I skipped to Summer

I feel like Spring went past me.  April was the coldest on record and just before the ride with the Vintage Rendezvous group I was hit with a cold virus.  It was devastating. I spent a couple of weeks riding only minimal commuting during the advent of real Spring weather.   I was seriously laid up with Musinex and 10-12 hours of sleep each day just to get back to normal.  It's been a month  and I finally feel recovered.   Perhaps I am beginning to feel the effects of, ah....maturity(yeah, that's the word).
       Here in Kzoo we have a great Bike Week celebration with events and rides scheduled all week.  This year I just heard about it.  I was in bed most of the evenings but I did get to one event which included a number of speakers discussing the evolution of biking.

One State Senator showed up to talk about the support she was providing to pass laws requiring  a safe passing distance and the inclusion of non-motorized rules in drivers ed, which will  be a huge deal.   

      I must say we have come a long way since I moved to the area 25 years ago.  Back then, my employees found out I was a cyclist and bragged about the great bike facility that had been built.  It was an MUP that stretched over 3 miles!!  I got to my large chain ring about the time I was back on the street.  The area now has nearly 50 miles of off-street facilities and 60 miles or so of on street bike lanes with more added every year thanks to the magic of road diets. I use them to ride a metric century throughout the area using only 9 miles of shared use roads.  We have definitely come a long way and there is an ongoing movement to develop a network of designated bike routes along shared roads in Southwest Michigan.  It may not be Portland or Minneapolis, but it still feels good.

That is, until the power company decides to use an entire section of bike lanes as convenient protected parking for their trucks.  Apparently they thought they'd be intruding on the vacant lot across the street. 

    Hey wait, this is not about them, it's about me.  

        After weeks of forced rest, I finally felt like I could do a little recreational riding without hacking up a lung.  I plan to take a week long trip in June so I thought it best to use the holiday weekend for a little shake down.  All the campgrounds in the area were full since it was Memorial Day weekend but I was counting on the dedicated bike camp to be open at the Yankee Springs forest.  The bike and gear are always ready, it's just a matter of throwing some clothes in the saddlebag and riding away.

I really did miss out on Spring this year.  

I could practically feel the honeysuckle fragrance crawling across the morning air.  Sunday promised to be over 90 degrees.  The roads were tame on the holiday weekend and, being on the up side of sick, I took the shortest route and kept the ride to around 40 miles to be sure I didn't over do it.  The ride was not as devastating as the cold virus had been.   I got to the overflowing campgrounds

but the bike camp was empty as well as secluded from the holiday trailer park.  

I set up just before the mid afternoon swelter. I was in time for beer thirty at the Sand Bar and Grill.  Of course the great thing about the portable trailer parks is the access to a shower which made the night time more pleasant in some clean clothes  as the evening cooled down.

The ride back was pleasant except hotter, it seemed like gallons of water to process just to get through the morning.  A cool dip in the pool was the only answer after two, fully loaded, forty mile days back to back.  It was a late date for a test run but now I have the confidence to charge across the country side at will.