In-Saddle Entertainment

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One of my sister's photos... makes me want to go... anywhere!

As I’ve intimately described in past posts, Michigan is a fabulous place to ride a bicycle. On so many bike paths everything is so perfect, with a nicely angled view of Lake Michigan and every blade of grass arranged just so. It’s just like riding a bike in a movie, where filmmakers conveniently forget stoplights every ten feet, illiterate drivers, gravel, and an unwavering sun hell-bent on delivering sunstroke, sunburn, sun poisoning, and/or death. 

If Michigan is like riding a bicycle through a Hallmark classic, Indiana is more like riding through something by Quentin Tarantino. I’m being dramatic, but I know I’m going to feel the lack of the Lake Effect when we return home. 

And so, I have a couple of ideas to distract myself on the bike back home — mostly with music, of course. While we’ve been on vacation I haven’t felt the urge to put on music because I was comfortable in the climate and focused on the scenery. On pretty much all long rides in Franklin, one must inevitably follow a long road through cornfields — usually some sort of highway. When there’s no change in scenery, it doesn’t feel as if you’ve gone anywhere! I found that the 80-miler on Highway US 40 through Indiana was much harder on me than the century through scenic northern Michigan. There were many substantial hills on the Michigan route and the mileage was greater — but my ability to distract myself was much, much greater. I think it’s all part of the mental game, which is worse for me than the physical one. Anyway, I’m planning to use music to battle fatigue, discomfort, and even boredom on the bike. To do this, I need some new song suggestions! I will admit that OneDirection is my favorite for biking (and my dad’s - Dad says he's more about the 80's tunes, but you should see him dance on the bike when "You Don't Know You're Beautiful" comes on!), but anyway, my musical tastes are varied and I love new music in general. 

If you have any ideas, please comment! I’d love to try out any suggestions and I’ll probably be thinking of you when your song comes on :)

Other than that, you can also be sure that I’d love any ideas you may have for in-saddle entertainment. I will most definitely be involved in a cutthroat game of Yellow Car with dad, but I’m happy to try out any other ideas. 

Side Note: Yellow Car is an integral part of my life. My aunt and uncle and their children started playing this game a few years ago and now everyone in the Catlin family has taken it as our God-given mission to carry on the practice of this game and to initiate into the game anyone and everyone who is present in a moving vehicle with us at any time. The strict rules for the practice of Yellow Car are as follows: When you see a yellow car, you say, "Yellow car." Now you have a point. Congratulations. 

I’m kidding, there are actually very important strictures like: the car must not be a commercial vehicle; you cannot count the same car twice; two people cannot count the same car; motorcycles don’t count; taxis don’t count; gold cars don’t count; yellow VW Bugs count double; and if you’re that one kid who goes to my high school and has a yellow car, then your car counts double. Except that you can’t count a car you’re currently in. 

Now you, too, can play Yellow Car. :)

And on that note, I will post again soon! Thanks for reading, 

Bethany

P.S. Also, I would like to take a quick moment to point out that my Amazon Wishlist is now online! You can access it here if you’d like. Many of you have already generously donated to the National Arthritis Foundation, and that is my #1 priority, so I thank you for that. I put this Wishlist on the site after a couple people asked if they could help me out on some of the funding for the trip itself. Much of the cost of gear and travel has been covered by my family and me, but I thought I might as list a few items I’m going to need on the trip so people could donate to the effort in that way if they so desired. Dad has a rack and set of panniers but I don't, and think I'll need them, and I only have two pair of bike shorts, and won't be able to do laundry every night so am hoping to get a third, and I put in a few other nice-to-have items. Thank you!

First Century!

Today I rode my bicycle 106 miles. And it wasn’t even that bad! We took a scenic route from Petoskey State Park along the Lake Michigan Coast (via M-119 and the “Tunnel of Trees”) to Mackinaw City and back. There were hills, many hills. (Dad says that the 3100 vertical feet of climb equal about 5 1/2 trips to the top of the Washington Monument or three times to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but who's counting?) Anyway, the pretty scenery and the ever-present lake made everything bearable — even the thousands and thousands of mosquitos. In all honesty the most problematic stiffness I’m dealing with at the moment is my hands, which are numb from the seven hours on the bike and not feeling particularly graceful. (In other words I blame any and all typos or errors on hand numbness.)

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Bethany half way through the ride at the base of the Mackinaw Bridge in a swarm of Mosquitos!

During the ride Dad and I discussed various topics of debate in the media for the first half, and in the second, I put on my tunes and we just zoned out to that. In consequence, I really didn’t have any time to feel sorry for myself or count my aches and pains — maybe I’ll just ask fellow riders their opinion on abortion next time I’m on a long ride because, whatever said riders’ opinions are, they’re bound to be nice, long rants. 

There was one moment of near despair when Dad kept having chain skips on climbs and at mile 94 found a bent link, necessitating breaking and repairing the chain.  Took over a half hour and for a minute there I wondered if I'd have to leave him.  (Not really!  I wanted my century but not that bad.)

Thanks again to all for your encouragement, financial support, and of course generous compliments of my writing. I’m beginning to get a swollen head. 

Unfortunately, I shan’t be able to give you much more writing tonight because I am very tired, and (right after I dish out a very personal and individualized insult to each and every mosquito bite I have earned today) I must adjourn to bed! :)

Thanks again,

Bethany

P.S. Here is a triumphant photo of Dad and me arriving back in Petoskey State Park (to a very enthusiastic crowd of admirers including my lovely mother and sisters) along with another shot of me after my ride - see the smile?

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Our triumphant return to the campsite after 106 miles and my first Century!

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I have to admit that I'm just a little bit pleased with myself!

Just another day in Michigan

Three days ago, we packed up the campsite and loaded up both the camper and the ever-fashionable mini van, finally departing in a fabulous caravan of five bikes on the roof of a van trailing a slightly grubby but well-loved pop-up camper. We left the Holland State Park and drove three hours, arriving at the Petoskey State Park, where we disembarked and reset our campsite. 

Upon discovering the undeniable presence of a ghastly horde of mosquitos, we found brief sanctuary in a Greek restaurant. Ergo, I discovered a previously dormant affinity for fried fish, Lake Perch, which happened to be the daily special. 

In the following days, we became used to the buggy campsite — mostly because we spent much of our time exploring on our bicycles. We decided to bike from Petoskey to Charlevoix and back, which is about a 45 mile trip. Charlevoix is lovely as ever — partly because the inhabitants generally accepted our spandex-clad presence in every bookstore in town. (Side note: I read part of a magazine about Bob Marley in one of the aforementioned bookstores while my family was browsing, and from what I gather, “Tuff Gong” would have accepted us too.) 

Anyway, I would also like to apologize here to my Strava followers: while on vacation, it seems that the little mental switch in my head that says “your bike ride hasn’t started until Strava says so” is malfunctioning or merely works while connected to wifi. In other words…I haven’t really used Strava during my rides, or have forgotten to hit “record” until halfway through. I promise I’ve been getting in more mileage than I have logged on there — training for the big ride and the looming RAIN ride is still in full swing!

Back to the timeline: the day after our 45 mile ride, we decided to take a rest day and explore nearby Petoskey and Harbor Springs. We decided to visit a bookstore (because on vacation if you’re not biking, you’d better be reading) and I quickly got lost in some book, stopping only occasionally to sheepishly glance at the front counter and hope the proprietor didn’t notice just how long I’d been sitting there making free use of his merchandise. Wholly engaged in my illicit activities, I paid no mind to the pursuits of my little sister. However, outside the store, I walked into a ten-year-old completely incapable of containing her excitement: Zoe proceeded to give me a carefully wrapped journal (in red, of course. Burgundy, to be exact. Zoe pays attention to everyone’s favorite color.) She specifically instructed that this journal was to be used for Bethanywhere; she had chosen one that would neatly fit inside a jersey pocket. Of course, I was very touched, knowing that Zoe didn’t have very much money to spend, and she had chosen to make her vacation treasure a gift for me. 

I have a few plans for the journal (all Bethanywhere related, of course) but I shan’t put them on here because I suspect that Zoe might find them. But it shall most definitely be put to good use. 

And on that note, I must say goodnight, because I need to go to bed for a very important day of laundromats and more bike riding tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone again for reading, 

Bethany

P.S. Because we’re used to the splendid view that is cornfields back in Indiana, we’ve gone rather overboard in photographing everything in beautiful Michigan. Here are a couple of our best shots:

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And then God made Michigan -- for the cyclists

As we've been trooping along (usually via bicycle) through Michigan, we've continued to see why exactly Michigan is just a fabulous place in bike world. This morning we woke up early to ride from our campsite in Holland State Park to the lighthouse in Grand Haven -- 44 miles round trip. Every single mile except the quarter mile to get out of the state park and the mile through Grand Haven to the beach was on a gorgeous bike trail.

Grand Haven Light with sisters and Mom (Dad took the photo)

Here is some proof that everything in Michigan is beautiful:

This is unheard of in most of the car-centered Midwest -- often simply biking to school is something of a suicide mission, with the highways to cross and the aggressive cars to avoid and the fact that on many roads (according to the truckers that regularly plow through Franklin anyway) there simply is no room for a bicycle. And then we have these little oases of bike-friendliness like Michigan and -- or so I've heard -- Minneapolis, Minnesota (one of the appeals of Macalester College).

I also suspect that Michigan natives are just ... friendly. As a whole. It's been kind of impossible to ride a bicycle without some passing cyclist waving enthusiastically or saying, "GREAT morning for a RIDE. Hope you have so much FUN!" It's totally rubbing off on me. I said good morning to every single person I saw until I began to wonder if it was even morning anymore. 

I think part of it is that up here biking is such a big thing. It's like a little side culture. There were three bike stores in downtown Holland, and we of course visited every single one. These cyclists up here don't mess around: the owner of one shop called Velo City Cycles rode Paris-Roubaix this year, which is a super big deal. It's this ultra intense mega tough ride that is basically known for being horribly painful. They call it "The Hell of the North."  But it's cool; it's kind of like a cycling badge of tough-guy-ness and being half insane. (His name is Brad White, by the way, and he rides for pro Team United Healthcare - Dad was being a fanboy, and meanwhile, Brad's wife, Jenny, was also super-cool, helping Mom think about some cycling specs.)  I loved the culture of all things bike, so I bought a T-shirt to go represent back in Franklin. 

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Modeling my new shirt at Crust 54 Pizza in Holland, MI

So there's the current situation -- I'm all excited about biking culture and so ready to come back to Franklin wearing my bicycle T-shirt and showing off my meager tan (hoping to shake my albino status) and to continue on as one of the few, the proud, the cyclists of Franklin. 

But. I wouldn't have been able to get this far in my training without all the encouragement of all of you, and so again, thank you so much for keeping up with me, my blog, and my adventure. 

Keep on reading!

B

Good news from Michigan

Hi guys,

This past week has been very exciting. I’ve got a lot of thank you’s to make, and I will be sending personal emails in response to each and every one of you who has contributed to this crazy project of mine, so be ready!

First off, we’ve raised, in this week, a total of $395 for the National Arthritis Research Foundation (or NARF, as I like to think of them). I am so grateful, and so amazed, by this sudden outpouring of support. I wasn’t sure what kind of a response I would get with this project, so I tried not to get my hopes up too high — I was originally thinking around $500-1000 and I would feel that I had raised an acceptable donation. But in less than a week, you fabulous subscribers and supporters have nearly brought us to that goal. Suddenly it seems that I may be able to help fundraise much more, and I am now very much inspired to delve back into the quest for sponsors and awareness.

It was a pretty great moment when I discovered just how much support I’d suddenly received: I was halfway through a 42 mile bike tour of some of our favorite towns in Michigan — from Holland, to Saugatuck, hopping over a bridge 2 miles to Douglas, and back through Saugatuck to Holland again — and I was sitting down with my family for some lunch at a cute restaurant in Saugatuck called Pumpernickel’s. First off, I have a definite affinity for all things small business and unique, so the restaurant was making me happy because it screamed, “We understand you, small business artisan soy candlemaker.” I was also engaged in an intense telepathic conversation with my older sister Charissa as we simultaneously noticed and delighted in the fact that the two ladies sipping tea at the table next to us were undeniably speaking in British accents. Finally, I briefly checked my phone to pause my Strava app, and lo and behold Bethanywhere was blowing up before my eyes. 

It was a pretty good day.

But beyond the generous donations, I’d also like all of you to know that your kind words of encouragement were just as important. Yes, I’d love to raise a nice pile of cash for NARF, but getting through that ride is going to be one of the biggest challenges I’ve tackled yet in my very long life of a full 17 years. It’s not the money, or the colleges, or the bragging rights that are going to give me that push I need at the end of those long 100 mile days, it’s going to be the fact that I’ve got all these people behind me that want this too. So I’d like to throw out a thank you to the Wabash River Cycle Club for your warm welcomes and willingness to come out and ride with me — I will definitely make this a part of my journey. And I would like to thank each and every family member, friend, friend of a friend, and internet supporter for your thoughtful encouragement and your shared excitement for the journey. I’ll be thinking of you when the training gets tough!

Thanks to all, more updates to come!

Bethany 

P.S. My sister took some nifty photographs during the bike ride: we’ve got mom and dad looking fancy in bike gear on their 25th wedding anniversary and various other photos of varying loveliness of locations we saw on our ride yesterday. Enjoy!

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Mom & Dad on the Saugatuck, MI Boardwalk halfway through a 42 mile 25th Anniversary Bike Ride

Saugatuck duck = Saugaduck?

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Old Style Chain Ferry across Kalamazoo Lake

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Rose Arbor at City Park

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Sunset Sky at Lake Michigan

New Jerseys!

Dad and I have finally designed some Bethanywhere custom bike jerseys! It took us awhile but we’re rather pleased with the finished product.

Here it is!

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New Jersey (Not the state!)

Up top we’ve got, obviously, the Bethanywhere logo, then the hot air bicycle because it’s nifty, then what I suppose has become the Bethanywhere motto: Going places…even if it hurts” and finally, at the bottom, we’ve listed some of those places I’m going in order of our arrival on the bike trip: Franklin College, University of Indianapolis, Butler University, Valparaiso University, the University of Chicago, and finally Macalester College.

We’ve ordered one for each member in our family, and doubled up for Dad and me so we can wear the jerseys throughout the ride. Of course, if anyone happens to be interested in ordering a jersey, that can most definitely be arranged. Just comment below and we’ll get one ordered for you.

Do look forward to the many fabulous pictures of me sweating in these fancy Bethanywhere jerseys that are soon to come – unfortunately it’s pretty much impossible to be fabulous in the middle of a strenuous bike ride but the new jerseys will definitely add some glam.

Thanks for reading, more updates (and pictures) to come!

Making Connections...

It’s been a while…  I haven’t posted much since the end of school – I’m happy to say that after my sister’s graduation and ensuing party, much of the busyness keeping me from posting was bike trip related!

I’ve done some training rides (you can look at them on my Strava account) and managed to push pretty fast, much faster than I was previously able. For example, our average speed during one of the latest Thursday night CIBA rides was over 17 mph – a real jump from the 13 or 14 mph I started out at in the beginning of the season. I can thank much of this to my tailored bike fit, encouraging fellow riders, and I’m pleased to say my own growing strength and confidence on the bike.

Beyond training, we’ve also moved forward quite a bit on the planning and connecting necessary to undertake this ride and raise some money to make a difference. I emailed Macalester College to let them know that I would be showing up sweaty and immensely proud of myself in the first week of August, and now I’m pretty sure there will at least be someone at the school for my triumphant arrival. I also reconnected with the Arthritis National Research Foundation, which continues to express great enthusiasm for the ride. Once again, the Arthritis Foundation is a fantastic organization and we’re really looking forward to hopefully contributing some funds and awareness for the group.  If you're willing, please click over to my "Get Involved" page and consider making a donation -- 100% of what comes in will go to the Foundation, and there are a few other ways you can help there, too, if you're interested.  Thank you.

Also, last night Dad and I stayed up doing battle with computer nonsense in order to install a subscribe function. We emerged victorious and you can now subscribe to my blog, which will email you whenever I post. I promise not to post too much or do terrible things with your information. (Frankly I’m not sure I’d even know how to do terrible things with anyone’s personal information.) Anyway, I’d love to see some new subscribers – it’s a much easier way to keep track of my journey without having to remember to go look it up all the time, and it makes such a difference to know that somebody's out there somewhere.

I’d like to throw out a thank you to all you folks who have kept up with me thus far without all the details of the website figured out, not to mention the good people who linked me on Facebook, you guys are the best!

Now, as for what’s coming up: Sunday, my family and I head up to Michigan for our summer vacation. We plan to spend a lot of time up there on our bikes, even the ever-fabulous Zoe.

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Zoe and Dad in February 2014, celebrating her 1000 miles of cycling while aged 9.

She’s a gem. She also rode 1,000 miles on her bike last year (while she was 9) so she’s pretty kicka$$. (Am I allowed to say that?)  Anyway, she’s one of the tougher ten-year-olds I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.

Thanks for reading! More updates to come.

Thursday Night Ride!

I'll update this post with more detail in the morning, but I'm testing my new subscription thingie and wanted to get something posted tonight so I can see if I get the notification in the morning.

We did have a great ride tonight, covering our regular loop from the Candle Shop at about 16 mph.  We had a new rider that we'd met over Memorial Day weekend, and a reporter and photographer from the local paper were there to talk a bit about cycling here in Johnson County, so that was fun.

More tomorrow, I promise!