I just had my bike thrill of the summer! We were driving to visit the inlaws in Battle Creek — from one desert of bike culture to another — when we came around a bend and I saw a posse of bikes ahead. As I got nearer I became confused. My first thought was “Non-English speaking.”
The inputs were frying my circuitry: *they all had bundles of luggage on their bikes, *the bundles were in strange locations, *they weren’t wearing helmets, *they weren’t wearing bike clothes, *the bikes were all wrong.
I waved and drove by then honked a couple times. They waved back. I noticed one guy was riding a … a … one-speed cruiser. And one guy was on some kind of Surly. I saw cork grips. And they had front baskets.
I drove a ways then said, Wait a minute, I’m pulling over! Who are they? I have to take their picture!
Guess what? It was a group of microbrew pals riding from brewery to brewery in SW Michigan! They’d come from Dark Horse in Marshall and were headed to Arcadia then Bell’s then… my mind was fizzing again. Beer dudes! From Milwaukee. On an 80-mile tour!
What a great idea! Catch this: Start at Dark Horse in Marshall, ride 12 miles west to Battle Creek, 20 miles to Bell’s in Kalamazzo, 50 miles NW to New Holland in Holland, 20 miles NE to Founder’s in Grand Rapids, then 50 miles SE back to Marshall. Rockin’! — Tour de Brew! …Of SW MI. I want to do that! A 150-mile weekend. OK, modify as need be. But they’d all be nice riding roads. That part of the state is well-kept, with geologic pride in their rolling hills, lots of public land, rivers, streams and non-destroyed small towns. (Probably quite right-wing, too, but whatever — let’s see what kind of fun can be had before any decisions are made!)
One guy’s cruiser was a New Belgium. They were cheery, friendly. But I didn’t get their names! I told ’em I was into bikes and beer, too. I mentioned my website and asked if they’d heard of the iBOB email list — no (sigh).
Then I asked ’em if it was cool to make beer from fresh hops as I was planning on doing tomorrow or if I should dry ’em a bit first. Dry ’em a bit, was the idea. Too grassy otherwise. OK. Then I said Good luck and we were all on our way.
Dang, what a first! I’ve never seen bike tourers in our neck of the woods. In 30 years. Never seen a whole group out riding kinda regular allrounder bikes, much less a group wearing regular clothes, regular shoes, no helmets. That’s 3 firsts! (I mean, except for me and a few of my geek pals on special occasions.)
Seeing these dudes generated so much good-will in so short a time that my wiring almost melted. Maybe one of them will see this and say Hi. WHO WERE THEY?
(PS: Just to remind you, yet again, of what I live with around here, when I toodle in streetwear on a beater bike without wearing a helmet I have folks I know — who are ALWAYS in lycra, carbon and reflecto-shades and who ONLY ever ride that way — yell angrily at me about it. Not a hi — anger. …From folks who’ve never ridden for groceries. Yelling at me. My friends yell at me instead of saying Hi. Catch the different vibe?)
