The Unfamiliar Familiar
Albion to Sylvania - 86 miles
Average Speed - 12.6
We figured that we could make it to Sylvania if we pushed hard. We did lots of hard pushing up the many climbs in the Irish Hills, knowing that once we approached Adrian, the hills would totally vanish. Although we have ridden in the area many times, we had great difficulty remembering routes that we used to do without thinking about at all.
Gravel roads controlled our route choices north of Adrian. This part of Michigan must have more gravel roads than any other part including the UP. We simply continued on a stretch of highway until we came to a paved road. Only twice did we ride on gravel in the interest of saving some miles.
One thing that we hadn’t forgotten was the Frosty Boy in Blissfield. We stopped for refreshments there before doing the final stretch into Sylvania. Shortly after Riga, a gust of wind nearly blew me into a deep ditch.
RIGA
Once again, the winds were from the east, which is not at all common for this time of the year in this area. We had hoped for smooth sailing with a nice tailwind. We still hope for that going across Canada.
In the distance, we could see the Sylvania water tower, so we knew that we could easily survive the remaining few miles. I had never paid too much attention to the signs welcoming traffic into Sylvania, but today, I took notice of them, although I don’t know why there was no welcoming committee waiting for us.
Actually, Erik had gone to the corner of his street, but since we came from a different way, we bypassed that committee of one.