Cycle Across America – Day 75

Elk Rapids to Empire

47 miles / 1,617ft climb

With a 20mile cycle this morning before breakfast, we were ravenous when we reached Archie’s Social Club in Traverse City. The food was fabulous and we left rested, refuelled and ready to face the remaining hilly miles.

Again the climb today was more than we had seen in recent days and the afternoon contained most of these climbs.

An impromptu ice cream stop by the lake helped cool us down and give our legs a rest.

The route today was a mixture of bike trail, quiet country roads, and a short spell on a state highway. The majority of the route was thoroughly enjoyable. Again the bike trail ran adjacent to the lake at numerous points.

Contrary to the easterly direction we need to be heading to reach the Atlantic Ocean, we spent a number of miles this afternoon heading west only to head east again tomorrow. Somewhere amongst the planning there is a logic to this although it seemed counterintuitive today.

Also it must be noted that we are very aware we have not taken the most direct route from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. Having cycled over 3000 miles so far, we are aware that we could have finished by now had we taken a more direct route. Speed was not the aim of our challenge, we wanted time to enjoy the ride and we are doing just this. It is nothing short of a miracle that we are still on track against the plan we made many months ago – or maybe just good planning!