If you ever find yourself in Manistique in the Upper Peninsula at Marley's Bar and Grill and the special is a walleye sandwich, get it. This was the exact situation that we found ourselves shortly before midnight on day 2 of the inaugural Mac and Cheese 1200. My riding buddies Spencer Klaassen, Mark Thomas and Ian Hands and I went all in on the walleye special, and we did not regret it.
The Mac and Cheese was a massive cooperative undertaking of the Great Lakes Randonneurs and the Detroit Randonneurs, led respectively by Michele Brougher and Jeremy Gray. Their task seemed daunting but they handled the chaos with aplomb. The first interesting task was to move most of the 63 riders across 50 miles of Lake Michigan from the finish town of Manitowoc, WI to the ride start in Ludington, MI. Enter the Badger! The Badger is a coal fired ferry that was up to the four hour trip and also served as host site for our floating pre-ride meeting, reflective gear inspection, complimentary dinner and rando socializing.
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| Pre-ride meeting on the Badger. Don't miss the Badger!!! |
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| Robert Sexton with burrito bowl enjoys the deck. |
Once across the lake to the start of town of Ludington we checked into our rooms and caught a beautiful sunset. 5am came early but it was good to
finally be pedaling and I found myself in the moment. The beginning of the course heads up through the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and I can attest that I am now truly smitten with the mitten! Rolling hills and bluffs overlooking the lake dotted with quaint tourist towns. You know the kind. Coffee shops, fudge for sale, ice cream on every corner and clothing stores providing customers with the all important flip collars for an evening yachting. Just before nightfall Mark had picked out a restaurant/Brew Pub in Petoskey, imagine that. The chipotle chicken panini and New England hazy IPA did not disappoint. We made our way to the finger tips of the mitten where we were provided a hot buffet dinner and then were shuttled across the Macinac Bridge which connects the LP and the UP. The bridge is not conducive to biking. In fact a car once blew off of it! This was the second great challenge to the ride organizers but they pulled it off without a hitch. After dinner they had vans shuttle the riders across the bridge and loaded our bikes into a trailer, ultimately racking them at the overnight safe and sound. In total they had 35 volunteers helping to make the ride run like a Swiss watch. We were into our beds before midnight (IBM). A great day on the bikes ridden mainly with Mark Thomas, Carol Bell, Bernard Flynn and Ian Hands. We also rode on and off with Gary Prince, Robert Sexton, Brian Feinberg and Vinny. Spencer was behind us just a bit but we connected at the day 2 start and would basically stay connected for the next 3 days to the finish.
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| The roll out |
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| Our first taste of fog, it would be a recurring theme. |
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| The mitten has hills! |
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| Why can't the sunflowers face towards us like in the Tour de France! |
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| Ian, Carol and Bernard avec sunflowers. |
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| Much needed fried chicken and a coke. Welcome to America Bernard! |
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| Dinner stop at Petoskey Brewing. Hang with Mark. He researches the course. |
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| The Macinac Bridge |
Day 2 started with a peek of Lake Huron and then proceeded northerly until reaching Lake Superior. Lake Superior is by surface area the largest lake in the world and that's just the top! It contains 10% of the earth's surface freshwater. It could flood all of North and South America to a depth of 1 foot, but fortunately it stayed within its banks. At the northern most control point at Whitefish Falls we were provided with a bag lunch with fantastic homemade sandwiches that included real tomato slices and dried out a bit from a brief rain shower with a cup of noodles. I was happy that we got to ride a fair bit of this day with Vernon Smith and Paul Foley. Two Adrian Hands members and very strong riders from Colorado. I'm coming out for a visit sometime guys, trust me. Our next stop was optional but we took the option. Jeremy Gray was even there providing snacks and drinks. We took a walk with the tourists to view Tahquamenon Falls and had a look. When we returned to the bikes I heard the
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald from behind a building. We investigated. A local musician was entertaining another group of tourists. There were open rocking chairs and a service window for the adjoining Tahquamenon Falls Brewery. This was shaping up to be a real time killer. We snuck in a Bratwurst and a few more songs before moving the train on down the road. We were now heading back south across the UP and into the dusk. We sang songs and enjoyed the cool air of the evening. The end of day 2 found us in Manistique where we headed to Marley's for the aforementioned walleye sammies. Paired with a UPA (Upper Peninsula Ale) or a Keweenaw Brewing Widow Maker Black Ale the walleye swam down our gullets.
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| Heading back from Whitefish Point along Lake Superior. Paul Foley and Gary Prince in the caboose. |
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| Yes we walked to the Falls |
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| Time for an ice cream and reflective gear. |
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| Too bad you can't hear our rendition of American Pie! |
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| A round of UPAs at Marley's in Manistique |
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| Jack's, photo by Mark Thomas |
Day 3 started with a long stretch without services as we crossed the Hiawatha Nation Forest. We had a stiff crosswind from our left which eventually would be in our faces as we made our way to the south. By the time we reached Jack's Restaurant in Rapid River 45 miles into the day there was no debate about second breakfast. Jack's filled our bellies with blueberry pancakes, french toast and sausage skillets and we headed down the road better for it. It would be another 50 miles before we stopped for our provided sack lunch at the Faithhorn Long Branch Saloon. Great stop! They even had Widow Maker on tap. We sampled some just for quality control purposes. Yup it was still good. We followed the Menominee River south for 30 miles looking across the river at Wisconsin but riding the whole time in Michigan. We stopped at the info control at River Park which of course was manned with snacks including watermelon slices, one of my favorite ride foods on a hot day. It was great to see Katie Raschdorf flying the colors of
La Société Adrian Hands there and feeding the hungry masses. In Marinette we stopped for a sit down meal at the Rail House Restaurant and Brew Pub. Did I mention that we ate well on this ride? I came back 8 lbs the greater! Hey it's better than a bonk. In Marinette we would cross the Menominee River and find ourselves back in the land of cheese curds on every corner headed down to Green Bay. Our crew built throughout the day and true to tradition we sang through the night. I think Patrick Chin-Hong had ridden with us all day just to reach this point. He has quite a repertoire but more importantly he can even stay in key! We rolled into Green Bay dodging huge frost cracks and found ourselves on the roof top of Titletown Brewing just before closing. We had our reward for the day overlooking beautiful Green Bay all lit up before us. It was nice to see Geof Simons helping out riders at the Green Bay control and swap ride stories before heading to bed.
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| Prepping for Green Bay |
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| Patrick, Bernard, Ian, Carol and Spencer |
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| Rando fuel at River County Park, thanks Katie! Patrick needs a baggie filled with Nutella please. |
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| Riding along the Menominee River. Wisconsin on the far bank. |
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| Night falls heading toward Green Bay. Ready those vocal chords. |
Day 4 snuck us out of Green Bay on a quiet bike path and into the rolling farmland of Door County. The theme of the day was cheese! We had sticks, curds, fried curds, pizza and even cheese soup at Renard's Cheese Shop in Sturgeon Bay. By this time we had be joined by Turbo Tim Lucas and it certainly was enjoyable sharing these finishing kilometers with steady Tim. I really enjoyed the Wisconsin roads. Good surfaces, wide and rolling with low traffic. We had a tailwind for the first third of the day but that would change when we headed back south to Manitowoc. At two controls we tried to recruit Lydia into our posse but she was smarter than that even though this was her first solo 1200k. She sure looked like a veteran though. The final run into Manitowoc saw thunderstorms, moderate rain showers and the weirdest fog that we had ever encountered. The low fog was rolling in off the lake in front of us like tentacles. Once we got into the fog the temperature would drop at least 10 degrees, maybe more. Immediately everyone was shivering and we all stopped to put on extra layers. A few miles later we were out of the fog and now roasting. Another stop, this time to shed layers. It was impossible to get comfortable from a temperature standpoint so we just rolled with it into and out of the frigid fog. We made our way through the NextEra Nuclear Power property at Two Rivers where we were on our best behavior. We had been warned that we would be on camera. There was no unusual Rando-activity recorded at Two Rivers that day. The finishing 6 miles was on a winding bike path along the shore of Lake Michigan as the fog gathered strength above the lake for a full onslaught later that night. The ride concluded at the Econolodge in downtown Manitowoc where we received our finishing medals and our RUSA 20th Anniversary medals. We donned cheese head hats for our finishing line photos and then celebrated for hours. We told lies and laughed and of course ate Mac and Cheese!
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| Sneaking out of Green Bay |
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| The Flying Dutchman really knows how to enjoy a ride! Ben Schipper |
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| Ian enters dairy land. So this is where cheese comes from. |
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| Rolling through Wisconsin with Robert Sexton and the posse. |
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| Ian, Vinny and Robert |
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| When you hit the gravel, follow Miss Gravel Worlds line. |
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| Spencer thinking about cheese...and Walleye! |
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| Fried curd, FTW. |
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| Did I mention that they take their cheese seriously in Wisconsin? |
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| Mark leads us back to the lake. |
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| Day 4 rain and then fog. That fog ahead is COLD! |
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| It's not easy dragging a walleye out of the lake but we put that big fish into the boat! |
We slept well on this ride. 17 hrs total. The course is quite flat with just over 15,000' of climbing but is susceptible to strong winds and rapid weather changes. No 1200k is easy. There are sections of limited services but the organizers took care of that by providing sack lunches on days 2 and 3. At each overnight we were efficiently provided with a room and a bed to ourselves as well as a hot meal! There was a roving mechanic throughout the ride, Eric Lyngaas. Let's just say that Eric stayed busy! Thank you to the Great Lakes Randonneurs, the Detroit Randonneurs and all of the 35 volunteers that made this first edition of the Mac and Cheese a rousing success! I'm already craving cheese curds and walleye!
http://www.macandcheese1200k.org/
Ride data courtesy of Mark Thomas
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28534988
Once across the lake to the start of town of Ludington we checked into our rooms and caught a beautiful sunset. 5am came early but it was good to
La Société Adrian Hands there and feeding the hungry masses. In Marinette we stopped for a sit down meal at the Rail House Restaurant and Brew Pub. Did I mention that we ate well on this ride? I came back 8 lbs the greater! Hey it's better than a bonk. In Marinette we would cross the Menominee River and find ourselves back in the land of cheese curds on every corner headed down to Green Bay. Our crew built throughout the day and true to tradition we sang through the night. I think Patrick Chin-Hong had ridden with us all day just to reach this point. He has quite a repertoire but more importantly he can even stay in key! We rolled into Green Bay dodging huge frost cracks and found ourselves on the roof top of Titletown Brewing just before closing. We had our reward for the day overlooking beautiful Green Bay all lit up before us. It was nice to see Geof Simons helping out riders at the Green Bay control and swap ride stories before heading to bed.
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