Rides: Michigan Mountain Mayhem – Part 3

At exactly 5 a.m., everyone emerged from their tents. I only heard one alarm go off. The rest of the cyclists were probably like me and endured a sleepless night, just zipped up in a sleeping bag waiting for 5 a.m. to roll around. That’s when the high school building opened for those who wanted to shower and eat at the breakfast buffet. The high school was fantastic, new and clean.

The breakfast seemed a bit pricey at $8 (hmmm, or was it $7?), with eggs, hash brown wedges, fruit, oatmeal (grrrr, made from instant oats) and no orange juice. But it was generally OK. The mood at the breakfast table was gloomy because it was still raining and the outlook didn’t look good. One woman called up the forecast on her iPhone and it showed a long line of thunderstorms moving in from Wisconsin. The storms were supposed to hammer our area all afternoon. People started talking about changing their plans, switching from the 160k ride to the 100k or 50k.

As I left the school to change into my kit in the tent, I looked up at the sky and this is what I saw. The forecast for scary storms seemed extremely credible to me. I don’t mind riding in rain. I actually enjoy it. But I don’t like it when bolts of lightning are crashing down around me. I could easily see myself get 40k outside of town and have to spend the rest of the afternoon sheltering in a barn, waiting for the electrical storms to blow through. But I decided to give it a go anyway.

Next: Finally, the race