An Oxygen debt is really hard to repay

This hill is steep. Still can't figure out how to photograph hills to correctly show their steepness. Way back Lake Leelanau can barely be seen

Open early for business. I would really liked to taste their hard ciders but I had miles to go. Lots of people did. They made excellent ginger ale and ok cherry pop.

over the top lawn ornament shop in Sutton's Bay

Lots of cute shops

Grand Traverse Bay

A big bowl of cherries awaited us in camp. This is cherry country. Miles of cherry trees and they have a great crop this year. Yay Michigan!

Downtown Traverse City in the evening. A great town

A whole store devoted to the road that goes up and down the Leelanau peninsula. Did I want to pay $80 for a cute bike jersey with M22 stamped all over it? I actually considered... Meanwhile plenty of people downstate have M22 stickers on their cars (along with M119, the Tunnel of Trees road further north

town clock

fruit spread for breakfast. The catering company that fed us at the Traverse City campsite was excellent. Lots of different salads for dinner. So good.

Leland to Traverse City. Just 35 miles and half was going to be on a flat bike tail.  Happy, happy, joy, joy! No rain, no wind, clear skies. The night was horrible at least for me as the tent kept collapsing on top of me. My friend was sound asleep in a safe pocket but I had to continually adjust things. We diagnosed the problem the next day and no more problems after that.

The interior of the Leelanau is quite hilly but beautiful. We started out circling Lake Leelanau.. Pretty and then into the hills winding through  cherry orchards the trees overladen with fruit. Lots of yellow cherries. Up to this point, I could handle the hills but then the Sue walking program commenced. What is wrong with me? I have gone up much bigger hills on a road bike (less gears). I spent too much time on this trip lamenting the loss of my once strong body. Granted a big body is hard to haul up hills but it shouldn't matter on the downhills and flats. I was so much slower than I used to be there too. I blame chemo. Adriamycin can attack the heart both acutely and chronically. Well I survived the acute phase but I am wondering about the chronic late effects. And my running is even worse. I feel great and I guess that's what counts. Last night I was with the Moms and my companion said something about my unbelievable  slowness and how she couldn't wait for me. I guess this was a joke but it just hurt so much. I was prepared to wait for her. Two years ago, my companion was a younger man and I am sure I slowed him down but not once did he complain. We weren't in any big hurry.

From Traverse City blog: what the hills look like in the spring

Somewhere towards the top of all these hills was the cidery surrounded by pretty flowers. Everyone stopped. Excellent house made ginger ale...very gingery with other flavors thrown in. At some point I had hit a bump and now I was hearing a scraping sound. The brakes? I had to keep stopping to adjust. We were stopping at a bike shop in Sutton's Bay, which was at the bottom of a great downhill. By the time we got there, I think I had solved the problem. The bike shop somehow sourced excellent little Polish cookies for their spread.  We left the bikes there for a walk around the beautiful town chock full of cute stores on a beautiful bay.

A bike path all the way to Traverse City from there though it was more inland than I would have liked. We were going to be staying a few miles past the downtown area so I asked my friend to stop along the bay so we could park the bikes and walk inland for lunch. I was right behind her but had to stop for the absurd amounts of traffic and of course, she wouldn't stop until we were well past the area. (I couldn't wait, you are just too slow!). She eventually stopped and we backtracked a mile (fortunately a short day) and had an excellent lunch and looked in some of the stores. After setting up the tents, on to the nearby beach. A tad cool but sunny and pretty.

After an exceptionally good dinner, we took the shuttle to town and walked forever to a wonderful bar with an outdoor patio (the North Star). A guitar player played softly and well in the background. We both had the sampler (see below) which was way too much and I left a lot unfinished. Then a pretty walk and a good sleep.