I Ride For: Greg

I Ride For: Greg

Greg, I did this one just for you from the very start of the day. I got up at 5:00am and was on the road by 5:30. I know how much you like to get up early. It actually was not as bad as I expected. The moon and stars were fantastic. Now I see why you like this so much.

By 6:10am I was crossing the Torch River Bridge. I have never seen the American Flag over the bridge lit up. For 10 years of riding under it, I always assumed they only turned it on for the 4th of July. Another benefit of getting up before the sun.

My route from there took me to Kalkaska and then to the Grand Travers Lodge. There I put on my mask and ventured into the coffee shop. They had your favorites all individually wrapped - homemade granola bars. I got one along with an iced coffee and ate the entire thing out on a bench. It is amazing that your coffee drink and mine are the same - a large iced latte with coconut milk.

Then the final stretch back to our houses on Torch Lake. I had to make one “extra” loop to make sure I got in the full metric century. I did the 62.137 miles because I know you are a scientist and prefer the metric system. I finished right in front of your favorite restaurant “Pearls”. I will go back and eat a hush puppy just for you.

I hope you get rid of the cancer soon and we all get rid of COVID so you can come back to Torch next year

SHINE!

The Road Rider

PS For everyone else who reads this: Greg hates getting up early. (I finished at 10am which is his usual open the shades time.) I have no idea if he likes the Granola Bars or iced Latte at the Grand Travers lodge. (I love them!) The food he misses the must not being in Elk Rapids this year is Pearls. (Again I love the hush puppies and would have eaten them even if Greg did not have cancer.). And I did the metric century because I did not have time to do a full century and get what I wanted to do the rest of the day done. (So in essence I did this ride for Greg, but did all the stuff I liked and used him as my excuse.)