DALMAC Fever! A Report of Our 2008 Tour

More Photos Below!Gallery
My buddy Chris and I rode this year’s DALMAC tour, choosing the 4-Day West route.

What a great tour this is—for me, anyway. It leaves right from my hometown. I ride right out the driveway to start my tour.

It pretty much started as a Lansing-based tour, for Lansing folk. But it has grown in its 25+ years to be nationally famous as one of the biggest and oldest organized tours.

This tour starts from Michigan’s capitol city then rolls thru farmland then heads up into the most scenic northwoods and coastal areas of the state for a few days. It goes thru a dozen nice small towns along the way. We stop over at friendly, rural host high schools and use their cafeterias, locker rooms, and fields (for tenting).

The late-August weather is usually perfect—cool at night, sunny by day. But the weather here keeps us always on edge—interested and prepared for what a couple hours down the road might bring.

It’s the only volunteer-run tour of such a large size, I believe. It’s put on by our local club, the TCBA.

It’s also a great value. It’s only about $200 for 4 or 5 days of fun. Trucks haul your luggage to the campgrounds. Campsites are provided, breakfast and dinner, too. Maps, clear route marking on the roads. And, finally, you get a bus-ride home at the end-point of the Mighty Mackinac Bridge.

About 2000 riders quickly fill up the several routes offered, at about 500 per route. The popular routes fill in March after being announced in Feb. At least one super-challenging option is usually available, like the Quad Century. Every 5 years there’s a Quint.

Now, this strict scheduling and rapid filling works fine in some ways, I suppose. Offhand, it seems like first-timers should be given a break, and especially young people—and I seem to recall that this is a policy, but I’m not sure. How many young riders know what they’re doing more than a month ahead of time?

In the mid-70’s DALMAC first started. My bro and I really wanted to do it. But we had no idea how. I recall that it was, like, $75. The first year we didn’t realize you needed to sign up ahead of time. The second year we just couldn’t ever find an application—the local shops weren’t any help. And we never did appreciate the Feb/March business. I hear it was even worse then than now to get a spot. So as youngsters (who had no help from their parents) we had no hope. (And I saw basically ZERO young independent people on the tour even now!) What we did instead in 1979 was to take our money do our own tour that went twice as far for twice as long. (See report elsewhere here at OYB.)

We had perfect and glorious weather on our tour.

Some people skip the first day and start riding when the route finally hits the “up north” area, but I really like getting a feel for the whole state, as the tour is designed to give. The first day is in farmland. Then all of a sudden you’re “up north”—in birches, pines and sand.

Chris and I have done the 4-Day West twice now. Maybe we’ll try the 5-Day next. It’s more casual and family-oriented. Each day is shorter and the route culture reflects this small difference in a big way.

DALMAC could be said to be more “Lutheran” than “drinking” tours like RAGBRAI. (Is there another tour like RAGBRAI?) In general, please don’t ever try to question or get an exception to any of the rules of the tour. It’s not going to happen. In a way, this makes sense: it’s a volunteer-run project. It has to be kept as clear as can be. It’s also extremely complex. 4 or 5 routes of 500 rides all on the road at the same time! If one cog gets out of track the whole org feels it. This efficiency also lets DALMAC offer far more service (like meals!) at a lower price than a bare-bones self-supported tour like RAGBRAI.

This results in some semi-humorous, semi-Catch22 scenarios.

Remember to fly your official DALMAC flag. One of our local hero bike organizers and longtime DALMACkers got himself kicked out this year for not flying a flag and for refusing to do so when asked by a (volunteer) ride leader. How to herd 500 cats? It’s probably best not to let too many of them stray. This year he rode the route anyway and stayed in his own lodging, etc.—he talked a couple dozen other riders to not register and ride flagless with him. Sadly, these were the racer-types who the tour finds to be awkward anyway. So due to such strategy the flag issue seems likely to say “as is.” This tour has had flags since it started. It’s known for the flags.

The DALMAC 4-Day West route is pretty darn serious, averaging 80 miles/day. This brings its own extra dose of “Lutheranism.” The tent zippers start unzipping at 5:30 every morning. If you linger a moment after breakfast to pack up, by 7:30 you’ll find yourself the last person standing in a once tent-crowded high school field. Along the way, don’t expect to see many riders stopping at beaches and swimming holes. At least half of them ride carbon and are making time. By 9 p.m. the campground is silent. Serious!

Now, the 5-Day runs just 10 miles shorter each day, but folks linger til 8:30 a.m. and stop to swim and sightsee more often. And you see more casual riders and families out there.

I wonder what the Quad or Quint routes are like?

People say the much smaller 200+ riders on the Quad make it a pleasant scene—but it must be intense at the same time.

Word is also that the East routes have better food and facilities.

But 4W is the classic, the first.

True, a couple of the nights feature stops at impoverished rural high schools where the locker rooms are a bit jail-like and the food similar. But it’s all good fun.

I enjoy the line-ups for food in the a.m. and p.m.—it’s a good social time. I normally hate lines, but these lines are friendly. It’s fun sitting for chow with different people each day, tenting by different people. Well, when you arrive as late as we do you get last pick anyway.

We met lots of interesting folks on this tour. One couple kept arriving even later than we did each day. They liked stopping and sampling the beer along the way. The guy was short and stocky and powered a huge gear with very slow feet in a quiet way; the gal was tall and thin and spun along, chatting with curiosity. After one long day I caught up with them at a nice hotel bar—she was having a bowl of soup while he had two lobster tails. That’s the way! They were diversely full of vim and vigor.

We rode with them off and on then swept up another local character in our mini-group’s dragnet—Lou Awodey of up north XC ski resort fame! He singlehandedly kept Boyne’s XC area rocking for decades and now runs his own “Aspen Grove”—link elsewhere here at OYB. He’s a gungho cyclist and indy guy extraordinaire. Early on Lou was riding a fully loaded beat-up 1980’s mtbike, with all his camp stuff. He lives up north so later on he stopped by his house and swapped in a Bianchi road bike and set off blazing—until it was time for snacks.

We all enjoyed riding together—and had a great stopover at Short’s in Bellaire.

Chris and I always started as early as we could and rode what we thought was swiftly but we were always near the end of the group. I guess we stopped too often for snacks or beer. We also rode at a light, spinny pace most of the time. In the small chainring. We’d put in a bit of big-ring time near the end of each day just for fun. We’d even skip occasional popular rest-stops. Yet kids, teenagers and families typically would roll past us a few times each day. Maybe it was our steel steeds?

It did seem like we got passed so often, by everyone, that maybe our bikes ARE starting to get a bit old. We were riding the oldest, onliest steel bikes on the route, so it seemed. There were maybe a dozen other newer steel bikes that we saw. …But there were hundreds of 17-lb carbon wonder bikes on display.

Maybe if you’re riding a $4K bike it inspires one to pedal harder.

Maybe if you only ride to work or for errands, like Chris and I do, you just don’t get so very fit. Ha!

It was a weird sensation. Around town I blast the bigring, and go hard pulling my mail trailer. On club rides I hammer at the front for a couple hours of fun. Yet while on this tour it seemed like it was a strain to do any more than spin the little ring and let everyone roll past (until I’d get uppity at the end of a day).

Chris’s and mine’s paces seem to match well. He’s a bit faster during the bulk of the day. And he used aerobars so he’d lead where it was windy. He also used those darn things to vex me on the uphills—he’d get some kind of leverage on them and go shooting ahead. I would tend to come on stronger near the end or for joining an end-of-day fast paceline that came whipping past us.

I used one of my new tricks for offsetting my heavy bike: don’t bring anything along. I only took a minimal patchkit and food. I let my water run out near the end of the day. Less weight for easier pedaling! This helps make up for a lack of fitness. Of course, I did freeze for an hour one morning…just so I could save a pound by not carrying arm/leg-warmers. (I could have stopped and stuffed a newspaper under my jersey, but it wasn’t so bad.) I did notice quite a few carbon bikes that had those rear strut-racks and a loaded trunk-bag. Hey, if you don’t mind, carry the kitchen sink! Maybe someday I’ll mellow out enough to bring a bunch of stuff then just toodle along, carefree.

We did do our tires nicely, though, I think. Some of the roads are rough, maybe for an hour each day. Maybe an hour is also on chipseal of some agedness and roughness. Probably most folks were on high-pressure tires at 120psi or the like. Half the riders were on 23’s. We used highly rated Micheline Pro Race 27’s at 80psi and had a cushy yet sporty ride. I heard one young sportser marvel at how harsh and chattery the road was at one point—I suggested he might roll with more cush and even mor speed if he let out a little air. Heck, after the longest day we clocked in at 50psi—but reinflated to 100psi for the 69-mile finale, which we thought we might do in zippier fashion—sure enough, we got in about an hour in the big ring.

Speaking of attention spans, I didn’t take any photos on the tour. Chris did. The following pics are from his Blackberry. He also kept snapping pics of horsies along the road and emailing them to his little daughter. Cute! But, darn, I often have the hardest time documenting or “working” on the fun outings that I go on. It takes a kind of split focus it seems to me. To be somewhere and also to be thinking ahead to a report on it or also to be outside the scene, thinking what might look good in print or on film about it. Tough!

I don’t think either of us ever bonked too badly. I heard that you can absorb about 250-300 cals/hour so we tried to eat at that rate. This meant eating a bit more than I was used to—which might be why I often get bonky on long rides. I also tried eating more meat/fat. For some lunches I had 2 burgers. It seemed to work great. –This is based on the anti-bonk lesson I learned for XC skiing last year, where pizza is now my food of choice.

OK, here’s a weird thing I learned. I must’ve used to have known all this stuff back in the race and college-physiology days, but it really strikes me now: you burn about 700 cals/hour when doing vigorous cycling (175 lbs, 18mph). Hmm, I guess you’re not burning just what you eat but also stored glycogen and stored fat. And food eaten while riding might replenish some muscle stores but it also keeps blood sugar in balance. Who knows what all!

Really, we saw no boutique lugged steel touring rigs, I have to say. Zero fancy saddlebags. However, when the routes converged on the last day then we started to see a wider variety of bikes, including some classics. And when everyone was at the Mackinaw City high school loading up, I even saw a pair of Rivendell Speedblend tires on an ancient steel jalopy.

Recumbents seemed quite popular across the board. Tandems were also on the scene.

We came across 2 guys on the last day who had ridden the Quad on their fixies! One rider was an older black man who has been riding his SAME track fixie Bianchi, brakeless, on the road and in centuries for 35 years! We rode with him for an hour when we did the DALMAC the last time a couple years ago—he led our group strongly, in a big gear. The other guy was tall, fit, young.

All along, I ran into people I knew from here and there, but when the routes converged we bumped into even more people I knew.

Chris talks about doing the Quad next time but I know his heart is inclined toward the 5-Day.

At our first night’s stop the small town high school had its first football game of the year. Many of the bikers watched part of the game. It was good fun seeing the kids give their all. One little guy did most of the running for the hometown and took them to the win. That was neat to see. One time a huge kid picked up a fumble and started lumbering back down the field. A sizeable rival jumped on his back but that didn’t hardly slow him and he kept charging along. It was funny seeing the kid finally swing his body calf-rope style to get him to fall.

The second night, in Lake City, featured a music show by the high school’s music teacher, Frank. He’s a regular performer for DALMAC—he sets up the school as a host location and rides the tour himself. That’s good great fun, too. He does a fine version of a great song about seeing the King and Janis at the airport. What’s that singersongwriter song? Rats…I just looked it up, too.

The 3rd day had a grand finale and a huge build-up to it. A famous feature of the DALMAC is “The Wall”—a steep grade near Boyne City. It gets like 15-20% for the final quarter mile of a half mile hill. That was the finale. But first after a half day of riding we came upon Torch Lake. What a beauty of emerald blue! A few miles up its shore is Alden, a town with a few nice eateries with a little park on the shore. Further on is a party bar on the water called the Dockside. We passed it up but it’s where the action was and looked ideal for a rest and a breezy beer with a view. Then the route cut inland to Bellaire.

In downtown Bellaire I finally got to taste my first Short’s “Huma Lupa” IPA straight from the tap. I’d heard of this brewery but had never been there before. It’s a dandy place. It hosts lots of top indy music gigs. And it has fine, made from scratch bar-fare food. Super all around! Chris and I hung out there awhile. Some friends came in near the end who had already been at the Dockside—clever!

After a couple IPA’s we headed out to climb The Wall. Now, that was a fun 90-mile day!

The last day featured the most scenic coastal riding and beach options.

Now, I didn’t have a bus ticket home. The last 2 times I did this tour I got a ride home with my family, who had gone up to walk the Bridge. This year they decided not to go. I didn’t sort this out until after the deadline for bus tickets. And, in DALMAC fashion, there are no exceptions! So I wrote up a sign and pinned it to my back for each day’s ride. I like to pin on a blurb about OYB anyway. –That’s kosher. Little message sign-sheets are provided as people like to pin on their names, greetings and slogans and such. So I had a message saying “Need a ride home!” along with an “I’m JP from OYB, the DIY place,” etc.

No one said much to me until near the end when a guy from Oregon said that he had room to haul my bike home. He also asked me more about OYB. He was the only person to respond to my sign in any way. I also would display the sign on my tent. I also had a notice posted at the ride leader’s HQ van. I’d think that about a quarter of the people or more arrange for their own rides home. Is indy outdoor media that common or boring?

Actually, several people did offer up their own bus tickets that they didn’t need anymore as they ended up with better ways home. But that was another firm DALMAC rule: no transfer of tickets. Apparently empty seats are preferable.

Thankfully the ride leader said I could ride home with her in her RV if no one chimed in. But on the last day she said “Do you want to drive a truck?” I said, Sure! So I got to be co-pilot in a bike truck. I got a free ride and free enroute box lunch. Cool! I also helped to load and unload hundreds of bikes. Which was a blast in its own right.

The truck’s main driver was an interesting fellow, Ken, who has volunteered at all levels with various Michigan tours. By the way, he said that for sightseeing and casualness, stopping to swim and the like, that the Shoreline Tours might be the best. They’re a bit longer, pricier, and organized by the LMB. He’s a tall, thin guy who says he likes to stand out—and he does—with long hair, lots of zebra-stripe tattoos and zebra-stripe bike shorts and piercings to boot. He’s a thoughtful sort, saying that he’s more of a problem-solver than politician. The ride leader called him her right-hand man. He makes the maps for some of the tours. —And he made a couple of amazing rigs. One is a unit that spears into the ground and stands up to branch one water hose into a half dozen spigots, creating an instant big station for filling water bottles. The other is far cooler: it’s an electric device charging station. A single power outlet tracks into a hanging fabric shoe-rack where it branches out to dozens of outlets, each with its own cloth cubby that can hold a device as it charges. We had a dandy chat and drive home.

So that was our DALMAC 2008!

It’s fun to see who can spot the Bridge first at the end of the last day’s ride.

OK, so the Northland isn’t always picturesque. Google “Tunnel of Trees, Harbor Springs” if you want scenery…

Yard carousel.

A wide variety of stone houses and buildings along the way, in various conditions…

The kind of customer who appreciates Short’s beer.

Roadside view in Harbor Springs.

Kalkaska is a picturesque town with a famous fish. I think it’s the 1st time DALMAC went thru here. Midday Saturday. –But no stores open. Usually the tour goes thru Elk Rapids—all shops open, hundreds of bikers eating on sidewalks, shopping. Hopefully Kalkaska will catch on to the opportunity! (The McD on the edge of town was jampacked anyway.)