ODRAM plus more

The One Day Ride Across Michigan: ODRAM is a major cycle event that benefits JDRF. ODRAM took place this past Saturday with riders starting in Montague and traveling 150 miles to Bay City. I've been on the organizing team for this event since 2010 but I've never done the ride. It's very difficult to work an event and also be a participant. Saturday was a pretty crappy day to ride. It started with monsoon like rains. These stopped for a while and then were replaced with light sprinkles. Then the sun came out and then the monsoons came back. This continued from 7:00 in the morning until 8:00 in the evening. We had almost 400 riders registered but only about 300 braved the conditions and rode. Even though it was a tough day most of the riders finished with big smiles and boundless enthusiasm.

An ODRAM group rolls through Gordonville during one of the day's few sunny moments.

Since I didn't get to ride Saturday I was very motivated to get out on Sunday. I took the White Pine Trail south toward Grand Rapids and then followed the marked city streets over to the start of Kent Trails on the west side of the city. From there I made my way to some brand new trails in Millennium Park. I rode around the entire park. There were lots of kayaks, paddleboards, and swimmers out on the lake on a perfect summer Sunday afternoon. I was keeping up a pretty good pace on my ride. When I got home I had logged 36 miles at an average speed of 17.6 MPH. That might be my best speed ever on a solo ride.

Amelia Island JDRF Ride in 74 days.