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September 7 Wednesday Bicycle touring from Tawa Michigan to Bay City State Park Michigan We got up and packed our bikes and were on the road by 7:30 AM, before the propane store opened at 8 and discovered us camped there. The shoulder has disintegrated to about a foot and a half and has broken glass and rocks on it along with potholes. The traffic has picked up, too. Sharon got a couple of flats, but the self healing bike tube springs into action and seals the holes. It is a bit windy again and cool in the shade, but the sun is out and we are quite warm as long as we keep cycling. In Au Gres, my bike had a blow out on its rear tire. It was a big time explosion. The wire bead ripped entirely away from my bike tire and the tube itself is shredded to bits. There is no fixing this one. I put it straight into the dumpster. Now, in a town of 800, I have to find a new bicycle touring tire. I have no luck at the sporting goods store. I walk into a hardware store and, wondering if I will have to bribe someone in the adjacent trailer park for their ten-speed tire, I get lucky. The hardware store has two 27 x 1 and 1/4 bicycle tires -- for a cheap price even. I buy both bike tires and also two new bike tubes and a bike tire patch kit. I headed back to where Sharon was waiting. She is now all greasy. Having been left alone to amuse herself, in my absence she has been cleaning my chain and derailleur and has succeeded in transferring all of the dirt and grease off the bike parts onto herself. I cut the bead off my old bicycle tire and then try to insert it, along with a Mr Tuffy tire liner, inside my new tire. Sharon doesn't think this is a good idea because I will never be able to get the tire onto the rim with all that crap in there. I don't have any luck. She is right. I can't get my new bike tire onto the rim. Maybe if I had a smaller tube and a bigger tire? I'm trying to see if that would work to cut down on the number of flats I have been having. Although, come to think of it, none of my flats have come from punctures in the tread area. It is lunch time, so we roll our bikes over to Holland's IGA. We eat yogurt ice cream with added peanuts, bananas, and peaches. We are getting ready to leave -- after I have affixed sixteen more reflector strips to our bicycles, helmets, shoes and flag pole. Mr Holland, the owner of the IGA, comes over and starts talking with us. Soon, he is treating us to a drink and a sample of a new drink called a Chiller, plus some fried chicken. This is great. If there's one thing bicycle tourists like better than food - it's free food. As we pedal our bikes out of town, Sharon gets a flat. It has been a long twenty miles. I succeed in stuffing my old bike tire inside her new bike tire and the experiment begins. Hwy M23 is a cyclist's nightmare. Six miles farther, we cut off it. We get directions for cycling backroads to Bay City from Garry Charbonneau. The roads are great. Smooth with only a few cars. We cycled into the Bay City State Park and stood by the entrance too long looking like we didn't know what we were doing. A lady from a trailer next to the check-in came over and collected our fee. |
