this will be a bit longer than my usual bike trip. I plan to ride approx. 875 miles, covering a large portion of the perimeter of Michigan's lower peninsula.
I will depart from downtown Clarkston, right in front of The Union. You can see a rough draft of my route in the other post. This should give everyone a vague idea of what I'm doing and how far I'm really going. I'll be hugging the coast as much as possible, along my route.
This is not "just for the hell of it". It's something I have wanted to do for some time now, and is on my long list of things to accomplish. I have tried to turn this ride into something greater than myself, by bringing the American Cancer Society on board. I am going to do this trip no matter what, so I don't need any funds to do it. With that said, I am taking any and all donations to the ACS on behalf of me doing this ride. 100% of your donations will go directly to them and anything over $25 is tax deductible. It's a great cause but I don't expect everyone who reads this to donate, and that's perfectly fine. I brought them (ACS)on board because I lost my good friend and Grandmother (Grace Spence) to cancer a few years ago, and if I can help prevent someone else from going through the pain that she went through and that I had the unfortunate ability to witness, then I would like to have a small part in that.
On a slightly more selfish note, I have wanted to do this ride for a few years now. I will be up front with everyone, and tell you that I have not trained for this. I didn't ride 100 miles a day, or even 75 or 50. I have done, and completed many triathlons and at least one marathon without any training. I got respectable placings in the Tri's and got 2nd place in the Marathon, and that was in 17 degrees out on the sea ice!
I like the fact that at any given moment I can get up and go do something like this. Am I in shape? Nope, not even close. Does that mean I need a lot of willpower, determination and endurance of pain? YES. I think that most people are capable of so much more than they realize, if they trully apply themselves and REALLY want something. I really want this. Should I have trained for a few years to do this ride? Probably. Do people call me crazy at every turn? Of course they do... (but this is nothing new)
I'm not asking you or anyone else to do this trip with me, I'm only asking that you support me. By support I mean by whatever means you might have. If you have nothing to donate, or already donate to another cause, then support me by reading my blog, and telling others about it. If you can do more than that, even better. I'll be trying to get a few larger companies to sign onto my trip in the next few days, and if they do, I'll put their logo on my shirt for everyone to see as I ride. I'll also make sure to thank them at the end of each day in my post as I update everyone with where I am and how I got there.
That's all for now,
- Bret
I will depart from downtown Clarkston, right in front of The Union. You can see a rough draft of my route in the other post. This should give everyone a vague idea of what I'm doing and how far I'm really going. I'll be hugging the coast as much as possible, along my route.
This is not "just for the hell of it". It's something I have wanted to do for some time now, and is on my long list of things to accomplish. I have tried to turn this ride into something greater than myself, by bringing the American Cancer Society on board. I am going to do this trip no matter what, so I don't need any funds to do it. With that said, I am taking any and all donations to the ACS on behalf of me doing this ride. 100% of your donations will go directly to them and anything over $25 is tax deductible. It's a great cause but I don't expect everyone who reads this to donate, and that's perfectly fine. I brought them (ACS)on board because I lost my good friend and Grandmother (Grace Spence) to cancer a few years ago, and if I can help prevent someone else from going through the pain that she went through and that I had the unfortunate ability to witness, then I would like to have a small part in that.
On a slightly more selfish note, I have wanted to do this ride for a few years now. I will be up front with everyone, and tell you that I have not trained for this. I didn't ride 100 miles a day, or even 75 or 50. I have done, and completed many triathlons and at least one marathon without any training. I got respectable placings in the Tri's and got 2nd place in the Marathon, and that was in 17 degrees out on the sea ice!
I like the fact that at any given moment I can get up and go do something like this. Am I in shape? Nope, not even close. Does that mean I need a lot of willpower, determination and endurance of pain? YES. I think that most people are capable of so much more than they realize, if they trully apply themselves and REALLY want something. I really want this. Should I have trained for a few years to do this ride? Probably. Do people call me crazy at every turn? Of course they do... (but this is nothing new)
I'm not asking you or anyone else to do this trip with me, I'm only asking that you support me. By support I mean by whatever means you might have. If you have nothing to donate, or already donate to another cause, then support me by reading my blog, and telling others about it. If you can do more than that, even better. I'll be trying to get a few larger companies to sign onto my trip in the next few days, and if they do, I'll put their logo on my shirt for everyone to see as I ride. I'll also make sure to thank them at the end of each day in my post as I update everyone with where I am and how I got there.
That's all for now,
- Bret
Questions
There have been some questions that keep coming up, so I thought I would address some of those before I hit the road.
- Who are you going with?
No one, I'm going solo. No chase car, no other riders. The way I like it...
- What route is this / Is this a race or sanctioned route?
Nope, it's just something I came up with. I wanted to do a perimeter ride for awhile now, and this seemed like a doable route to make that happen.
- Do you have a backup plan?
This gets asked a lot. The bike is very simple, most anything that is broken, I can fix. Common things are flat tires, snapped chain, shifter adjustment, etc. Anything more serious than that would require outside force, such as a car or other large moving object. I don't plan to get hit by a car, and there's not much planning I can do for anything like that. If I get stranded or injured for any reason, I can always rent a car and drive.
Weather is something else I can't control. But right now it looks fine, and if it gets ugly, I'll stop. If it's just rain, then I'll probably keep going. If I have to stop for a half day, I can make it up by doing a few hours at night.
- Are you Crazy?
No, I'm not. Just about everyone says this when they first hear about the ride. It's ok to think it's crazy to do something like this, it's not for everyone. Most people wish me good luck after they call me crazy, so that's not so bad.
- What kind of bike are you taking?
I have a road racing bike, that I typically used for triathlons, when I did them(2+ yrs ago). However the tires are VERY skinny and meant for dry pavement only. It's a very fast bike, but if I have to go off to a sandy shoulder in a hurry, more times than not I'll be crashing. With that said, I'm taking my Mtn bike, modified slightly for this type of trip. It's got cyclocross tires on it, a rear rack for gear, a trip computer and a headlight.
I'll post pictures of it before I depart.
- Do you have any other trips planned?
Yes, but I need to get through this one first. Not all are on a bike and some are crazier than others.
Anyone that knows me or speaks with me regularly knows most of the stuff I want to accomplish in the near future. If you want to know more, get to know me! I'll write back to almost anyone, or better yet call me or go for a ride with me!
--------------
If anyone has any other comments or questions, feel free to contact me.
TheBret@gmail.com
- Who are you going with?
No one, I'm going solo. No chase car, no other riders. The way I like it...
- What route is this / Is this a race or sanctioned route?
Nope, it's just something I came up with. I wanted to do a perimeter ride for awhile now, and this seemed like a doable route to make that happen.
- Do you have a backup plan?
This gets asked a lot. The bike is very simple, most anything that is broken, I can fix. Common things are flat tires, snapped chain, shifter adjustment, etc. Anything more serious than that would require outside force, such as a car or other large moving object. I don't plan to get hit by a car, and there's not much planning I can do for anything like that. If I get stranded or injured for any reason, I can always rent a car and drive.
Weather is something else I can't control. But right now it looks fine, and if it gets ugly, I'll stop. If it's just rain, then I'll probably keep going. If I have to stop for a half day, I can make it up by doing a few hours at night.
- Are you Crazy?
No, I'm not. Just about everyone says this when they first hear about the ride. It's ok to think it's crazy to do something like this, it's not for everyone. Most people wish me good luck after they call me crazy, so that's not so bad.
- What kind of bike are you taking?
I have a road racing bike, that I typically used for triathlons, when I did them(2+ yrs ago). However the tires are VERY skinny and meant for dry pavement only. It's a very fast bike, but if I have to go off to a sandy shoulder in a hurry, more times than not I'll be crashing. With that said, I'm taking my Mtn bike, modified slightly for this type of trip. It's got cyclocross tires on it, a rear rack for gear, a trip computer and a headlight.
I'll post pictures of it before I depart.
- Do you have any other trips planned?
Yes, but I need to get through this one first. Not all are on a bike and some are crazier than others.
Anyone that knows me or speaks with me regularly knows most of the stuff I want to accomplish in the near future. If you want to know more, get to know me! I'll write back to almost anyone, or better yet call me or go for a ride with me!
--------------
If anyone has any other comments or questions, feel free to contact me.
TheBret@gmail.com
Monday, August 29, 2011
Rough Draft of My Route
Here is a rough draft of the route:
(now with pictures!)
Clarkston to Lansing, Wednesday Night(8-31): Mostly M59 to Grand River, end up in Holt, MI
Stay the night with friends
Lansing to Ludington, all day Thursday(9-1): This will be one of the longest legs of the trip, better to get it over with early. It should be Lansing to GR to Grand Haven to Muskegon to Ludington. Outta Grand Haven it'll be US31 North
Ludington to Charlevoix, all day Friday(9-2): Should be straight up US 31, to Traverse, then onto Charlevoix
Charlevoix to Rogers City, via Mackinaw Island, All day Saturday(9-3): US31 out of Charlevoix up to Mackinaw, out and around the island (ferry ride out and back) then down US23 to Rogers City
Rogers City to Pinconning, all day Sunday(9-4): the east coast of MI via US 23
Pinconning to Clarkston, via Bay City, most of the day Monday(9-5): US 23 to Bay City, then M 15 from start to finish, ideally finish before the start time on 8-31, to make it round trip in under 5 full days.
(now with pictures!)
Clarkston to Lansing, Wednesday Night(8-31): Mostly M59 to Grand River, end up in Holt, MI
Stay the night with friends
Lansing to Ludington, all day Thursday(9-1): This will be one of the longest legs of the trip, better to get it over with early. It should be Lansing to GR to Grand Haven to Muskegon to Ludington. Outta Grand Haven it'll be US31 North
Ludington to Charlevoix, all day Friday(9-2): Should be straight up US 31, to Traverse, then onto Charlevoix
Charlevoix to Rogers City, via Mackinaw Island, All day Saturday(9-3): US31 out of Charlevoix up to Mackinaw, out and around the island (ferry ride out and back) then down US23 to Rogers City
Rogers City to Pinconning, all day Sunday(9-4): the east coast of MI via US 23
Pinconning to Clarkston, via Bay City, most of the day Monday(9-5): US 23 to Bay City, then M 15 from start to finish, ideally finish before the start time on 8-31, to make it round trip in under 5 full days.
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