Fall Bike Ride, Day 1, Grand Rapids to outside Howard City

Day 1, 40 miles

There are so many ways to talk yourself out of adventure and beauty. I was anxious before the trip about weather and the number of miles. But in the end, it all turned out great! Better than sitting around home making excuses and wishing I could be out in the colors. These bright days won’t last forever. More than anything, I needed a retreat, a way to drop out of life for a bit and just fold into nature and the apex of the moment. This Fall Bike Ride did all that.

Started in Okemos where I rode to the Indian Trails bus stop, where I attempted to cover the bike according to their rules, but the driver was impatient and hurriedly asked me just to load it in. The bus was full. Never had that before. We were late arriving in Grand Rapids—not because of me, hahaha—and I quickly strapped stuff onto bike and tried to sort myself out of the district. It was designated street riding until I crossed a bridge to get on trail, then another crossing that was confusing near 131 to ride parallel on the White Pine Trail. I was freaking out because it took me about an hour to do all this and it was nearly 4 pm with 40 miles to go before sunset in roughly 3 hours. Finally, I had to calm myself down and just go with it—sort of the point of the ride. I’d figure something out. But, first, I had to pedal, eat, and drink, and find a centerpoint.

Then it hit me that I’d left my food bag in the fridge at home. I had handlebar food but not lunch meat and cheese for the planned sandwiches.

The miles began to add up and it was certainly beautiful—especially as the sun softened on the horizon. The leaves were brilliant. The landscape reminded me of the film, Dead Poet’s Society. Classic fall. Lyrical. The White Pine Trail was lined with pines (obviously) and hardwoods in various shades of russet, gold, green, and brown. In places the path was carpeted with leaves. There were several cyclists and runner/walkers on the path.

I made it to Howard City by 7 pm and turned off the path to Jean’s Pizza. The place was hoppin’ on a Thursday night with live music. While waiting for a toasted sub I looked for parks, places I might just set up. I tried one place and it was full of teens, then the city park, again no privacy, actually the SAME teens had moved over to it. All this was taking up precious time. I told myself to keep going, Something will turn up. I turned on my front and rear lights. It wasn’t too bad. I could hear the crunch of leaves and pine cones under my front tire. I thought if I could get to Morley there was a place I’d looked up on Google that might work. Then . . . in dimmest dim dusk I saw a stray trail off the path into the woods. I turned around and followed it into the trees, follow, follow, then saw a place where if I moved some branches and sticks might work. It was dark and I used my headlamp to set up and then sat in the door of my tent listening to nightfall and eating half my sub.