I know everything will work out. I'm sure you have the seatcover on the saddles, right?
On Tuesday, August 12, 2025 at 10:55:31 AM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > 2nd-ever Mother-Son Bike Camping trip is underway! The weather is IFFY, my > friends, but we are optimistic. We don’t know why. We are novices, and we > are excited, and not even the lightning can discourage us. (Ok, we won’t > ride in lightning, but it made this post more thrilling so I said it.) > > John Lenin (🙄) is in the driver’s seat, I am in charge of music and > photography, and both of us are complaining about the other’s prowess in > these assigned roles. > > [image: image0.jpeg] > > The bikes are trashed. So much for living those drivetrains. Horrors. > Check out the stuff we gotta strap on these bikes! We tossed it all in, > little preparation this time. > [image: image1.jpeg] > The plan was to ride from Charlevoix to Mackinac Island and back, with 2 > nights of camping. A local to the area (whom I have never met but “know” > from online), John Williams, who has the purplest purple Platypus, has > convinced us we should come to his turf in Traverse City and add on a ride > with him. So we are! Because I am free-spirited, which is a new thing I’m > doing! > > We’ll acquire some rust on this bike trip as the downpour has been > relentless the first 75 miles of our drive, and continuing. WE ARE > OPTIMISTIC that the rain will be done by the lunch hour, which is when we > meet our host for the Traverse City ride. > > Pam Murray sent a new thing I’m supposed to try. I’m still debating > discussing it here; it is borderline inappropriate but ALSO riotously funny > to me. She sent me a P Style, which you RivSisters can find for sale at > Riv’s website. The trial run was…I don’t know if I’m going to tell you. > > I’ll report back as the adventure unfurls. > Leah > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Aug 11, 2025, at 2:45 PM, Pam Bikes <[email protected]> wrote: > > Leah, I'm so excited for you. Now you know why you camp. The route > looks great! > > > And yes, I love to help out any way I can. > > I can't wait to hear all about your adventure. > > I love paper maps. It would be nice to see a page. I like a street > atlas. Is it that detailed? If anyone has one, please post one picture. > > On Friday, August 8, 2025 at 12:57:05 PM UTC-4 Steven Sweedler wrote: > >> Leah, consider buying a Delorme Gazeteer for Michigan as a fallback in >> case your electronics falter. Carrying the relevant pages has no downside >> in terms of weight or bulk. >> >> Steven Sweedler >> Plymouth, New Hampshire >> >> >> On Fri, Aug 8, 2025 at 9:45 AM Leah Peterson <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> [image: image0.png][image: image1.png] >>> >>> On Aug 8, 2025, at 12:44 PM, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> My first bike touring/camping adventure in July has ruined me for all >>> else. When we got back, all I could think of was where I would go next. My >>> son - the literal day we got home - headed for the airport and took off on >>> a solo backpacking trip in the West. HIS tent has gotten plenty of use. >>> Meanwhile, mine sat. >>> >>> When he returned, I gave him a week to recover and now we’re pointing >>> our bikes north and heading to the top of the Mitten (that’s the lower >>> peninsula, in Michigan-speak) for a few days. We will dip our tires in Lake >>> Michigan and then in Lake Huron, when we reach Mackinac Island. Two of the >>> Great Lakes, in as many days. >>> >>> I went back to Ride with GPS, determined to have a better experience >>> planning my route. I was set on cycleways this time, as most of our former >>> trip had us on busy roads that were loud and scary. I had all the same >>> problems I’d had before. I’d lose where the cycleways went when looking for >>> points of interest on the map. Trying to route to them would lose my actual >>> cycling route and I’d be opening Google maps and trying to switch back and >>> forth to see around the area. It was hopeless. I threw myself on top of the >>> bed where my husband waited and wailed, “I’m too stupid to be a bike camper >>> - I can’t even plan my trip!!!!” >>> >>> The next day, I brought in the big guns: Pamela Murray. She has never >>> turned down a Zoom call about bike topics, ever. She filled in the missing >>> pieces I needed and now the clouds have lifted and I might not be too dumb >>> to be a bike camper after all. The biggest “AHA!” was that I did not >>> realize you can toggle maps on Ride with GPS. You can switch to a Google >>> map view so you can see around you - food, restrooms, hotels, sites of >>> interest… Once I could see THAT a lot of other things fell into place. The >>> control points remain finicky, but I understand those, too. You can split >>> the route, add your own points of interest…so many great perks and I >>> finally see why everyone loves the program. >>> >>> We are riding from Charlevoix on the Little Traverse Wheelway and >>> catching the Northwestern Trail up to Mackinaw City. From there, we take >>> the ferry to Mackinac Island. My son has never been, so he’ll get to see >>> how quaint and lovely it is, plus we’ll ride the one and only car-free >>> highway in the United States, which circles the island. We’ve got camping >>> reservations at 2 campgrounds, so we’ll get to use our gear again. It will >>> be a great send-off before I have to part with him at the start of the fall >>> semester again. >>> >>> L >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the >>> Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this topic, visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/lT31xPiKVKk/unsubscribe >>> . >>> To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to >>> [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9f1e1aca-028d-4261-b432-1efa7c85c3ean%40googlegroups.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9f1e1aca-028d-4261-b432-1efa7c85c3ean%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >>> -- >>> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/C880B7A3-44BF-4B5C-9A6F-6846941AE993%40gmail.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/C880B7A3-44BF-4B5C-9A6F-6846941AE993%40gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/lT31xPiKVKk/unsubscribe > . > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [email protected]. > > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/7b87a84a-9a4d-4c0c-94fb-ae7c7e06e274n%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/7b87a84a-9a4d-4c0c-94fb-ae7c7e06e274n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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