A few more photos from Sunday's ride

Here are a few more photos taken from the North Pier near Grand Haven, MI.

Video from North Pier

Here is another video from Sunday afternoon. This was taken from the North Pier near Grand Haven and Ferrysburg, MI. The wind was strong Sunday, but even worse on Monday. Winds were up to 60 mph along the beach and only 30-40 mph further inland. You can see videos of 18 foot waves on the local newspaper website: http://grandhaventribune.com

Video of North Shore Beach

Here is a short video taken at the North Shore Beach Sunday afternoon. Sorry about the wind noise! Almost all of the picnic tables were stacked and ready for winter.

Ride to North Shore Beach

I decided to take advantage of the warm weather today before it turns cold and rainy on Monday. My route this afternoon took me from my rental condo north across the drawbridge and into Spring Lake and Ferrysburg. The first photo above shows the bike path next to Spring Lake at Ferry Park (just across the bridge). From there I took North Shore Rd. west past Coast Guard Park to North Shore Beach. It was pretty windy at the beach, but I did take a video that I will post later this week. From the beach, I took North Shore Rd. south past million dollar beach houses to the North Pier parking area. From there, I took more photos and another video. Gayle called me on the cell phone while I was there, however it was so windy, I had to duck behind a large rock in order to reduce the wind noise. I rode back the same way, totalling 13 miles.

32 mile group ride today

I took a chance and tried the Saturday morning group ride offered by Loose Spokes Bike Shop of Grand Haven (http://www.loosespokes.com/). They offer this ride every Saturday morning beginning at 8:30 am. The riders end up in one of three groups, A, B or C. Groups A & B are for the faster cyclists (20-24 mph ave.) I decided to try Group C (16-20 mph). There were about 15 riders in A & B and 4 of us in Group C. Jack, the owner of Loose Spokes rode in the A/B group and told us that they were going to do 40 miles instead of the advertised 30 miles, and that the C group was going to do 30 miles instead of 20. However, the riders were instructed to keep the pace slightly slower since the racing season was oficially over. (Like that would slow them down!)

Our group took off promptly at 8:30 am, heading east on Comstock and Mercury towards 104th St. Bill and Tom (our group leader) took turns pulling. I tried for a mile or so, but pulling at 19 mph was a bit much for me since I hadn't put in the miles in August necessary to do this. Both Bill and Tom were about the same age as I am. We also had (Kevin), who was in his 20's s far as I could tell. We had a great time, with a total of 32 miles. I averaged 18 mph over 1 hour 47 minutes. My cyclecomputer also read 33 mph as the top speed, but I'm not sure where this was as we didn't have any hills. Hmmm.

We arrived back at Loose Spokes around 10:15 am and enjoyed free coffee and breakfast bars & granola. Jack told us about the new Fuji and Bianchi bikes, and we enjoyed talking with the other riders! A most enjoyable ride! However, I defintely need to put in more miles during the week.

Photos from Aug 30 ride

Here are a couple photos that I took on my Aug. 30 ride down to the boardwalk (downtown). I decided to see where the bike trail went in the other direction from the lighthouse. It took me over a small bridge and around on the other side of the charter cruise docks. You can see the charter boats all lined up along the city's boardwalk waiting for customers. You can charter a salmon fishing boat for a 4 hour fishing trip on Lake Michigan for the "reasonable" amount of $400 for 4 people for 4 hours. Perch charters are ONLY $350.

16 miles on Lakeshore Drive tonight

I got an earlier start tonight right after work. I cyled over to Sheldon, then started south on Lakeshore Drive. On the way south, I used the marked shoulder area of the road as seen in the first photo. On the way back I decided to try the bike path (wide sidewalk) along the east side of the road. This is shown in the following 2 photos. My total was 16 miles round trip. Tommorrow morning is a 20 mile group ride, sponsored by Loose Spokes Bike Shop. I will post more photos as they become available.

Out and Back on Lakeshore Drive

I was able to get in 11 miles tonight, however if I would have remembered to bring a headlight and taillight, I probably would have gone a little farther. I started about 7 pm, and got back a little after 8 pm. The sun sets here around 8:20 currently. However, the main problem is all of the trees along Lakeshore Drive. Yes, they are very pretty, however they make it slightly darker than it should be, so lights would have been handy. I headed west on Washington, then south on Sheldon to where it becomes Lakeshore Dr., then turned around south of Ferris (about 5.5 miles out). I only saw 2 other road cyclists, one going north when I turned around, and another that passed me about a mile later. Both were going about 20-21 mph, while I was doing 16-18 mph. I saw them again later stopped at a local school, and waved at them. There were many more joggers and casual cyclists on the bike path that parallels Lakeshore Drive, but they were going much less than 10 mph.