Michigander Day 5, Bellaire to Harbor Springs, 54.44 miles

Despite coming back to the tent really late and really drunk, the guy in the tent behind me was up and making a lot of noise at 5:30. He seemed fairly chipper, but I was quite tired and cranky. Having hot chocolate available at breakfast brightened my mood a bit.
The first 25 miles was all hills, which was kind of mean. It’s nice to have at least a mile or 2 to warm up before they start throwing the hard stuff at you. On the plus side, I finally figured out my secret to biking well. It turns out that all my fatigue and queasiness and general wimpy qualities was due to not eating enough. That’s why I always felt a lot better after lunch. Armed with this knowledge, and a whole bunch of apples, bananas, and power bars, I was able to start holding my own a little bit better.
The first real town we passed through was Charlevoix, a nice resort area that was setting up for a festival. They had pony rides! Alas, I decided it would be better not to take advantage of that particular attraction, given the sorry state of my rear end. I did have to make a stop in a corner drugstore to replace my sunglasses, as my trusty fake Oakleys finally bit the dust. They had served me well and will be much missed. My new ones aren’t nearly as cool, but I wasn’t feeling too picky at the time.
Leaving Charlevoix, the hills finally ended and we wound up on a paved trail along Lake Michigan. This is probably the nicest scenery we’ve had on any of the trips. It was postcard-perfect. I forced my parents to stop for lunch at Wendy’s outside of Petosky. We usually try to avoid fast food, but we were being routed along the outside of town, and future lunch prospects looked dim. And there was no way I was going to wait until we got to Harbor Springs, even though it was only 10 miles away.
The trail and the view continued to be gorgeous, but the downside to riding along the lake became apparent as we got closer to our goal. The headwinds were kicking our butts. The houses along the lake were enormous and tastefully landscaped. The owners must have been gasping in horror at the unwashed masses riding into town. Just when we thought we were almost to the school, we turned right to see a giant hill looming before us. In lowest gear, with the wind in our faces, we struggled up to the top. Just before the peak, my heart sank to see an arrow pointing right. We turned the corner with zero momentum, only to see that the climb wasn’t over. Some bikers that had gotten in earlier were walking down the hill, shouting encouragement, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Figuring out how to breathe seemed like the higher priority. Luckily the school was only a block past the hill, and we could collapse fairly soon afterward. We actually beat John and Ben in, which is pretty rare. Cathy and Sarah already had our spot staked out, their bags and bikes spread out to keep other campers away.
We all headed down to the beach, but John and I were the only ones to actually get wet. And I kind of regretted it. It wasn’t that warm of an afternoon and there was a constant breeze. Everyone wanted to stroll around the town a bit, so I had to shiver for a while. But it was worth it when we passed by the fudge shop. We snuck in to grab free samples without buying anything, and then wandered over to a glass blowing shop to watch a demo. I was happy. It was warm in there.
For the first time this trip, I put on jeans after my shower. It was nice to be cool after a string of 90° days. The sweatshirt I put on later to go downtown was even better.
Dinner was probably the highlight of the entire trip. We had heard rumors (which turned out to be correct) that the caterer was the same one that had cooked in Mackinaw City last year, a meal which has become legend. They did not disappoint. It was food that I would order in a nice restaurant. You have to admire a group that will do roast beef, portabella mushroom ravioli, and real green beans for 600 people. Plus a make-your-own sundae bar for dessert.
At the beginning of the week, John had given everyone in the group a Lance Band, so we finally got around to taking a group picture with everyone showing theirs off. Mom and I had been wearing ours around our ankles, as they were way too big for our wrists.
After that, we headed back downtown. There were people singing on street corners, which was fun. This was all city-sponsored of course. Real street performers aren't classy enough for Harbor Springs. We wandered into trendy boutiques and pretended like we could afford to breathe on the clothes. Then we were off to the docks to ogle the yachts. The guys wandered off to get more ice cream before we headed back to our last night of sleeping on the ground.