Alternatives to PALM

As many of you know, PALM filled very quickly again this year, and we have turned away a large number of potential riders. I believe that PALM is a fairly unique ride in that we keep most of our daily distances to a maximum of about 50 miles, and we try to have a ride that appeals to a wide variety of ages, abilities, and biking experiences. However, there are other rides in Michigan and our surrounding states that you might decide to try as an alternative to or in addition to PALM. I will list some of them in this blog entry, and you can get details by checking out the web sites. As far as I can determine, these rides do not fill as quickly as PALM does. There seems to be a "hilly" theme to the rides this year. If you have young children, please read the web sites carefully as some rides have restrictions on the ages of children permitted on the ride.

The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. www.goba.com. June 19-26, a 7 day loop ride. From what I have been told, this ride attracts the same variety of participants as PALM does. Like PALM, each year GOBA follows a different route, and this year's ride will be located in very scenic but also rather hilly southeastern Ohio, near Athens and the Hocking Hills area. The 7 days include 5 riding days of 45-60 miles each, with 2 layover days that include optional loop rides or alternate activities. The ride limit is 3000, and the fee does not include meals. GOBA has an excellent web site, with lots of details about the ride and an excellent rider handbook.

Across Ohio Bicycle Adventure (XOBA). July 25 to August 1. www.outdoor-pursuits.org/xoba. The ride is limited to 250 participants. This year's route will cover the rolling hills of southern and eastern Ohio. The average daily mileage is 60 miles.

TRIRI. Touring Ride Across Rural Indiana. June 20-26. www.triri.org. This year's hilly route is in southeastern Indiana and includes 3 days of 65 miles, and 3 layover days with optional loops.

Rides sponsored by the League of Michigan Bicyclists. www.lmb.org. The League sponsors several rides which this year include Pedal and Paddle (June 5-6),the Sunrise Adventure (June 18-20), MUP (July 17-24), and the challenging and very scenic West Shoreline (August 7-14).

If you want even more options, you can go to www.nbtda.com, and search for rides all over the country.

We sincerely hope that all of you find a biking adventure that you can enjoy in 2010, and we hope that you will be able to join us on PALM in 2011.

Ellie, PALM "Mail Granny"

Working away

Things are going slowly on the application front. I did a batch of applications for about 80 people last weekend. I sent out confirmations for those on Wednesday. Everyone should have gotten them by now. I checked with Vickie today and she sent me some more that I should be getting tomorrow. With all this, I'm only up to rider 371. I'm not even half done yet. Ellie has created a list of everyone who is on the ride and when we received their application. I checked it and I haven't started on the people whose applications reached us on Jan 19, the Tuesday after the MLK holiday. That means if you didn't fill out and mail your application the day you received it, there is no way I've processed your application. We've mailed back the checks of everyone who didn't get on the ride 10 days ago so everybody who is not on the ride knows it. If you haven't heard from us, that's a good thing.

While you are waiting for your confirmations, now would be a good time to get your bike in shape. I got a note from my bike shop. He's pretty idle and it's not like you're going to miss any good biking weather this week. You'll get your bike back quickly and you'll be ready for those odd little quirks in Michigan's weather. (Last year it got up to the 50's in February and I was able to ride to Belle Isle and around it from work. Go figure.) For me, I broke a tent pole on last year's PALM. The bike shops helped me jury rig a fix for the tour, but I've got to get it fixed or replaced. Now is the time for me to do it, not May when Sierra Designs will be too busy to care about me.

Amazingly, the gardening stuff has really picked up. Last week I began a 9 week course (Urban Roots) on community gardening. We had the first meeting of the Grandmont Community garden on the Tuesday of the big snow. And we have the potluck next Tuesday that kicks off the Garden Resource Program, a good way to spend Mardi Gras. All this and we can't see the ground for the snow. We must be optimistic in Michigan. I found out that my dog really likes playing in deep snow, so it does have its uses.