Day 1: Departure

 

Departure was at 9:00 am this morning from the U of M Diag.    It was overcast and cool, but good riding weather.  I was ready to roll, but first I had to pick up  a last minute item from the bike shop on my way out of town. 

The U of M  campus was a great place for a sendoff.   I slowly meandered through the streams of students, got on the road and headed to the bike shop.

On my way, I noticed the bike was not handling very good, so returned to my truck to jettison some weight from the panniers.   I also repositioned a bag to distribute the weight better.    After making these adjustments, I finally left Ann Arbor at 11:30 AM.  The bike was handling great and the reduced weight was manageable.

I had originally planned to make it past Toledo today, but after the late start, I only made it to Adrian. I rode a total of 60 miles today.   I had no problems with traffic.   Still, I got a nice 10 mile reprieve at the end of the  day between Tecumseh and Adrian on the Kiwanis trail.   Rain had been threatening all day and held off until 5:00 pm.