PALM Bike Tour 2012

PALM Fills

2012-02-05T14:50:00.001-05:00

We posted the PALM 2012 application for download on Jan 12. It was supposed to be at noon but I put it out there earlier so that the server wouldn't be bombarded. I picked Jan 12 so that people would have two days to mail in their applications before the MLK holiday. We would be able to tell by the Saturday mail whether people knew that the application had to be downloaded from the website or whether we had to call/email people over the weekend to tell them about it. We needn't have worried. We received the applications for 629 riders and 53 staff postmarked Jan 12. We received the applications for 137 riders postmarked on Jan 13. We decided to accept all the riders postmarked Jan 13. That gives us 766 riders, well over our 700 rider cutoff. PALM filled in two days. Amazing.

Using the email address on the applications, Ellie sent out emails for every application that was accepted. She returned the checks with our regrets to everyone whose application had a postmark after Jan 13. Everyone who mailed in an application should know by now whether they are on PALM or not. It's nice to fill quickly but we really don't like telling people that they can't be on PALM. We all live for PALM and can imagine what we would feel like if we couldn't do it. But we are limited: we stay at schools and they can only handle so many people comfortably. There is just so much you can ask an all volunteer staff to do. Still we hate to say no. We don't keep a waiting list. Instead we accept more riders than our limit to cover any cancellations that may occur.

So looking at the numbers, I am 833 behind : 766 riders and 67 staff/SAGs. So much for New Years resolutions. There are basically three of us doing registration. Vickie checks the applications (Were the waivers signed? Were sizes picked for the tshirts? Is there an emergency contact? Is the check amount correct?) and does the paper work for the accountant while Judy and I key in the applications, create and send out the confirmation letters. (The meal, bus, and tshirt counts and the meal and bus lists come from this.)

Vickie has the tougher job. Any mistake means she has to contact the rider by email or phone to straighten it out. Any mistake with a check means she has to mail the check back and get a new one. This takes time. It also means that your check won't be cashed for a while. Vickie processes the applications in the order received and doesn't cash the checks until the application has been verified. There are roughly 500 applications. It's a good thing Ellie sent out emails telling people that they are on the ride because it may take weeks before they receive a confirmation letter or even have their check cashed.

Download PALM Application Now

2012-01-12T06:08:00.000-05:00

You can download the 2012 PALM application by clicking this link. If this link is busy then click this link.

Winter Day

2012-01-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

   I did make it to the First Dozen in Dearborn on Jan 1. It was very windy: I was almost blown over by a gust while waiting at a red light. Fortunately the wind was against us on the way out and with us on the way back. There is nothing worse than riding, thinking you are in good shape, only to find when you turn around that you had a strong wind at your back and now have a long way back. It happens to me every year. The temperature was in the 40s so there was no chance of the predicted snow. There was a brief shower at the start but none during the ride. That would have been brutal.

   I checked the Weather website. The average high in January is 33 and the average low is 18. Up until now we may think it's cold but it's not. We've been 10-15 degrees above normal. Until now that is. Tuesday was a real winter day: it started out at 17 degrees and didn't make it out of the low 20's with a 10-15 mph wind from the northwest. I run in the morning. Running the first time that it is below 20 is hard for me. At the end of the winter when I've done it for 2 months I don't even think about it. But that first time...

   We still haven't had a real snow. I can still see the grass so I know that winter hasn't actually started yet. And yet next week you will be able to download the 2012 PALM application starting at noon on Jan 12. It doesn't seem possible. Generally we are in the depths of winter when the PALM applications go out. So don't forget and tell all your friends: Jan 12 starting at noon download the 2012 PALM application, winter or no winter.

Registering Groups on PALM

2011-12-31T14:20:00.001-05:00

   I suggested in a previous post that if you intend to ride with a group, you should have everybody in the group on the same application (ie in the same envelope when mailed). That way you won't have some of your group not making it on PALM because they mailed their application in too late. If everyone is on the same application (envelope) either everyone in the group is on PALM or none of the group is on PALM. (And if the group decides to cancel, it will only cost $20 for the whole group, not $15 apiece.) But what if members of your group are in different states? (We have one family with members in Nebraska and members in Arkansas.) How is everyone going to sign the waiver?

   To get around this, I put the waiver on the website at http://www.lmb.org/palm/files/PALMLiabilityWaiver.pdf. Pick the person who will mail in the application. Have everyone who is remote download the waiver now, fill it out, and mail it to this person before Jan 12. Then this person can download the application at noon on Jan 12, fill out the application for everyone, sign the waiver him/herself, and include the waivers for everyone else who is remote. Don't forget the business sized stamped self addressed envelope.

   One thing you will notice is that the waiver is 1.3Mg in size and takes a while to download. You may worry about how long it's going to take to download the whole application. Don't worry: the application is about 1/10 the size. I don't know why the waiver alone is so large.

   I mentioned I like to bike at least once every month even during the winter. I hadn't ridden yet this December and it wasn't looking like I would be able to do it. But while I was running yesterday I noticed that there wasn't any wind, that it was partly cloudy, and seemed mild. It was supposed to rain, but it looked like it would hold off for a while. So when I got back, I put on all my cold weather gear, pumped up the tires on my mountain bike (that took a while), and got out. It was about 38 degrees but it didn't seem that bad. My toes got cold at the end, it started to sprinkle the last few blocks, and my throat got a little sore but I was able to get a 12 mile bike ride in. I was happy. And tomorrow I plan to do the First Dozen bike ride in Dearborn so I will be able to check January off the list. Now if I can get down to Florida sometime in February...

PALM Postcard

2011-12-26T07:13:00.000-05:00

   By now everyone should have received a postcard from PALM announcing that PALM will not be mailing out applications this year. Instead you will be able to download the application from http://www.lmb.org/palm starting at noon January 12. Once again, we are doing this so that everyone will be able to get the PALM application at the same time and have an equal chance to get on PALM. We know that not everybody has internet access. We mailed out the postcard early so that riders that don't have internet access have time to make arrangements with friends or locate a public library with internet access. January 12 is a Thursday so libraries and post offices should be open. If you have friends on PALM, check to see if they received this postcard and realize that they will have to download the application from the PALM website.

   Remember you only have to pay the registration fee right away (same as last year: $110 for participants 18 and above, $65 for participants 11 to 17, $55 for participants 10 and below.) You can add meals and bus rides any time before May 15. Please enclose the completed application page, the signed release page, and a business sized stamped self addressed envelope with your check or money order when you mail in your application. If you are riding with a group, try to get the whole group on the same application (ie in the same envelope). That way either everyone will be on the ride or everyone will not be on the ride. We would like everybody to be on PALM, but the size of the schools that we stay at forces a limit of 700 riders. Best of luck to all.

   No white Christmas but winter is here for sure. I don't think I'm going to be able to get in a December bike ride. My vegetable garden has been put to bed. (I pulled the last carrots, beets, and parsnips at the beginning of December). I leave the flowers in the front of the house alone so that the birds can eat the thistles from the cone flowers and blacked eyed Susans. I got to see some finches in September/October but last week I got to see a pair of downy woodpeckers: all black and white and red. Pretty exciting for Detroit.

PALM 2012 Update

2011-12-16T09:23:00.002-05:00

As I said in a prior post, we will not be mailing out the 2012 PALM application as we have done in the past. The only way to get the application will be to download it from the PALM website: http://www.lmb.org/palm. The 2012 PALM application will be available for download starting at Jan 12 noon (EST). This will give you 48 hours to download and mail your application before the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Remember to send both the filled application and the signed release page with your check or money order and a business sized stamped self addressed envelope to PALM; PO Box 7161; Ann Arbor, MI 48107. If you mail your application from a post office, you can have them postmark it right then. This may help you get on the ride (if we get don't 1000 applications all postmarked Jan 12).

There's been a change to the route. We couldn't get Oxford as a site. Instead the Thursday site will be Ortonville. This will mean that the last day's ride will be 45 miles. Usually we keep the mileage for the last day down to 30 - 35 miles to be sure everybody is there in time for the PALM parade, PALM provided lunch, and the return buses. We may have to rethink the parade and have the buses leave later. We'll see.

Yesterday it was in the 50's. I try to ride every month and yesterday seemed my one chance for December. Too bad about the rain. Although the weather kept getting cooler thru November and there was some frost, my fall vegetables didn't seem to be in danger. I didn't pull my carrots and parsnips until the last week in November. (I got a pretty good crop of carrots: good size and no forks. But did I get the ugly parsnips! More like misshapen heads than roots.) And I didn't pull my beets until the beginning of December. Now with my garden put to bed I have nothing left but winter. At least the grass is still green.

Something Different For 2012

2011-11-25T09:30:00.001-05:00

PALM has 700 rider limit. When I first joined staff in 1998, Drew was doing the registration. He would always make a motion to extend the May 1 cutoff date for signing up for PALM. Then 6 years ago we hit 700 riders in April and had to close the ride early. We didn't know what to do. We ended up well over 700 because we were caught off guard. Since then, we've been filling earlier and earlier. Now it's to the point that the ride fills before some of our out of state riders have gotten their applications. I tried to rectify that by mailing out of state applications and out state applications earlier. But even though we mail out applications 1st class, the mail is not delivered predictably. Our ride chair, who lives 45 miles from where the applications were mailed, received his 4 days after it was mailed and last year the ride closed in 4 days.

We want everyone to have an equal chance of getting on PALM.It is obvious that mailing out applications is not going to do it. So we are going to try something different. We are going to announce a date and post the application on our (new) website for download on that date. Everyone will have a chance of getting the application at the same time as everyone else. This only works if everyone knows we are going to do this and the date on which we are going to do it. To this end we are going to mail out postcards to everyone on our mailing list announcing the date that they will be able to download the application.

As you can see we have our work cut out for us. We will be getting the word out in all kind of ways, this blog being one of them. Please, if you know anyone who is interested on PALM, let them know of this change. The only way to get the PALM 2012 application will be to download it from our website. We will announce the date when it will be available on Facebook, this blog, our our website. Everyone on the PALM mailing list will receive a postcard with the details. Keep your eye out for an oversized postcard with the PALM logo.

Last Chance Before PALM

2011-06-11T20:09:00.002-05:00

Ok, it's only a week before PALM check-in. Are you ready? You still have time to get a few rides in before PALM. As I've often said, it's more about saddle time that fitness when it comes to multi-day rides.

Is your bike ready? You still can get your bike into the shop or service it yourself prior to leaving for PALM. Don't wait for PALM and have to wait in line at the PALM bike shops for service. Make sure you have a proper tube, tire levers, pump, and multi tool in your seat pack so you can take care of minor issues on the road.

See you next Saturday at the PALM check-in.

Mirrors

2011-05-15T20:33:00.004-05:00

In the past, one of the controversies in cycling was the use of mirrors.

The cons stated that mirrors had a small field of view, could not replace scanning with you head and eyes, and give a false sense of security.

The pros said that mirrors were an addition to scanning and one mounted on one’s helmet or glasses actually could enhance your field of view by turning the head a bit to look behind.

Personally, I have a difficult time riding on the road without a mirror. With one mounted on my helmet, I have over an 180 degree field of view behind me by turning my head while looking in the mirror. It can even help me keep track of my riding partner when on my single or my stoker when on the tandem.

I highly recommend a mirror when riding. Would you drive a car without rear and side-view mirrors?

Here is a link to a mirror that I use on one of my helmets:

http://www.cycleaware.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1

Enter code RFLX11 before the end of May and receive a free parts kit.

Whether you use a mirror on your helmet, glasses, or handle bars, it greatly enhances you rearward vision.

Time to Begin to Prepare

2011-05-12T07:58:00.000-05:00

Well, the weather seems to have finally turned, so it’s time to get out on your bike. It’s not that PALM is difficult, but being physically prepared (especially your posterior) makes for a more enjoyable ride. At this point you should be riding 15 to 20 miles 2 to 3 times a week. As PALM approaches, throw in a 40 to 50 miler once a week while still doing multiple shorter rides.

And don’t forget your bike. Have you really checked it over? How are the tires (worn, dry rotted, cuts)? Are the brake pads in need of replacing? Are the wheels straight? Does it shift well? What's in your seat bag? If any of these (and more) come to mind, and you don’t do your own maintenance, please take the bike to your local shop. Having a properly prepared bike, just like your body, make for a much better experience.

If you have any questions about your bike or preparing for PALM, please let me know by posing a comment or sending an email to: sproketsandspokes@tir.com

May 15 Deadline

2011-05-09T19:56:00.001-05:00

April was not only the cruelest month, it was the wetest. I read on our Facebook page that it rained 20 out of the 30 days in April. A lot of that was 40 degree rain. It was cool, well, cold most of the month. I left the straw on my garden bed until the last week of April. The ground was too cold to germinate seeds anyway. I got cold crops from the Garden Resource Program on April 16 but couldn't even harden them off because it was too cold outside.

But time marches on. The May 15 deadline for adding/changing meals and buses is this week. If you sent in your registration and planned to order meals and buses later, it's later now. Download an application and make your choices. Mail it in with a check and a stamped self addressed envelope (for your new confirmation) to the PALM address: PO Box 7161; Ann Arbor, MI 48107. May 15 is also the last day that you can cancel from PALM and get a refund (minus a cancellation fee). It must be done in writing, no emails will be accepted. There will be no refunds or changes after May 15.

Thank goodness it's May. I was only able to ride once in April. The last two weekends I've been able to ride at last. Only 20 miles or so but at least it's a start. And the last time I rode I could sit on the bike seat. PALM is closer to becoming a reality.

May 15 Deadline for Meals and Buses

2011-04-20T05:13:00.000-05:00

If you are like me you are wondering when spring will come. Baseball season has been going on for over 2 weeks now and we are still getting sleet and snow (2-3 inches on Monday). I've been able to ride my bike exactly once, the one Sunday it was warm. 10 miles into the wind, 10 miles back and I was done for the rest of the day. I have a lot of work to do before I'm ready for PALM.

Speaking of PALM, May 15 is the deadline for making changes to your application. (Except fo jerseys. If you wanted a jersey, you had to get your order in by April 1 so that Voler could manufacture them.) So if you sent in your application quickly so that you could reserve your spot on PALM and meant to add meals/busses later, now is the time. The way to do this is to download an application from the website, fill in your name and address, the meals, buses, extra t shirts you want and mail it in to the PALM address with your check and a stamped self addressed envelope. (The stamped self addressed envelope is so that I can send you a new confirmation letter.) The meal totals we have now are about 20 below the meals totals from last year when we had 100 fewer people on the ride so I know that there are people out there who haven't ordered their meals yet. Do it now.

May 15 is also the last day that you can cancel from PALM and get a refund (minus a cancellation fee of $15 for an individual, $20 for a whole application). Cancellations must be done in writing, no emails are accepted. And please include a stamped self addressed envelope so that we can mail the check back to you. There will be no refunds after May 15 for any reason.

Meet Your Bike

2011-04-13T19:19:00.003-05:00

Here is a nice video that does a good job of showing all the various parts of a bike:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l-ZAbZ1Rzs&feature=related

This may help clarify what us bike geeks are talking about around the dinner table each evening on PALM.

How to fit your bike Video

2011-03-22T20:16:00.003-05:00

This month's video's are all about fit. Every year I see a lot of riders whose bikes do not fit properly or wear their helmets improperly.

This first explains how to adjust your bike to fit your body:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fsr7yYShD8&feature=player_embedded

This next is how to fit you helmet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yzSwxWIJTk&feature=player_embedded

Remember that helmets are required on PALM whenever you are riding your bike, even in the school parking lot.

Again, let me know if you have any questions or if there are any topics you would like covered.

Back From Florida

2011-03-08T06:22:00.001-05:00

When we got back from Florida, the temperature went up to the 50's for 2 days and all of the snow that accumulated for two months melted. It was amazing. It was like we brought Florida back with us, except the green grass was replaced by brown and it was covered with two months of debris. The day we left for Florida, I got a bunch of PALM apps that I wasn't able to process. When I got back, I got another bunch of PALM apps to process. Welcome back.

I processed the first batch and when I checked I caught a lot of mistakes that I then had to correct. The second batch I processed had 10 applications without a stamped self addressed envelope for the confirmation letters which I then had to supply. It took from Wednesday when I got back to Saturday to process all the applications and mail out the confirmations. Then Sunday we were hit by 10 inches of snow, more what than the "storm of the century" gave us. Later in the week we got another 4 inches or so. All the snow that had melted was back.

Because I was in Florida I missed the February potluck that kicks off the Garden Resource Program. There is nothing better than getting together with a bunch of enthusiatic gardeners in February when there is no hope of spring. The best I could do was help out in the seed packing. There are 1700 people who get seeds from the Garden Resource Program. The seeds are brought in bulk and then split into individual seed packets by volunteers. There are seed packing parties all over the city. Our group packed Kentucky Wonder pole beans into 1400 envelopes. It took over 2 hours and we were all sick of beans by the end. Then it was off to Calendula seeds. One of our group was a middle aged woman who had done the Michigander several times. I got to talk up PALM. We weren't any closer to spring but we were surrounded by seeds and bike riding anyway.

Florida Weekend

2011-03-04T19:45:00.001-05:00

Every year in February I try to spend a long weeknd in Florida. By February it's been winter for 2 months and you can't remember going out without mittens, a down jacket, and a goofy hat that covers your ears. This winter has been especially brutal for me. It got cold and snowed in the first week of December and the snow never went away, only accumulated. I run in the morning and there were a lot of mornings in the low teens. You have to wear so many clothes. The day that we left for Florida it was 6 degrees when I ran.

The first challenge to going to Florida in February is packing. Every year I have to persuade myself to take a short sleeve shirt and suntan lotion. They seem so exotic in February. Another problem is that what you wear to the airport you are stuck with the whole time in Florida. You don't want to take a down jacket especially if you are paying for luggage. I dress in layers. Of course all those layers have to come off for airport security. (If you are only going for a weekend, you can't drive.) But it's all worth it if you stand outside without wearing a coat and see sunshine and green somewhere.

This year I went Feb 11-15 to Jacksonville, Florida for the Breast Cancer Marathon. I ran it with my brother and my sister who is a survivor. We finished it the same day we started: a victory. Note we are casting shadows. (Remember the sun? Another casualty of winter in Michigan.) And in the background. Is that green? And my brother is wearing shorts and a t shirt. (Remember it was 6 degrees when I left.)

The next day we went on a short bike tour of San Marco in short sleeve shirts. It was in the 70's. So I got a February ride in. (I have to mention bikes somewhere. This is a blog about PALM after all.)

One of the best things about staying in Jacksonville Beach was that I got to run on the beach at dawn. The sun comes right out of the sea. You see all of the colors of the sunrise reflected in the water. And since it is winter you don't have to get up all that early to do it. I know, I know, I should be processing those PALM applications. I'll get back to them soon, I promise. Winter will win out.

Safe Cycling for Adults from the NHTSA

2011-02-20T20:06:00.005-05:00

Our first cycling video comes to us from the LAB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It provides us a general overview of safe cycling on the road:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdrrxIpQpt4&playnext=1&list=PL20CCC0D547D6115C&index=10

And, from a real Road 1 (now Taffic 101) class, is a little more detail on the ABC Quickcheck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VziOIkNXsE

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Bike Videos

2011-02-15T20:27:00.002-05:00

Now that the PALM registration rush has finished, it is time to start thinking about preparing for the ride itself.

To start, here again is the link to the Traffic 101 on-line course that contains most of the material that I will be covering during the PALM evening classes: http://www.bikeed.org

This free course is endorsed by the LAB and will give you the basics of safe cycling.

I plan on posting links to various bike safety and maintenance videos over the next few months. If you have any requests for a particular aspect of cycling, please let me know.

Winter Continues

2011-02-06T09:57:00.003-05:00

How did you fare in the storm of the century last Tuesday night? Here the storm got as much coverage as the Super Bowl, starting days before the event. The storm was pretty spectacular: the sound of sleet/ice hitting the side of our house woke us up at 2AM. (How can it sleet when the outside temperature is 20?). And we had loud thunder and lightning which my dog didn't understand at all. But where I live in SE Michigan we only got 6-7 inches of snow. A bad snow storm but one of several we usually get during the winter. For the last couple of years Washington DC has gotten worse snow storms then we've gotten. What it has been is cold. Not below zero or even single digits, but many, many days were the high hasn't reach 20. I run outside during the winter and I can tell you that that wears on you.

After all the publicity everyone was prepared to not go to work on Wednesday. Where I was lots of people were going to work from home which, with the internet, they could do. But I was just starting at a new contract job so that wasn't an option for me. And since this is Michigan missing a day's pay wasn't really an option either. After digging out I was prepared for a long commute. The roads were a mess but there was no one on them so I even got to work on time. Traffic was even lighter on the way home at night.

All of this leads up me to telling you that Vickie is processing your applications in Florida. While you may be cold and housebound, your applications are warming in the sun as Vickie checks them over and fills out the sheets for our accountant. They are still warm when they get to me but the confirmation letters you will be receiving will be cold. I produce those and I'm still here. I will be going down to Florida next weekend to see what all the fuss is about so I'll be able to report to you whether it's worthwhile to go to Florida or not.

Meanwhile my garden is under a foot of snow and my compost heap is frozen solid. If I had mixed the right proportion of 1 part nitrogen to 2 parts carbon, the compost heap would have had an internal temperature of over 100 degrees and would not be covered with snow. It looks like I need some work on that. The snow has been there so long that it's hard to get motivated to look at the Johnny's Seed Catalog let alone start planning where to plant what. Maybe a weekend in Florida will make me believe that there is a spring. Until then all I have are these PALM applications to remind me.

PALM Meeting / Registartion Starts

2011-01-31T05:22:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday Jan23 was the PALM meeting, Everyone was amazed by how quickly PALM filled up this year. We are using the postmark on the application to determine whether the application made it on time or not. If the application is postmarked Jan 18 or earlier, the application was accepted. With this date we accepted 783 riders and 69 staff (including site people, SAGs, bike shops, truck drivers, etc.). Since the meeting a few more applications postmarked Jan 18 have trickled in. As it stands now, we'll have over 850 people on PALM. So much for the 700 rider cutoff. We trying to determine if the this year's sites can handle the extras. So far it looks like there is enough camping room, but one site's cafeteria can only hold 250 people. We may have to go with extended meal times.

There was a discussion on how we can guarantee that everyone gets the application at the same time. US mail, even 1st class US mail, isn't the answer. One staff member who lives 40 miles from Ann Arbor didn't receive his application until Jan 18 even though it was mailed Jan 13. We have riders who are in Florida, Arizona, and Alabama when the applications are mailed. It takes days for them to receive their applications. Mailing the application a day early wasn't enough. Then there's the MLK holiday. If you got your application before the holiday, it gave you some extra time to fill it out. If you didn't get your application before the holiday, you were dead. We are still trying to figure this all out.

I do the final step of registration which includes mailing out the confirmation letters. I got applications for 8 people at the meeting so that I could check out my programs for this year. It took me a couple of days to enter these applications. Now I'm just 850 behind. Ah well, a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.

Alternatives To PALM

2011-01-30T22:57:00.006-05:00

The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. www.goba.com. June 18-25, 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 is flat to rolling and takes place in central Ohio. The 7 days include 5 riding days of 45-60 miles each, with 2 layover days that include optional loop rides or alternate activities including a trip to the Columbus Zoo and the U.S. Air Force Museum. 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 23 to July 30. www.outdoor-pursuits.org/xoba/ The ride is limited to 250 participants and provides limited sag service. This year's route will travel through western Ohio, with flat to rolling terrain. The daily distances range from 52 to 70 miles, with a total of 444 miles.

Rides sponsored by the League of Michigan Bicyclists. www.lmb.org. The League sponsors several rides, including the Pedal and Paddle on June 4-5 and the Sunrise Adventure October 7-9. Their other 2 rides all have longer days and challenging hills.

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

Another option for trips that involve several days of cycling and are based at a hotel or conference center are available from the Road Scholar organization (formerly called Elderhostel). These programs are for mature adults, and most participants in the bicycling programs range in age from 45-70. So these are not options for families. I have participated in each of the programs listed below, and I enthusiastically recommend all of them. Check out the details and dates at www.roadscholar.org. You can also email me at www.palmbiketour@yahoo.com if you want to know more about these programs.

Program #13922RJ. Bicycle Through Amish Country. Rides of 20-40 miles each day on the flat, quiet country roads in northern Indiana.

Program #9947RJ. Bicycling on the Great Allegheny Passage. Bike a 30-40 mile section of this beautiful rails-to-trail route south of Pittsburg each day.

Programs #13329RJ and #13306RJ. Biking the C & O Canal Towpath. Bicycle sections of this bike path that stretches from Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD.

We sincerely hope that all of you find a biking adventure that you can enjoy in 2011, and we hope that you will be able to join us on PALM in 2012.

Ellie, PALM Mail Granny

PALM 2011 Has Filled

2011-01-23T08:59:00.001-05:00

On Saturday we had 61 riders, on Tuesday we had 330 riders, on Wednesday we had 630 riders, and on Thursday, Jan 20, we received the applications for 143 more riders. PALM for 2011 has filled. There is still some discussion but it looks like if your application has a postmark of Jan 18 or earlier you are on, otherwise you are not. This will bring the total number of people on the ride to about 780. (This doesn't include staff, SAGs, and truck drivers). Our cutoff is 700 riders so this puts us well over the cutoff even if 50 riders cancel.

PALM is run by an all volunteer staff who do it because we love PALM. It is hard for us to turn anyone away from PALM, something we love. 700 riders is about the limit that the schools we use can handle. Any more and it is long meal lines and cold showers for sure. When PALM started, it used to have a northern and southern route and had over 1000 riders. It was chaos. It was hard to find (volunteer) staff who could run the extra 4 sites. It doubled everything including the chance of something going wrong. I do the registration now and I can tell you that not that many people did PALM more than once in those days, leading me to believe that the rider experience was not that great. Now there are lots of people who do PALM 3, 4 or 5 times even entire families. The PALM experience seems to be a lot better. So 700 is not an arbitrary cutoff instead it's the maximum number of riders that experience has shown us that we can handle and still deliver a good rider experience.

So the best that we can hope for is to give everybody the same chance to get on PALM. This year I staggered the mailing. I sent the applications to the out of state and West Michigan riders a day early. I hoped that everyone would receive their applications by Jan 15. (I have already heard from people who didn't.) I put the application on the website on Jan 15 (at midnight) so that if you didn't have an application mailed to you (or didn't receive it yet) you could download it. And we are hoping to use the postmark on the applications we receive to figure who is on and who is not. This would be fairer for out of state and West Michigan riders.

For the people who didn't make it onto PALM this year, you will be receiving your checks and our regrets next week. We know you won't be happy. We are not happy if we can't do PALM. Try not to call the PALM phone number and complain to Ellie. She's on the DL and may not be able to do PALM herself. As I mentioned before, Vickie and Ellie are contacting everyone who is on the ride to tell them they made it. It will be weeks before they receive their confirmation letters and this will cut the suspense.

One final word: PALM does not have a waiting list. Instead we accept more than our cutoff (we'll be accepting 780 this year) and pray that enough people cancel to get us down to a number we can handle. Thank you for your interest in PALM.

Warning: PALM is Filling Fast

2011-01-18T21:19:00.000-05:00

I tried to stagger mailing the applications so that everyone would get their application by Saturday Jan 15. That would mean that today would be the first day we could expect to receive applications back. As of today we have received applications for 330 people. If you plan on riding PALM, please tell me that you have already mailed your application to us. Two more days like today and the ride is filled. If you received an application and want to be on PALM, fill it out and mail it tonight. If you haven't received an application yet, click www.lmb.org/palm/files/PALMApp2011.pdf, download an application, fill it out, and mail it tonight. Call your friends and tell them to do the same.

2011 PALM Site Addresses

2011-01-16T20:17:00.001-05:00

This year's PALM sites are

Ludington - Saturday
     Ludington High School
     508 N. Washington Ave
     Ludington, MI 49431

Hesperia - Sunday
     Hesperia High School
     96 South Division
     Hesperia, MI 49421

Big Rapids - Monday
     Big Rapids Middle School
     500 North Warren
     Big Rapids, MI 49307

Clare - Tuesday
     Clare High School
     306 Schoolcrest
     Clare, MI 48617

Bay City - Wednesday
     John Glenn High School
     (Bangor Township Schools)
     3201 Kiesel Road
     Bay City, MI 48706

Bad Axe - Thursday
     Bad Axe High School
     200 Barrie Road
     Bad Axe, MI 48413

Harbor Beach - Friday
     Harbor Beach High School
     402 South 5th Street
     Harbor Beach, MI 48441

Download the 2011 PALM Application NOW

2011-01-16T19:47:00.001-05:00

We staggered the mailing dates of the application this year so that everyone would receive it at the same time. We were hoping that by Saturday Jan 15 you and everyone else would have received the 2011 PALM application. If you haven't, download it from www.lmb.org/palm/files/PALMApp2011.pdf now. Remember Monday is the MLK holiday and no mail is delivered. Don't wait to see if you will receive it on Tuesday. We expect that a lot of riders will mail their applications over the weekend and that we will receive a lot of mail on Tuesday. Don't be late. If you want to be on PALM, download the application, fill it out, and mail it now.

Vickie reports that we received the first completed applications on Friday and that we received 36 applications on Saturday. So far we have 61 registrants. The last two years we filled very quickly, 8 days (over the MLK holiday) in 2010, and less than 2 weeks in 2009. But it took us until March or April to send out all the confirmation letters. Registration is a two step process. First Vickie verifies the applications: are all the waivers signed? Is there an emergency contact? If there are minors on the ride without their parents, do we have the parent's signed permission and is there a sponser for the minor? Are the t shirt sizes marked? Is the total amount correct? Is there a check and is it correct? Over 10% of the applications have errors. (Last year we got an application where the rider's name was not filled in.) Every application with an error means that Vickie has to contact the sender by email, phone, or snail mail. Then she sends them to me. I enter them, create the confirmation letters, and the meal, tshirt, jersey, and bus counts. The program I use is not web based, it is a single user program on my computer. We are volunteers: cheap but we have other lives. When it took months for PALM to fill up, all of this was not a problem. But now that we fill up in days and it takes weeks (or months) for confirmation letters to go out, this is a problem.

To address this, when Vickie and Ellie open the applications this year to determine the rider count (and whether we have filled or not) they are going to contact sender to tell them we have received their application and that they are on PALM. So you will know weeks before you receive your confirmation letter that you are on PALM. You can help by including a current email with your application. Please be sure that it's legible. If you have no email, they plan to call you. We hope that this will save a lot of worried emails and phone calls.

Thaw and PALM applications

2011-01-09T08:21:00.001-05:00

I did do a 10 mile ride on December 31 and then did the First Dozen in Dearborn on January 1. The thaw melted all the snow and ice. I got to see that the grass still has some green in it and to finish putting my garden to bed for the winter by pulling the last of the greens and tiding up my compost heap. So I got a December and January ride in on the only two days above 40. Then on January 2 back to winter The low last night was supposed to be 2, but we were shown mercy and it's actually 13. Imagine being greatful that the temperature is 13. Michigan.

Yesterday I sent the mailing list for the PALM applications to the printer. I included everyone who sent me an address up to January 8, 5:00PM. You can still send me your mailing addresses but now I'll have to address and mail them out myself. And I'll have to get some applications from the printer to do this. Your best bet on getting a 2011 PALM application is to wait until January 15 when I'll post a link to it on our website and in this blog. Download the application, fill it out, and send it in. Our next PALM meeting is Jan 23. If the same thing happens this year as happened last year, we could be just about filled by then.

By the way the mailing list contained 3585 addresses of which 892 have never done PALM, ie the list contains 2693 people who have done PALM at least once. Last year we added 283 new addresses to the mailing list. We'll send people applications for 7 years before they are dropped from the list unless they do PALM. If you have ever done PALM, you are on the address list forever, ie until the post office returns the application as undeliverable or you ask to be removed.

New Years and PALM applications

2010-12-31T13:40:00.001-05:00

Today's the last chance to get a bike ride in for 2010. For me it is also the last chance to do a December ride period. December hasn't been the best month. Yesterday was the first day its been above freezing for 3 weeks. (December is the new January!) But things have thawed. Maybe I can get a short ride in before it starts to rain. Hmm.

Let's talk about PALM applications. PALM has filled early the last 5 years. Last year it was filled by Jan 23. We mail out applications by 1st class mail and don't put the application on the website until we feel that all the mailed applications have been received. This is a long way of saying that the best (and almost only) chance of getting on PALM is to get on the mailing list. To do this, email me. the mailing address of where you will be on Jan 12. Don't be worried that you are going to get bombarded with junk mail: we are an all volunteer organization. We have trouble picking a color for the t shirt, let alone trying to do anything with a mailing list.

This year we will be mailing applications to everybody outside of the state of Michigan and everybody in Michigan whose zipcode starts with 49 on Jan 12. Then we will mail applications to the people whose zipcode starts with 48 on Jan 13. I'll put the application on the website on January 15. Hopefully this will mean that everybody will get their application the same day and will have the same chance of getting on PALM.

Let me make a suggestion. If you are planning to be on PALM this year (our 30!), fill out and return the application the same day you receive it. If you are a little short after Christmas, just send in the registration fee ($110 for people 18 and older, $65 for people 11 to 17, $55 for people 10 and under). You have until May 15 to add meals and busses. If something comes up and you can't do PALM, you can cancel up to May 15 and it will only cost you $20 to cancel everyone on your application. If you know you are going to do PALM, there is no reason to delay.

If you are going with a group, put everyone on the same application (There is room for 5 on the application. We tolerate a couple over 5, but don't put any more than that.) That way you either all get on PALM or you all don't get on PALM. And please, please, please include a business sized stamped self-addressed envelope with your application. We use it to mail you a confirmation letter with the t shirt sizes, meals, busses, and jerseys that you may have ordered plus directions to the starting / end site. (And if you don't make it on PALM we use it to mail you back your check.)

It's Never to Early (or Late) for Safe Cycling

2010-10-18T19:46:00.004-05:00

This is my favorite time of year. The temps are cool, the Fall colors are vivid, and there seem to be fewer cars on the road. There is still a lot of opportunity to ride before the snow starts to fly.

The 2011 PALM (PALM XXX) has been scheduled for June 18 - 24, 2011 and as a compulsive planner myself, I know it's never to early to start preparing. There were suggestions from last year's PALM that we provide some on-line, safe cycling training, especially for those that may not have much on-road experience. Below is a link to an on-line version of the Traffic 101 class that League of American Bicyclists instructors teach. It is essentially the same material I cover during the nightly PALM classes that I teach. I do not want to put myself out of a job, but if you have never had any formal cycling training, this is a great way to start. Even if you think you are experienced and don't need any training, you may be surprised at what you might learn.

http://bikeed.org/

This free course is endorsed by the LAB and will give you something to do during those dark winter days as you wait for the PALM application to arrive in the mail.

As the ride approaches, I will also be posting links to videos that demonstrate vehicular cycling. Let me know if you have any favorite safe cycling videos.

Please post up if you have any questions.

Applications Finished and a Warning

2010-04-23T19:01:00.004-05:00

Things slowed down application wise in March. OK, things stopped application wise in March. Things changed in April: we processed 252 applications in the first week in April. We've added a few since then and we now have 845 people registered. That's everybody but maybe 20 problems. Everyone should have received their confirmation letters by now. If you haven't, please email us. You could be one of the 20 problems or we could have sent your confirmation to the wrong address somehow. If you email us, we can email your confirmation letter to you directly, bypassing that messy mailing stuff.

I mentioned in January that you had until May 15 to buy meals and bus rides. A lot of you took advantage of this and included notes saying that you will be buying meals later. Last year we had roughly 650 people at each meal. So far the most meals we've sold for any meal has been 620 for breakfast at Otsego. We have yet hit 600 at any dinner. I have a feeling that we are going to be deluged with meal requests. If you intend to buy meals, NOW is the time. PALM doesn't make any money on the meals: whatever we collect we give to the people making the meals. (It's a fund raising opportunity for local groups.) After May 15 we give each site the number of breakfasts and dinners to prepare. It's in their financial interest to prepare exactly that many meals. Even if they make a little extra, we are talking about bikers here. They make locusts look like anorexics. Don't expect to buy meals at the site. If you want the meals, buy them now. Here's a link to this year's application. You can use it to order meals and/or bus rides. You don't have to fill it out completely, eg sign the waiver again. Your name would be nice. Please include a stamped self addressed envelope. I am so tired of addressing envelopes.

Doris West Slow and Determined III

2010-03-13T11:15:00.009-05:00

Doris had some mean doctors. They kept insisting she was too old to bicycle across Michigan. But Doris was a stubborn lady. Finally, at age 87, she gave in and stopped coming on PALM. Doris was tricky too. She had friends drive her to down on her birthday and we celebrated with her. By age 90 the mean doctors kept her from pedaling at all. But Doris had a new group of friends so she was the lead harmonica player in a harmonica choir. They laughed a lot and played the harmonicas some (which was good because they were funnier than they were musical).

Another thing became evident this decade: how much all the branches of the West family meant to her. I remember the picture on her wall of Pat and Isaac on a cross-country motorcycle trip. And pictures of the far-flung Wests. If you come to the memorial service for Doris you will be a lot of bicyclists wearing bright shirts, one of them will be a shirt that has the first 25 PALM patches on it. In this last decade Doris would have replaced all of the bicycling patches with pictures of the children, grand- and great grandchildren.

My wife and I had dinner last night with good friends. The guy is a 4th grade teacher here. Each year he would take his students to Brecon Village to hang with the golden agers. Doris was the favorite oldster. The student who was most affected by Doris was named Gerry. The circle of life....

On March 20 at 3 pm the people who were lucky enough to know Doris are gathering to laugh and celebrate an amazing woman. Come join us: http://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/annarbor/obituary.aspx?n=doris-h-west-barnard&pid=140493424

Pictured are the Brecon Village Harmonicats, photo by Ann Hunt at Doris's 90th birthday.

Doris West, Slow AND Determined

2010-03-11T08:38:00.009-05:00

{continued from Part 1 at http://palmbiketour.blogspot.com/2010/03/doris-west-slow-and-determined.html )

In the second decade of knowing Doris two things come to mind

(Before I get started I should say that Doris had both hips replaced (giving me a chance to have more biking miles than she did for a year), ... and oh yes my family joined her on PALM in 1986, ... and she tricked me into being on PALM staff, but I digress)

Ann Arbor's own bike club (the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society or AABTS) realized how much it needed to expand ridership. AABTS had A, B and C rides. When they added Doris's rides it needed another designation: D+ rides. I am pretty sure that means Doris AND all the locals she introduced to bicycling. AABTS said these rides were for the Slow But Determined. In truth, Doris was both Slow AND Determined, and damned proud of it.
But Doris was not satisfied with just PALM and AABTS riding. So she had her own three person biking club, riding with Louise and Ruth. This trio showed anyone, who slowed down and watched, how to grow older. They biked, laughed, enjoyed everything around them. Only one story: One Friday morning I came across these three down by the river. Doris was fixing a flat. After getting Doris's trike ready to go I asked where they were headed. "To Lansing," because there was a Women on Wheels ride that weekend. They were going to bike ~180 miles over the next four days. WOW!!

So . . . we biked with Doris in the nineties and we are still biking with Doris today.... the right way: Slow and determined.

[Stay tuned for Doris in the new millennium]

The photo of Doris, Louise and Ruth is by Ann Hunt

Doris West, Slow and determined

2010-03-10T09:28:00.005-05:00

Doris West in the eighties

[This is part one of a three-part series]

The Burtons got to know Doris West in 1980 when we worked with her on the Ann Arbor Bicycle Coordinating Committee [a2bc2]. Two notable things came from that committee:

In 1981 Ann Arbor was designated one of the top 10 bicycling cities in the country.
Three people from the committee started a bicycle tour called Pedal Across Lower Michigan [PALM].

Doris West was one of the PALM founders. For the next 25 years she was the voice of PALM. Officially she was Mail Granny. Over that period Doris convinced thousands of people that they could pedal all the way across lower Michigan, they could bring their grandparents or they could bring their grandchildren, that they could laugh with friends and family . . . . Today thousands of people around the world had one amazing week because of Doris

The Burtons knew Doris when she had her own hips, when she was a librarian at the University of Michigan. We knew Doris when she brought her own children and grandchildren on PALM. We knew Doris when she would draw a smiley face on your envelope if you remembered a SASE with your application... or a frowny face if you didn't remember.

We biked with Doris in the eighties and we are still biking with Doris today. . . .

[next: Slow but determined]

Application Update

2010-03-08T13:59:00.004-05:00

With the confirmations that I mailed out last Tuesday, I have processed 587 riders so far. From what I've heard from Ellie, we will be registering 757 riders plus about 90 more staff, SAGs, truck drivers, bike shops, and sponsored riders. So I am about 2/3 of the way thru the participants and it's already March. I'm going to have to take a week break from working on the applications now so I will be hard pressed to get them all done by the end of March. In the meantime, I'll be sending emails to everyone whose application I haven't processed yet and whose email I have. I hope this will relieve any worries that riders who have sent in applications and haven't heard from us have. Once again, if you mailed in your application and haven't heard from us and haven't had your check cashed yet, don't worry. You are on the ride. We returned all the checks to the people who were too late a month ago. If you are not on the ride, you would know by now. This is counter intuitive, but true.

The weather has been great: lots of sun and the temperature stretching to the 50's. I was able to take a short 10 mile bike ride late Saturday. I used my mountain bike with the knobby tires in case there was any ice and rode on Outer Drive. The sun kept me warm enough even on the way back when I was going against the wind. I haven't ridden a bike since November and it felt like it. Gripping the handlebar and leaning forward made my arms tired. My legs felt stiff and awkward. I could sit on the bike, but then again I didn't go that far. I forgot how much water you need to drink to ride even when it's cool. I've got a lot of work to do before I'm ready for PALM.

I saw more signs of spring. Today I saw an honest to God robin in a tree. Yesterday I saw a rabbit. (Not as thrilling for gardeners as a robin however.) I know that there will be more cold weather and snow this month, but the sun and the 50's sure improved my attitude.

Doris West Thank you for everything

2010-03-08T10:56:00.008-05:00

We thank Doris West's son Patrick for providing us with Doris's
obituary. It will appear in the March 14 and March 18 publications of
annarbor.com.

WEST, Doris H. (Barnard). Born in Enderlin, North Dakota in 1917,
Doris and her family moved to Monrovia, CA where she attended school,
graduating from Monrovia High School. She married in 1935, living in
Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska, and Washington before moving to Michigan in
1956, where she worked for the Bureau of Government Library at the
University of Michigan until her retirement in 1983.

Doris is survived by her children Gerald (in AZ), Sheila (in GA),
Diane (in WA), and Patrick (in MI). She was predeceased by a daughter
Helen. She leaves 9 grand children and 7 great grand children.

Doris never drove a car.

She used a tricycle for her local transportation for 38 years.

During the gas crisis, her tricycle bore the sign

"My 'CAR'. NO Gas".

Doris was an active member of the Ann Arbor cycling world. She served
on the Mayor's Bicycle Coordinating Committee, and worked to make
biking accessible to beginners, leading bike rides in Ann Arbor and
working to improve bike paths. She rode in PALM (Pedal Across Lower
Michigan, a week long bike ride across Lower Michigan) for many
years, where she was usually one of the oldest people on the ride.
She even went to Great Britain to pick up a trike with better gearing
and spent several weeks riding the roads in England on the new trike.

Interested in learning about plants, people, and the exact meaning of
a word, she kept 3 unabridged dictionaries well used. She had many an
interesting story to tell and had a quotation for any situation.

In her 80's, when breathing difficulties arose, she became part of a
University of Michigan pulmonary rehab program in which she learned
to play a harmonica. The harmonica group joined together in music and
laughter to build lung power for more effective breathing. After she
moved to Brecon Village in Saline, she became known for her impromptu
"Happy Birthday" harmonica serenades for other residents.

Doris passed away February 24, 2010 at 92 years of age. A memorial
will be held in the meeting room at Brecon Village in Saline, 200
Brecon Dr, Saline, 48176 on March 20th at 3 p.m. The family invites
you to come to share your memories.

Memorial donations may be made in Doris's name to PALM, PO Box
7161, Ann Arbor, MI 48107.

Alternatives to PALM

2010-02-14T22:28:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-12T19:39:00.005-05:00

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.

Entering Applications

2010-01-31T19:40:00.006-05:00

We are well into processing the applications now. I've sent out confirmation letters for 286 people. Basically I sent out confirmations for all the applications we received thru Saturday Jan 16. This would be everyone who sent in their application the day they received it and live close to Michigan. Last week Ellie returned the checks, with regrets, to all the people who sent in their applications too late, ie everybody whose application is postmarked greater than Jan 19. She sent out letters covering roughly 200 people. If you didn't mail in your application the day you got it in the mail, you don't want to hear from us until the end of the week at the earliest.

Vickie has been working me hard. She even sent me applications for 55 people just before she left for Florida for 6 weeks. (She'll be sending me the rest of the applications from there. If you can't get to Florida at least your application can.) I sent out confirmations for this latest batch today, so I am finally caught up. Meanwhile, it's getting cold here and I run outside. On Thursday it was in the low teens with a 10-15 mph wind and I froze. On Friday, it was 3 degrees with a 5 mph wind and I was fine. I wore different clothes on Friday, basically everything I had, but I wore plenty on Thursday too. Today I ran with the temperature in the mid teens and a 10 mph wind. Once again I was cold (but not my hands: I learned my lesson there). It looks like for me, it's all about the wind.

I know you're thinking: it's the end of January. It's the coldest time of the year. How can he work in something about gardens and vegetables? It can be done. I mentioned that each family garden gets 34 packets of seeds and 102 plants in the Garden Resource Program. The plants come from the greenhouse at Earthworks Gardens by the Capuchin Soup Kitchen. Where do the seeds come from? Some of them are saved from plants grown in the last season. Some are brought in bulk. That still leaves filling the individual packets from the bulk/saved seeds. This year the seeds are being packed by volunteers all over the city organized by Riet Schumack. Last Saturday I helped pack seeds for kidney beans, Swiss chard (one of my favorites), and dill at Rosedale Baptist Church on Evergreen, a place I run by every time I run. And next week I start the Urban Roots gardening program. You see I could work gardens in and summer is coming.

PALM 2010 Has Filled

2010-01-23T20:29:00.006-05:00

We jumped from about 250 participants to 414 on the Tuesday after the MLK holiday. When we only got applications for 50 riders on Wednesday, I thought that we could make it thru the week before PALM filled. Wrong. We jumped to 637 on Thusday and then got applications for 200 more people on Friday. We are filled. If your application is postmarked on or before Jan 19 you are on PALM, otherwise you are not.

A word about this: we don't like turning away people from PALM. All of the staff are volunteers. We do this because we love PALM. To tell someone that they cannot be on the ride that you can't imagine living without is very painful. We try to do what we can. Everyone who didn't make it this year will be added to the mailing list. (And once again, the best chance you have of being on PALM is being on the mailing list.) Each year I create an email list of everyone who has missed the cutoff. When we start to fill, I email warnings. This year I did it on Saturday when I saw that we had 250 participants after only 2 days. People do miss PALM, but we do what we can.

I'm starting to enter applications on the computer and send out confirmation letters. Today I'll be sending out confirmations for all the applications that we received on Friday Jan 15 . I'm up to 175 so I have about 600 more people to enter. It will take Vickie and I weeks to check the applications for errors, enter them into the computer, and mail out confirmation letters. We'll be returning the checks of the applications that didn't make it to us in time, with regrets, starting today. Unless you mailed in your application the day you received it, you don't want to hear from us for a while. Ellie has been keeping track of the applications we have received. Wait two weeks. If you really got to know if you are on the ride, email us then and Ellie will tell you. But wait two weeks. If you haven't received your check back by then, the chances are very good that you are on the ride. Your application would have to be lost in the mail and, if we receive it even weeks later and it has a post mark of Jan 19 or earlier, you are on the ride. Remember Ellie is the one with the broken wrist. Give her a break (no pun intended).

Applications Are Coming In

2010-01-16T14:05:00.008-05:00

Ellie and Vickie went to the PALM post office box on Friday and it contained the applications for 143 participants. There goes my chance for a low number and I mailed my application on Thursday night. I went to Ann Arbor on Saturday to pick up the first few applications from Vickie (26 of them) so that I could test the changes I made on real data. They brought in Saturday's mail. I counted 70 envelopes. That should end up being about 100 people. We picked up mail for two days and PALM is already 1/3 filled. Since there is no mail on Monday, Tuesday could be a big day. If it is and you want to be on PALM, you had better send in your application this week. Remember all you have to send in with your application is the registration fee ($110 for adults, 18 and over; $65 for young people, 11-17; and $55 for children 10 and under). You can select and pay for meals and bus rides up to May 15. If you need an application, you can download one from here.

Besides the PALM application, the application to join the Garden Resource Program came in Tuesday's mail. My two favorite things for the summer in the same mail. I've expanded my garden to 20 by 25 with an additional raised bed behind the garage, but I'll be getting 108 plants and 34 packets of seeds. I'm going to be hard pressed. There is going to be a community potluck on Feb 16. There is nothing better than to talk about gardening in the dead of winter. They also sent out a list of classes that I can take. I took one on bee keeping last year to see what was involved. It was very interesting. Did you know that keeping bees is illegal in most cities, including Detroit? Something about harboring wild animals. Did you know that almost all cities are losing pollinators, but not Detroit? (Could have something to do with the 40% of Detroit that is vacant land.) Did you know if you move a bee hive 20 or 30 feet, the bees won't be able to find it? (They navigate back to the hive using the angle of the sun. They'll find where the hive used to be.) But if you move a hive miles, no problem. (When the bees leave the hive after the move they realize that their geographic bearings are messed up and they will recalibrate.)

Applications Have Started Arriving

2010-01-13T20:09:00.006-05:00

I guess they really did mail out the 2010 PALM applications because I got mine today. Of course, I'm only 40 miles from where they mail them. This year's applications are in black and white, sort of like winter. The hardest part of winter for me is the lack of light and the color deprivation. That's why I like cardinals. Their red coats in the winter are an act of defiance. You also can show defiance: mail in that PALM application. There will be a summer. You will be able to ride your bike again.

I took a few days off last weekend before the registration rush to go to Florida. It was the coldest it's been there in 27 years. I was going to run a race so the cold weather was great. I was trained for it. The 80's was what I was afraid of. I was probably the only happy person on the plane. The only trouble was the race started at 5:30 AM (Actually I was in the third wave so for me it started at 6:00 AM). There were 16,887 participants so we had to get there early. We were supposed to be at the start at 4:00 AM. This meant that we had to get up around 3:00 AM. All this so that we could wait in the dark and the wind and the cold for the race to start. We had 4 or 5 miles in before the sun even rose. I went with my brother and his training group from Flint. We all did well. My brother was the first finisher from Flint. I was the second finisher from Detroit. Well, Detroit is larger. Oh, I was also the last finisher from Detroit. You just have to look at it the right way.

I should start getting applications this weekend to do my part of registration. I still have work to do to get ready. I had to make changes to the registration program, database, and the confirmation letters. I made the changes but I need to test them more thoroughly to be sure that they work. I made a preliminary test and caught a few obvious errors, but I need to test some more before I start doing things for real. It's best if I do it on weekends when I have more time and am more awake. Wish me luck.

And They're Off

2010-01-13T05:14:00.003-05:00

The PALM 2010 applications were mailed out January 12 by 1st class mail. We mailed 3477 of them, up about 400. If you haven't received our application by Friday and want one, check the web site. I'll post a link to a PDF file containing it there. Our printer mailed them out and said that about 300 people had forwarding addresses (they moved or are in Florida). It's going to take some time for the applications to reach these people. If you are one of them, download a copy on Friday.

As advertised, I added anyone who emailed us their mailing address by Jan 2 to the mailing list and you should get an application by mail. Everyone who emailed us after that I added to the mailing list and then emailed them the link to the application on the web today. You should be set. Once again the reason I'm not posting the link to the application on the website now is that lots of our riders are not friends of the web and we want everybody to have an equal opportunity to get on PALM.

A few more things to remember: last year we mailed out the applications Jan 25 and the ride filled (700 rider limit) on Feb 5. Every year for the last 4 years we've filled a little earlier. With the economy in Michigan, who knows about this year, but you've been warned. If you are short on cash after Christmas, remember all you have mail in immediately is the registration fee: $110 for adults 18 and over, $65 for young people 11 to 17, and $55 for children 10 and under. You have until May 15 to add any meals and bus rides you may want. (All meals are optional: you can pick and chose if you want.)

Please fill out your application carefully, Last year about 15% of the applications had errors. Every error means we have to at least make a phone call. If you got the amount wrong, we have to mail you back your check and get a new one. Very time consuming. And please send us a business sized self addressed stamped envelope so that we can send you back a confirmation letter. (That's one of the things I do for registration, so I'm real interested in this.)

Happy New Year

2010-01-03T20:42:00.003-05:00

The First Dozen was on January 1. The high was supposed to be 25. I got a call from a diehard Wolverine Bike club member. She said it was too cold and she wasn't going to ride. I went outside to get the bicycle pump out of my car. The wind was blowing, it was cold, and I hadn't preregistered. I decided not to do it and decided to jog instead. (Biking is always colder than running.) The first 1/2 mile was against the wind and I was really cold. The street was a sheet of ice so I thought that I made the right decision. Later on in the run I warmed up and it wasn't bad. I looked at the main roads: perfectly clear. And to top it off the Wolverine Club member called me up. She did the ride and wanted to know where I was. There is a lesson in this. It's either always try to ride before you decide that you can't or don't live where they have winter, I'm not sure which.

I jog outside year round. Winter in SE Michigan is makes jogging doable: it snows, but snow accumulations of over 6 inches are rare. Granted it doesn't go away, but it does get trampled down. It gets cold, but a winter can go by where it doesn't get to zero. My hands and my face are what get cold. I found a new set of gloves to wear under my mittens now my hands are good. I have a Poletec bandana that I can use to cover my face so that's OK too. I jog in the morning. Not many people are out. Emanuel Stewart lives in my neighborhood and occasionally I see one of his boxers (who leaves me in the dust). It's a kick to be the first one to make tracks in fresh snow. It's different being the first bike to make tracks in the snow. I try to avoid that.

I sent the mailing list for the 2010 PALM applications to the printer today (January 3). There were 3417 addresses for applications. You can still email us your mailing address and we'll put you on the mailing list. We printed up and stamped some extra applications to mail out and we'll try to get you one of those. However the staffer who volunteered to do this (Ellie) slipped on the ice and broke the wrist of the hand she writes with. It seems to be one of the prerequisites for working on registration. She is the one who answers all the email. She's gamely pressing on but you'll notice that her answers are getting shorter. Meanwhile I'm getting the application program ready for this year's registration. (New application fields, changes to the database and the confirmation letter.) I made the changes but I need to test them before the first batch of applications come in.

Bikes, Winter, Puppies

2009-12-25T08:09:00.007-05:00

You have to scramble for bike rides now. But on New Years day the Cycling Saddlemen sponsor the First Dozen bike ride in Dearborn. Twelve miles, all in Dearborn. One municipality, one police department, one road commission for snow removal. I admit I don't preregister, but I've ridden it most every year. This year they will have homemade soup made by a volunteer at the end. I'm starting to check the 10 day weather forecasts.

In my last post I said that I was getting used to the winter cold. I was wrong: it got down to 18 degrees on Friday. My hands got so cold that I could barely turn the key in my front door lock. I've got a ways to go. On the brighter side, we have a puppy who has never seen snow and we were worried about her reaction. She is pretty high energy and if she couldn't go outside during the winter, we were in trouble. We found out she loves snow and that cold doesn't seem to bother her. Now if I could just take after her.

I was looking at the LMB website. They've revised and updated it. While I was there, I went to their Routes and Maps page. Click Route 1. It's a route across Michigan along the very southern part of the state. You can download a map and commentary on the route for free. If you check out the route, they go through a lot of cities that we've gone thru or had as sites during our southern routes: New Buffalo, Dowagiac, Colon, Constantine, Sturgis, Three Rivers, Coldwater, Hillsdale, Adrian, Hudson, Tecumseh, and Luna Pier. There is a lot of good information on self contained touring and the history of the area. The website itself has a slideshow of 75 photos that the people who created the map took while they were riding the route. They also agree that Monroe County has the worst roads in the state. Check it out.

How Registration Works

2009-12-22T21:08:00.007-05:00

It's really winter now. When it snows, it doesn't go away. But I'm beginning to get used to temperatures in the 20s and the days are getting longer.

You have until January 1 to email PALM or email me and get on the mailing list for PALM applications. But you can still get an application mailed to you after January 1. If you email PALM, ie Ellie, after January 1, she will take your name and address an application for you by hand. It's work for her, but she'll do it. It will be mailed a couple of days after the mailing list applications are sented out because she won't have any applications until then so you'll be behind everyone. So it's better for you and her if you email us your mailing address before January 1.

Here's the registration process. First Ellie picks up the mail at the PALM post office box in Ann Arbor. She opens all the envelopes and counts all the riders. (This is one of the many other things she does for PALM besides her staff position. She's the Mail Granny: the one who answers the PALM phone and all the PALM emails.) The day we get the application for the 700th rider is the cutoff date. Every application we receive that day is on the ride. This means that we will actually register more than 700 riders, typically 50 more. We count on cancellations to bring us back down to 700. Since we register 50 riders more than our cutoff, we don't keep a waiting list.

Then Ellie sends the applications to Vickie to process. Before January 31 this is easy: the post office, Ellie, and Vickie are all in Ann Arbor. After January 31 it gets a little harder because Vickie is in Florida, poor girl. Vickie first checks all the applications. Have the releases been signed? Are parental consents necessary and have they been signed? If there are any riders under 18, do they have adult rider sponsors and have the sponsors signed? Is there an emergency contact on the application? Have the t shirt sizes been marked? Do the dollars add up correctly? Is the check/money order for the correct amount? If you forget to include a self addressed, stamped envelope, she has to make one out for you or you won't get a confirmation letter from us. If there are mistakes, she will have to get in touch with you, either by phone, email, or snail mail. She might have to mail you back your check so that you can send the correct amount this time. She's not done. Now she assigns the rider number, fills out the paperwork for our accountant, and sends the applications to me. This is a lot of work, esp if there are errors in the application. It's not like it's winter where she is and she's snowed in. There is a beach right outside her door. And yet she still does work for PALM.

Then I get the applications. I have the easiest job. The applications have already been checked and I get them in batches of 50 to 80 at a time, perfect for efficient processing. Everything I do is automated. I enter the application into a program I've written. I use Mail Merge to generate the confirmation letters. I produce t shirt counts, bus and meal lists using the data saved on the computer. It is winter where I am. Every application I do brings summer that much closer. I'm motivated.

The applications go thru several sets of hands. There really is too much work for just one person to do it all. There are 3 locations involved: Ann Arbor, Florida, and Detroit. Generally things run pretty smoothly but last year was a disaster. We mailed out applications on January 25 and we were filled by Febuary 5, a new record. Vickie went to Florida two weeks early and then broke the wrist of the her writing hand. (Remember she fills out a lot of paperwork and self addressed stamped envelopes by hand.) And the applications had an incredible amount of errors and for every error Vickie had to at least contact the rider by phone or email. About 100 applications were missing self addressed stamped envelopes. Remember this means that Vickie must stop and address an envelope. And she's in Florida and the sun is shining right outside her window. In the middle of the rush, I went on vacation and everything stopped on my end. What a mess. We didn't get done until May just in time to start handling the riders who wanted to cancel or transfer their application to someone else.

This year we are mailing out the applications earlier. We hope to mail them out around January 15. Given how quickly we filled last year, there is a good chance that we will hit our 700 rider limit before Vickie leaves for Florida so that she can take all the applications with her. She promises not to break her wrist this year. This year I'm taking time off around January 10 and I'll be back when the applications start coming in. And you, gentle reader, will do a much better job of filling out the applications correctly and sending in self addressed stamped envelopes. Things should go much smoother.

Suppose you do make a mistake on the application/check. What happens? If you read the application, it says that your application will be returned and your spot on PALM will be jeopardized. That's not the way Vickie does things. Vickie tries to get in touch with you by phone or email. She returns your check only if it is wrong. She holds your spot if you need to send a new check or a new application (in the case of missing signatures). She may even assign you a rider number. You do not lose your spot on PALM. One other thing: she doesn't deposit your check until she processes your application. If you are waiting to see if your check clears to see if you are on PALM, that won't work. You'll get the confirmation letter before the check clears.

Changes for PALM 2010

2009-12-17T20:01:00.008-05:00

Basically the biggest changes in PALM every year are the sites. If you look over the last 5 years of PALM on the website you'll see that while we always go from west to east, every site but one has been different. (South Haven is the only duplicate. Not a bad choice.) If you ride PALM you'll see lots of Michigan.

One of the awkward things about PALM is that it's not a round trip: you finish 200 miles from where you started. We charter buses that take you, your luggage, and your bike to the beginning site on Saturday before the ride starts and other buses that return you to the start site after the ride is over on Friday. We arrange for week long parking at the ending site for the Saturday people and the starting site for the Friday people. Roughly 200 people take the bus on Saturday before the ride starts and about 100 take the bus after the ride is over on Friday.

If instead you are planning to take your car and/or camper from site to site, we've made a few changes that you'll be able to see from the application. If you know that you'll be taking your car and/or camper from site to site, you will need to indicate whether you are taking a vehicle and/or a camper and their approximate length in the fields provided below the city/state line on the application. (We need to know how much parking we will need at each site.) At registration on Saturday you will receive a PALM vehicle pass as part of your registration packet. We ask that it be visible from your vehicle at all times. Basically we rent the sites at which we stay and are responsible for them. We need to know that everybody on site is part of PALM.

We know that you may not know that you will be driving your vehicle site to site until just before PALM starts. You'll be able to sign up for a PALM vehicle pass at registration at the start of the ride. But if you do know you'll be doing this well beforehand, please let us know so that we can plan.

Everyone who is on PALM must register whether they are a rider or not. If someone is going to come with you to drive your vehicle from site to site, they still have to register even if they don't plan to ride. Up until last year we had separate non rider registration fee, but it was rarely used (the most we ever had was 13, generally it was around 6.) so we dropped it this year. Everyone who registers for PALM will get a t-shirt so be sure to indicate your size.

Some other things to know about taking your vehicle and/or camper from site to site. When you are driving to the next site, stay off the bike route. This is a safety issue. There will be 700 bikes on the route contending with existing local traffic and they don't any extra. You'll be provided with an alternate route to the next site. There will be a designated area for you to park. You must park there (or you will be asked to move). The luggage trucks and repair shops need parking too. Don't park or setup tents at the next site until 12:00 noon. Officially the site is not ours until 11:00. Any earlier than noon means that you will beat the site co-ordinator there. (Their first official duty is to police up the previous site before going on to their own site.) Please let the site co-ordinators setup shop before they have to start handling issues. These are rules that we've always had even though some have not followed them.

Some things though stay the same on PALM year to year. It's still Michigan. Midsummer's night will still occur on PALM. And for this year the registration, meal, and bus fees have also stayed the same.

Wind Chill is Back

2009-12-11T20:29:00.008-05:00

Last weekend the temperature dipped down to 27 and the wind picked up to 15 mph. My hands were so cold when I was jogging that I thought it was really cold. I knew it was going to be about 20 degrees colder this winter and I was wondering how I was going to survive. The first thing I did was to remember to wear mittens over gloves. When my hands weren't aching, it didn't seem so cold. But now it's 18 degrees and the wind is 20-25 mph. I've pulled out all my winter gear and I still have to prepare for temperatures 10 degrees colder. This is going to be a challenge. At least I know where all my winter clothes are now. I can't complain yet. In SW Michigan we only got a dusting of snow. The western part of the state got 5 inches or so. Nothing like starting off winter with a bang.

I've had some people ask whether they were on the PALM mailing list or not. If you got an application last year and you haven't moved, you are going to get one this year. If you have ever been on PALM, you'll be getting applications until you disappear or ask to be taken off the mailing list. If you didn't mail in your application in time to get on the ride last year, I put you on the mailing list (or tried to) and you should get an application this year. If you emailed palmbiketour@yahoo.com with your mailing address, you're on the mailing list. So far the mailing list contains 3300 addresses, about 300 more than usual. You have until Jan 1 to get me your mailing address before I have to put the mailing list together for the printer. On the application itself: I've completed the corrections to the proof and I'll be sending it back to the printer Monday. They should be all set.

On the garden front, I did harvest my last collard plant when the temperature got down to 27. I need daylight to work in the garden so my window of opportunity is down to the weekend. I was trying to wait out the pea sized Brussel sprouts and now they are frozen. I'm going to need a pick ax to clear the rest of the garden. My compost heap is a frozen lump. If a compost heap is active it's supposed to be warm, over 100 degrees. It looks like it wasn't active enough and now it will have to wait until spring like the rest of us. Well, there is the First Dozen. I did get a postcard for it today.

PALM 2010 Application

2009-12-06T07:01:00.003-05:00

I marked up the 2009 application with some changes for 2010 and have taken it to the printer. They will typeset it and send me a proof to review. (Typeset is an anachronism here. There is no type involved. In fact the guy who does it for them lives in the UP and does it all by computer.) So we are on our way.

We plan to mail out the applications in the middle of January, a week earlier than last year. Our next PALM meeting is January 24. This is the chance for staff to pick up applications that they can distribute to friends, bike shops, bike clubs in their area. This will be a week after the applications are mailed out. Last year we mailed out the applications around January 25 and we were filled by Feb 5. There is a good chance that the ride will almost be filled by the time we have the PALM meeting. If you are waiting for the application to show up at your bike shop so that you can sign up for PALM, your odds are not so good. We put the application on the website about a week after the applications are mailed. (A lot of our riders are not friends of the web and we want to give them first crack.) If you are waiting to download the application from our website, you could be way behind. If you think you may want to do PALM, please, please, please get on our mailing list by January 1. (Email your mailing address to palmbiketour@yahoo.com or email it to me at palmwebguy@ameritech.net) We mail out the applications by 1st class mail so that everyone will get the application at the same time (well, close to the same time) and have an equal chance of getting on PALM. If last year is any indication, the ride could be filled by the end of January.

The middle of January is when everyone gets their credit card statements that cover Christmas shopping. Michigan's economy is bad: 15% unemployment and a huge turmoil in the auto industry. (In the last year, I had to find a new job twice. ) When you get the PALM application, you may be low on funds. You don't have to pay for everything at once. To get on PALM you only need to pay the registration ($110 for 18 and over, $65 for 11 - 17 year olds, $55 for people less than 11) when you mail in your appplication. You have up until May 15 to add any meals or bus rides you may need. January is pretty early to commit to a week off in June. If you have to cancel, it will only cost you $15 for an individual, $20 for an application. Keep your eye on the mail and mail in your registration payment soon.

Just because you have to mail in your application quickly doesn't mean you don't have to fill it out completely. We got an unbelievable amount of incorrect, incomplete applications last year. We had people who left their names off the applications. The biggest problems were missing emergency contact information, incorrect dollar amounts, and missing/misplaced signatures. For these errors we (actually Vickie) has to contact you and you have to mail us corrections. This takes time (especially if you break your writing hand, like Vickie did last year). 77 applications did not include a self addressed stamped envelope. So how do we mail you a confirmation to let you know you are on the ride? Not only does it cost us money, but we have to fill out the address (with our nonbroken hand). It took us (well, me actually) forever to finish the registration last year. We hope that by starting a little earlier and getting your help, we can do a much better job.

More About Fall

2009-11-19T20:16:00.004-05:00

This November has really been warm: it was up in the 60's and sunny again last Saturday. At 3:00 I decided to take a bike ride: down Outer Drive, thru Rouge Park (to check on the new statue) to Dearborn via a bit of Hines Drive and the new bike path. I stopped off at Starbucks at about 4:10. Some things don't change in Fall even if it is in the 60's. It gets dark and early. I got home around 5:20. It wasn't twilight, it was way darker than that. I should have started at 2:00. Thank goodness the traffic was light (no pun intended).

My garden is down to some scraggly Swiss chard and one collard plant with leaves as large as a tennis racket. But this Tuesday was the Garden Resource Program's Fall Potluck and Planning meeting. It was a gathering of gardeners from all over the city at the 4H Center. ( I still can't believe that there's a 4H Center on the near eastside, south of Gratiot at 5710 McClellan Street. Look it up on Google Maps.) Even though winter is ahead of us, it was a large, diverse, enthusiastic group fresh from a great summer of gardens. This season the Garden Resource Program distributed 48,000 packets of seeds and over 200,000 plants to over 850 community, school, and family gardens within Detroit. There were over 3500 adults and 7400 kids involved and they produced and sold over 11 tons of fresh vegetables, all within Detroit. There were 40 workshops ranging from gardening (pest control, composting, seed starting) to cooking (bread making, west African cooking, making garden fresh pizzas) to vegetable preservation (pickling, canning, freezing and dehydrating). The potluck was a mixture of everything in the city: neighborhoods, ages, nationalities. We reviewed what we did the last year to see what we did well and what we could do better. The program grew by 40% this year. Their big question was how they could make it even bigger next year.

The PALM meeting was on Sunday. The sites are coming along well: some of the sites even know what their meals will be. This year most of the sites have pools we can access. The total mileage of the route will be 253 miles (spread over 6 days). We'll be going by lots of lakes (with swimming) and we'll have shade. A tentative route has been laid out and Andy will be getting it out on MapMyRide soon. I'll be getting with the printer about the 2010 application in the next couple of weeks. Summer is here before winter has even started.

November

2009-11-14T19:50:00.005-05:00

So far November has been much better than October. We and a group of friends do a Tuesday night bike ride around downtown Detroit (roughly New Center, Mexican Town, Ren Cen, Belle Isle, Eastern Market, and Wayne State). On last Saturday we had a party to celebrate this year's biking season. We invite everybody who has done the ride at least once and give out "awards". Even though the bike season was over with the miserable weather in October (and the shorter days), it was good to see everybody and talk about the summer. This year we took the suggestions of some new riders and made a few alterations to our route: we started taking East Grand Boulevard after Belle Isle past the old Packard plant all the way to the Poletown plant instead of going through Eastern Market and Wayne State. The road was wider, traffic was lighter, and we got to see more of how Detroit looked back in the day. We also rode the River Walk on the way to Belle Isle instead of taking Larnard. This took us right along the river, hard to beat that. Next year the I-75 construction by the Ambassador Bridge should be done and we'll be able to use the pedestrian bridge to include more of Mexicantown in our ride like we used to do. The Greenways Initiative offers some interesting possibilities next year, besides the Dequindre Cut.

So far the weather in November has been what the weather in October should have been. I was able to ride my bike for the first time in a month. We rode Hines Drive last Sunday. It was a beautiful sunny late fall day. As a bonus, Hines Drive was close to motor traffic so that they could put up the holiday lights so we didn't have to worry about cars. On our way there we went through Rouge Park and went by where they fly remote controlled model airplanes. We also met an artist there who was installing one of his scupltures in the park. And today I was able to squeeze in one more bike ride. Would you believe it, it was in the 60's and sunny two weekends in a row. Fall light and fall colors, what could be better? It's all the sweeter because October's weather has already shown us that we are stealing these days.

The next PALM meeting is November 22. After that I have to get to work: I have to put together the 2010 PALM application and get it to the printer. Remember that we mail out these applications by 1st class mail at the end of January. If you are interested in getting on PALM, the best thing you can do is to get on our mailing list by emailing us your mailing address, ie where you will be in January. You cannot register online (we're too cheap for that) and we don't put the application online for about 10 days. People who get the application mailed to them have the first crack at getting on PALM.

Bikes and Halloween

2009-11-02T05:24:00.013-05:00

Happy Halloween! I helped giving out candy at our Community House. We had a Haunted House and had almost 1,000 kids swarm there for candy and scares. The scariest thing I saw as a man walking his cat on a leash. I stayed far away.

I got a postcard from Adventure Cycling about a meeting to be held at Second Baptist Church downtown that mentioned the Underground Railway Bike Route . It was about bikes, it was at night, it was in town, and I hadn't ridden all month so I went. The meeting was far ranging and I learned a lot. It ends up that Detroit was an important stop on the Underground Railroad and that the Second Baptist Church and the First Congregational Church were major centers here. I found out that Adventure Cycling is adding a spur off their original Mobile, Alabama to Owen Sound, Ontario Underground Railway Bike Route route that will go thru Detroit. There was a presentation on the Greenways Initative for bike routes within Detroit and the metro area, complete with maps of planned and existing routes. I now have places to explore on my Tuesday night bike rides in the city. I got to take a tour of the church and hear about the interactive exhibit on the Underground Railway that will be at the African American Museum here in 2010. Not bad for a cold October night that looked like rain.

While the only thing growing in my garden is the compost heap, the greens are holding their own. It takes a deep snow to kill off kale, Swiss chard, and collards. As long as they hang on it's not winter yet. I'm harvesting them bit by bit and waiting for the green tomatoes to ripen. In the fall, I collect leaves that my neighbors rake up to add to the grass clippings next summer in the compost heap. I'm learning a little bit each year. Now if I can just control the insects and mildew.

October PALM Meeting

2009-10-25T07:25:00.005-05:00

This month's PALM meeting is when we pick tshirt colors and next year's patch. We did pick out a patch (there were several good entries this year) but we put off picking the tshirt color until next meeting when we can see some samples. It looks like it will be another bright color. We got a treasurer's report: we didn't lose money this year, in fact we are a little ahead. This means that the registration, meal, and bus fees will stay the same. Registration will be $110 for riders 18 and over, $65 for riders 11 thru 17, $55 for riders 10 and under, and $75 for nonriders. Meals will be $5 for breakfast and $9 for dinner. (You pick the meals you want, if any.) A bus ride to the start will be $45.

I was late for the meeting: who knew that I-96 was going to be closed at I-275? I ended up going along 8 Mile until Milford Road and I-96. Then Mt Hope Road was closed when I got to Lansing. I was an hour late and missed all the good stuff. If it wasn't for the meeting minutes I would not have known anything. I did get there in time for a (long) discussion of campers on PALM. More on this later.

Lately I've been cold all the time. I thought that I was getting weak, but it ends up that October for the last two weeks or so has been 10 to 15 degrees below the seasonal average. I was worried that I could no longer appreciate Indian Summer. But no, it was nature's way of telling me that Eskimos are also Indians. At least the greens (kale, collards and swiss chard) in my garden are holding up. Everything else is dead and on the compost heap: tomatoes, marigolds, basil. I left the cone flowers standing: the finches eat the thistles from their flowers. It drives my cats crazy but it keeps another species going and reminds me of summer when the flowers were in bloom.

Frost and the PALM Meeting

2009-10-12T05:05:00.003-05:00

I mentioned that my garden was looking a little ragged because of the lack of sunlight in the fall. On Saturday we had a hard frost. It killed my basil dead. It went from a sickly yellow green to brown overnight. My tomatoes are also goners. I have lots of green tomatoes. Does anybody know of a fried green tomato recipe for Italian (ie pear shaped) tomatoes? I have dozens of them, all very green. I'm beginning to put the garden to bed. I've pulled up all the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants and put them in the compost heap. (The green beans, squash, and lettuce are already there.) My greens are still hanging in there. It takes an ice storm to kill them. If it seems like it's getting dark awfully early now, remember that daylight savings time is still in effect and it really should getting darker even sooner.

Our second PALM meeting is this Sunday. The last I heard, the schools we wanted gave us a tentative OK. This meeting our route guy will tell us if he was able to find us a suitable route between the schools, a route with low traffic, a decent paved surface, and at least a hint of a shoulder, one that is not not too long. Any long day (ie over 60 miles) needs to have short days (ie 35 miles) around it. We are still at the mercy of construction, especially road construction though. You really don't know if you have a route until a couple of weeks before the ride. Road construction: it wouldn't be summer without it.

This meeting we'll pick the patch for next year and (maybe) the color for the tshirt. You wouldn't think it, but we've had some long discussions about tshirt colors. I can't figure it out. If you look at what bikers wear when they ride, it's obvious that they have no color sense. Having bikers pick out a color is like having Detroiters pick out a City Council. (Remember, I live in Detroit. I can say that.) The last couple of years we've had neon colors. At least you could see our riders when they rode their bikes. But the PALM parade at the end of the ride, 700 bikers all wearing the same neon shirt, good God! It was blinding and I wear progressive glasses. Wish us luck.

Fall in Michigan

2009-10-02T19:17:00.005-05:00

It was a cool summer this year in Michigan, but it has been long. It's been in the 70's and sometimes the 80's all the way through September. You just didn't think about summer ever ending. The days did get shorter and now that it's officially Fall (and the nights are longer than the days) I can't really do my Tuesday night bike ride in the city any more. It just gets too dark especially if it is cloudy at all. My garden and trees look ragged like there is some kind of insect or disease working on them. But it's just a case of lack of sun. Thursday it got down to the 30's and I had to scrape my windows before I could drive to work. (The plants all survived.)

We have a tentative route for PALM 2010: South Haven, Otswego, Hastings, Eton Rapids, Grass Lake, Milan, and Erie Metro Park (actually the school across the street from Erie Metro Park). Beth Best, our new vice chair in charge of sites, has contacted all the schools and they seem receptive. There could still be site changes: we've had years where we've had to change 4 of the sites for various reasons. So don't make those reservations at the Ritz Carlton's along our route just yet.

Fall is the best season in Michigan. It's more consistently warm than the spring but not too hot to enjoy being outside. You are prepared for any outside activity because you've had the whole summer to get in shape. You have the last burst of color from every plant and tree and the golden fall light to see them in. Winter is still far enough away not to dread it. Things are settling down into a routine but fall allows you to appreciate every good day instead of taking it for granted. You can still do everything you want to do, like take a long bike ride, even though you may have to do it on a weekend. Enjoy the fall: can those tomatoes, make that pesto. And remember that the 2010 PALM application will be there in January to rescue you from winter.

PALM 2010 Begins

2009-09-11T08:00:00.008-05:00

I know what you're thinking. It's still 2009, in fact it is still summer (at least for another few days). But along with the new school year, the planning for PALM 2010 starts now. The first PALM meeting is the Sunday after Labor Day (this year September 13). It will be a potluck picnic held at 2:00 in Granger Park in Dewitt Township outside of Lansing. Basically we use the meeting to discuss last year's ride, select people for next year's staff positions and site coordinators, and to select a route for next year. Typically there is not much of a battle for staff positions. In general we find out where we are short. But the route...

This year we will be doing a more southern route. (We alternate northern and southern routes.) People come up with proposed routes. We discuss them. (How are the roads, the traffic, the schools? Any long days?). We vote twice, once to narrow the choice down to two routes, and once to pick the candidate route. Now the work begins. Before the next meeting, the schools we hope to stay at are contacted and a route is mapped out. Sometimes we can't get the schools. Sometimes there is no good way to get from one school to another. Generally we have to change one or two schools but we've had years where we had to change 4 schools. So even when a route is picked, it's not over.

This summer I noticed more finches than usual. They seem to like a particular blue flowered weed that is growing in vacant lots along my running route. I've planted some cone flowers and Black Eyed Susans in front of my house. They are also supposed to produce seeds that finches like, but no finches yet. Another case of weeds overpowering the flowers.

I've expanded my vegetable garden this year. I was able to get some green peppers and some eggplant. Not a lot, just some, but better than last year when I got none. My turnips grew like weeds, but my beets didn't do so well. And, of course, I like beets more than turnips. This year I'm having success with zucchini: I have one plant that produces all that we need. My tomatoes are doing well, especially the Amish Paste tomatoes, a pear shaped variety. I put a raised bed behind my garage where there used to be an alley. I planted some carrots and parsnips there. Amazingly the carrots are doing well, but the jury is out on the parsnips. And I have enough basil for pesto! However my broccoli failed miserably. I planted butternut squash which wandered everywhere, produced big leaves, flowers, and one squash which the dog ate. At least I got some of the cucumbers.

Summer

2009-08-14T05:35:00.005-05:00

Another thing I notice when I get back from PALM is the fireflies around my yard. This summer has been so cool (after the 90 degree day on PALM the next 90 degree day was August 8) that they have been around well into August.

After PALM the highpoint of my summer is the Detroit Urban Garden and Farm Tour put on by the Detroit Agriculture Network. I've mentioned the Garden Resource Program in Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck. This year there are 244 community, 48 school and 517 family gardens participating, up 45% from last year. This your the tour was on August 5. You could take one of three bus tours or two bike tours. The tours started at Catherine Ferguson Academy, a Detroit public school for pregnant and parenting teenagers that has a farm with chickens, goats, rabbits, geese, ducks, turkeys and a horse plus a garden that produces food for both animals and students. All of the students are involved in the farm. Read more about gardening in Detroit here.

I took the Central City Bus tour and saw some gardens in the Highland Park area. One of the nice things about this tour is that you get to see some of the older distinctive homes in Detroit. Some of them are gorgeous, some of them need a lot of work, but even those show what they were. We saw a couple of first year community gardens, one started by a church for outreach and one by a community group that was trying develop a source for fresh vegetables for the neighborhood. The last garden, the Gloryland Community Garden near U of D, has a cistern, bee hives, flowers, vegetables, berries, and fruit trees laid out like a park. Afterward we all returned to Catherine Ferguson and ate some of the produce from the gardens at a reception.

Back to PALM. Our first PALM meeting will be September 13 in Lansing. It will be a picnic where we bring a dish to pass. We will be picking a route for 2010 from the proposals that people bring. If you would like to be on staff (and we are always looking for new staff), email us. I will post more details in a later post.

Post PALM Post

2009-08-03T16:47:00.007-05:00

Did you ever notice that the days are always getting longer leading up to PALM and afterword the days start getting shorter? That can't be a coincidence, can it?

This year's PALM was on the only hot week we had this summer. It was in high 80's or low 90's and it seemed a lot hotter because it was 20 degrees cooler on the weeks leading up to PALM. The Thursday before PALM we had thunder that sounded like artillery in SE Michigan. The next night, it poured. Either one of those nights would have been bad for PALM. You have to be careful what you wish for. Typically hot weather breaks with thunderstorms in Michigan. In fact we were supposed to get some bad weather Wednesday night and Thursday morning. 50 miles away it was bad, but we were lucky: no rain in Vassar and none on the way to Marlette. At 7PM, it sprinkled for 30 minutes, but everybody was setup already and it just cooled things down.

But it was hot. I drank lots of water (and we had SAGs with water every 6 or 7 miles. Thank God for the SAGs.) I still didn't drink enough. I kept forgetting where I put things and I was pretty cranky at times. (I apologize.) On Thursday and Friday I left camp at 7:30 AM and beat the bad afternoon heat. That made a big difference. It was a tough PALM for me. I was still tired for the whole week after PALM.

We start planning for PALM in September, the Sunday after Labor Day. The first meeting we pick a route (and who will hold what staff position, but that's the boring stuff). Ten months later PALM happens. For me it's the best part of the summer. I do the web site and it's hard for me to do any updates after PALM. This year I've been better than most years. It only took 3 weeks to get Dottie's pictures of PALM 2009 on the web site, drop the "Preparing for PALM" pages, and put up the Patch Contest page. Some years I haven't gotten this done until the end of August. If you read my PALM day by day description, you can tell it was too hot for me to notice a lot, but that Thursday and Friday were pretty good days for me. Fortunately we have a great blog from Ken Kaye. He nails what we hope that PALM would be all about for all the riders. Being from North Carolina, the heat must not affect him

PALM Meeting: Stuffing Packets

2009-06-06T06:15:00.006-05:00

Last Sunday was the last PALM meeting before the ride. We've been talking about (and planning) PALM since last September. This is the meeting where you realize that PALM is really going to happen. It is the meeting that you stuff all the packets that get distributed at registration: 813 packets, each with a participant's name on it. I spent Memorial Day weekend creating packet labels and rider info sheets. I had to use two reams of paper. The packets contain the map booklet, the ride patch, and the Milestone booklet that describes what is on the route, all visible proof that PALM is real and will be happening soon. I also created all the meal lists for the sites. I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited.

I've added some statistics about this year's participants to the website and you can compare this year to previous years. This year we have 263 first timers to PALM, 32%. As you can tell by looking that the statistics from previous years, this is normal. We did a survey one year and found that this was the first week long tour for about half of the first time riders. So if this is your first time on a week long tour, you'll have plenty of company.

You can also see that PALM participants come in all ages, that if your kids are on the ride, they won't be alone, and that if you are over 40 (or 50 or 60 or 70), you won't stand out. The smallest age brackets are riders in their 20's and 30's which has always surprised me. The great majority of the participants are from Michigan, 75%, but we have people from 28 states and one province. This year we have participants from Louisiana, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Go figure.

So even if the weather is a little cool, get out and ride: 3 more weeks to PALM and we mean it.

Getting Ready

2009-05-21T18:59:00.006-05:00

It’s been over 80 degrees the last two days with more sunny, warm weather in the forecast and it’s only 4 more weeks to PALM.

No more excuses to not ride your bike.

By now you should have had your bike into the shop for a tune-up. Maybe you did it yourself. You should have a number of rides in and are taking advantage of this great weather by riding, at least a little, almost daily. Maybe you’ve completed a longish organized ride like the Metro Grand Spring Tour or the Zoo-de-Mac. If so, you are well on your way to being prepared for PALM.

If not, do yourself a favor and get started. The more you train now, the more you will enjoy yourself on PALM.

For more on preparing for PALM, check out this PALM web page ( if nessesary, copy and paste the link into your browser):
http://www.lmb.org/palm/training.html

As you ramp up your training, please review my web page on Cycling Safety:
http://www.lmb.org/palm/safety.html

PALM Change Deadline: May 15

2009-05-10T05:56:00.003-05:00

If you have registered for PALM, May 15 is the deadline for any meal or bus changes. After May 15, whatever you got, you got. May 15 is also the deadline for cancellations. Before May 15 individuals on an application can cancel and get their money back except for a $15 cancellation fee. If everyone on an application cancels, the cancellation fee is $20 for the whole application. (The idea behind this is that if a family has to cancel, it should cost them $20, not $15 for every member of the family. It's part of making PALM a family friendly ride.) All cancellations have to done in writing and mailed to the PALM address (PALM; PO Box 7161; Ann Arbor, MI 48107) . No email cancellations will be accepted. What this means to me is that registration finally ends. All I have to do is create meal and bus lists, packet content sheets and labels and I'm done. After the last PALM meeting on May 31, all that's left is riding the PALM. I'll be processing odds and ends up until then, some of which I'll be getting today.

It's time for the big garden push. I have to extend the garden on one side because a tree is starting to shade it on the other. I have to put in the warm weather vegetables, some of which will be plants that I'll be getting this week. I have flowers to plant in the front yard to hide the vegetables that I have there. The irony is that with all this garden work, I've done nothing on my lawn. I haven't even cut it yet. Since I've stopped putting weed killer on it I have every weed in the world growing there and almost no grass. My neighbors must think I'm crazy especially when they see me going out for a bike ride instead of working on my lawn. On the plus side the turnips, lettuce and greens that I planted from seed on Tuesday have already sprouted. Maybe I can plant my entire front yard in turnips and zucchini.

Metro Grand

2009-05-04T05:23:00.005-05:00

Sunday was a good day for bicycling. There was sun and the temperatures reached into the 60's. It was a good day for the Metro Grand. I registered on the day of the ride and I wasn't alone. The one year I signed up early it was 43 degrees and raining. Some people rode anyway (not me). They looked like textbook examples of hypothermia. But not this Sunday. Because of construction the route had to go west inland instead of east to Lake Erie. We rode thru New Boston, Romulus (no, not by the airport), Belleville, and Ypsilanti Township. I now know where the Rawsonville Ford plant is. What I remember about past Metro Grands is how bad Huron River Drive is and the number of railroad tracks. Yesterday there were only two sets of railroad tracks which we crossed twice, once on the way out and once on the way back. And I found out that Huron River Drive is just as bad going west as it is going east.

The most I had ridden this year before Sunday was 30 miles. The most Judy had ridden was 24 miles. We rode 47 miles. Fortunately it was pretty flat and the winds weren't too bad (10 mph) but still we were tired by the end. Actually I was tired half way thru, Judy was OK. Thank God for SAG stops and cookies. You know, when you're tired you don't notice the route much and it's not as much fun. You just look at the road about 10 feet in front of your bike and try not to think about how far you still have to go. This is not the position you want to be in for the PALM. PALM is meant to be enjoyed. You are on vacation and touring Michigan by bike. My advice would be to be in better shape than I am now when you do PALM. I plan to be.

A little garden update: my radishes are up. I took heart and planted some beets and turnips after the bike ride. I should develop a garden plan. Mostly I look at the open ground, look at the seeds I have, pick out one I want, and plant a row. Zen gardening. I'm getting a little better: I try not to plant the same plants in the same place, especially tomatoes and greens, and I try to avoid the shadow of the tree that's beside my garden. This year's experiment will be putting a raised bed behind my garage where there used to be an alley. Putting together the raised bed involved a hand drill and took me a couple of hours. My sister the graphics artist probably could have done it in 15 minutes.

Hot Weather Training

2009-04-30T12:49:00.003-05:00

After last weekend I think I'm ready to ride in the summer. I got to ride three times when the temperature was in the 80's. I learned to sweat and I emptied two large water bottles while riding 25 miles. I still can't sit on a bicycle seat but I can stay hydrated. The other thing I am ready for is wind. I don't think I've done a ride yet where I didn't have to buck a 20 MPH headwind. And last week I caught in the rain on my bike. I got one 30 mile ride in which is good since the Metro Grand is this Sunday and I want to ride 45 miles. I should be a tired puppy come Sunday afternoon even without wind.

Just a reminder: if you have registered for PALM and want to add meals and/or bus rides, you have only until May 15 to do so. If you want to add/change meals and/or bus rides, download an application from the website, fill in your name and address (and your rider number if you can find it), the meals and/or bus rides you want, mail it to the PALM address (PALM; PO Box 7161; Ann Arbor, MI 48107) with a check for the correct amount and a stamped self addressed envelope. You don't have to sign the waiver or pick a t shirt size or include an emergency contact or anything else. We have a May 15 deadline because we have to let the bus company and the sites know the number of people well in advance. There are more people taking the bus on June 20 to the start than ever before. We are going to have 6 buses, over 280 riders. It's going to look like a wagon train.

Applications Done

2009-04-26T08:49:00.006-05:00

At long last we have entered all the PALM applications except for a handful of problems. We are up to 806 people who have registered. I sent out the confirmation letters on Friday which means that should start receiving them on Monday. This has been an ordeal to say the least. We reached our cutoff before we even started processing the applications but we've closed early before and haven't had this much trouble. There were extenuating circumstances like broken hands and lots of problem applications but still this has taken way too long. This will be something we improve for next year.

I've worked up some preliminary counts. We have 260 first time PALM riders. Typically 35% of our riders have never done PALM before so this is normal. I was worried that because we closed so quickly that first time riders wouldn't have a chance to get on the ride. People who have been on PALM before have applications mailed to them automatically so they would have an advantage. But lots of people who had never ridden PALM before got on the mailing list and received applications when they were first mailed out. That balanced things out.

This year the largest age bracket is 60 to 69 with 183 riders, followed by 50 to 59 with 179, and 10 to 19 with 117. The number of teenagers on our ride has been trending downward since we've started closing early. One of PALM's missions is to promote family biking and to offer a inexpensive family vacation. With this in mind we will need to find out ways that families can know about PALM and feel comfortable registering their families in February for a bike tour that is going to take place in June. If you have any suggestions for how we can accomplish this, please email us.

This year we have 69 riders in the 70 to 79 age bracket and 11 in the 80 to 89 age bracket. This is typical and shows that bicycling is an enjoyable activity that has no age limits and that doing PALM is with in the reach of any active person, not just trained athletes. Roughly 40% of the people who ride PALM are women and women of all ages. (22 of the riders over 70 are women.) The variety of people who do PALM are one of the things that make it a special social and recreational event. It's not just a ride for 20 year old males. And you get a t shirt.

70's At Last

2009-04-19T19:48:00.006-05:00

I rode on Thursday. The temperature crept into the 60's but the wind was blowing so hard that I had to put on my jacket to stay warm. I should have worn tights but I thought that I could get away with not wearing them. The wind was against us on the way out and was especially brutal on Belle Isle. By the time we got it to our backs, it was too late to do us any good: we were already tired. This was not the case Saturday. It was in the 70's. I wore shorts and a jersey for the first time this year. I even put on sunscreen, just like it was summer. I rode on Hines Drive. There were plenty of bikers, just like summer. I could even hear frogs croaking in the ponds. I could get to like this.

I picked up my cold weather plants from Earthworks Garden and the Garden Resource Program on Saturday. I got 6 packs of Collards, Kale, Broccoli, and two kinds of lettuce. I have to harden these plants off before I can plant them. In the meantime I finally dug up my garden beds and even planted radishes. See what a day in the 70's (and the prospects of three days of rain coming up) will do. I'm trying to move my garden over to get it away from a tree in my backyard. Last year the tree really leafed out and shaded part of my garden. I could see how available sunlight affected the growth of plants, especially the ones with large leaves. I also need to draw up a garden plan so that I don't plant the greens in the same place as last year to make it harder for the bugs to find them. Something else for me to do while it rains.

April is the Cruelest Month

2009-04-15T10:51:00.005-05:00

I like the way Michigan flip flops months. March was mild. All the snow melted and we had several days where we could ride. Of course, since March is winter, any day you could ride stands out. But the ground was bare and I don't remember any snow. April has been different. Even though it was spring we had a major snow storm and then snow flurries on Easter. While the Tigers have been trying to play baseball, the weather hasn't made it out of the 40's. Decidedly not biking weather.

The Metro Grand is on May 3. It's going to be a scramble to be in shape to ride 45 miles and forget about 62 miles. There is going to be a new route for this year's Metro Grand. We'll be going west instead of east. This will mean that we won't be seeing Lake Erie, but it also means that we won't be riding on the potholes of Huron Valley Drive and I've been promised that there will be fewer railroad tracks on the route. Maybe this year we will have a tail wind on the second half of the route.

I'm going to try to ride tomorrow. I'm getting a crown put in but it is supposed to reach 60 and be sunny. Hope springs eternal. If worse comes to worse, at least I can pick up my cold crop plants that I'm getting from the Garden Resource Program for my garden. I still haven't done anything with my plot yet, but then again the plants haven't been harden off either.

PALM Meals and Bus Rides

2009-04-11T05:59:00.004-05:00

When the applications were sent out, I made a point of telling everyone that you didn't have to order the meals and bus rides right away, all you had to pay was the registration to get on PALM. We've received a lot of applications without meals or bus rides. Now we're beginning to get applications adding meals and bus rides. It's now April. If you want PALM meals or bus rides, now is the time to order them. Officially you have until May 15 to order additional meals and bus rides, but do us a favor and order them now or as early as you can. The site people have to know how many meals to have on hand well in advance. We have to get the proper number of buses and trucks well in advance. May 15 is pushing it, especially if there is a last minute rush.

To order meals and bus rides, download the application from the web site, fill in at least your name(s) and, if you can, your rider number(s). Select the meals and bus rides you want, include a stamped self addressed envelope, a check for the right amount and mail it to the PALM address (PALM; PO Box 7161; Ann Arbor, MI 48107). You don't have to reenter the rest of the information nor sign the waiver again. You will receive a new confirmation letter that will now include your meals and bus rides when we process the request. Remember you can pick and choose just the meals you want.

Speaking of April, it's time that I got my garden in shape. I haven't done anything yet. I put the garden to bed before winter and the leaves that I cover it with as a mulch are still there. I have seeds already and I'm going to get cold weather plants at the end of next week. No May 15 deadline here, I better get started. Well, after Easter anyway. I'm going to my brother-in-law's place on Harsen's Island for Easter.

Snow

2009-04-07T17:13:00.006-05:00

It has to be ironic that we get hit by our first snow in over a month on Opening Day of the baseball season. We were supposed to get 7 inches but the temperatures were so warm that we had only 3 or 4 inches of very wet snow. It was very heavy to shovel. It was good to remind the North Carolina fans who were here for the Final Four what they are missing by not living here. No hurricanes though.

We had a PALM meeting on Palm Sunday. I got more applications from Vickie who is back from Florida. We now have 696 people registered. She informed me that the final number will be about 825 people. Now you are probably asking yourself how a ride with a 700 rider cutoff can register 825 people. One reason is that we don't count staff. Last year we had 71 staff people including the SAGs (18 of them), truck drivers, and site people. In the last 3 years when the ride closed early, we've had about 50 or so cancellations. We already have 4. If that happens this year, we will be a little over 700 riders, where we want to be. Do you see why we don't have a mailing list?

As Monday's snow reminds us, April is a month when we have to bike when we can, not when we want. I hope that you have gotten your bike out of mothballs by now and had it tuned up. If you've waited until now to have a mechanic check it out, that's another reason you can't bike when you want. If you are like me, you have to get used to sitting on a bike every year. Don't wait for consistent weather, start to bike now for PALM. There will be good days even in April.

Spring?

2009-03-31T19:52:00.006-05:00

Well, it is spring. Cold, but spring. Generally 50 degrees is about the coldest that I will bike. The sun makes a big difference, of course. So far the temperatures have been just about 5 degrees too cold to ride and enjoy it. It was a little too cold (and a little too windy) to ride the two Tuesdays after St. Patrick's Day. I did get to ride last Saturday though. There was a peek-a-boo sun and wind. I was able to ride against the wind going out (averaging a sprightly 9.9 mph) and with the wind coming back (total ride average: 11.7). I'm revisiting my old routes one at a time. There is still a lot of debris left over from the snow melt here. There is supposed to be a cleanup for the Final Four but it hasn't reached my neighborhood yet.

I'm up to rider 625 as far as processing PALM applications. We've hit a snag though. Vickie, who does the intial processing (correcting all the errors, filling out all the sheets for the accountant, etc.), tripped and broke a bone in her right hand. Her job entails writing. She and the applications were down in Florida then, but she's back in Michigan now. At first she was going to let Ellie take over, but she thinks that she can still do it, cast and all. I won't get any more applications until the PALM meeting on Sunday (Palm Sunday!) In the meantime, Vickie's sent emails to everyone whose application she has (and who gave us an email address) to calm people's jitters.

The Garden Resource program's seed distribution took place on Monday. I got 13 packets of seeds, more than I can possibly plant. It seems a little early to think about actually planting. I just got the seeds as an act of faith. I haven't even thought about raking up the leaves that I'm using as mulch and clearing out the dead flowers that I left for the birds in the garden, let alone preparing it for planting. I'm supposed to get plants in two weeks. We'll have to see about that. But I'm starting to see rabbits so we must be closer than I think.

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-20T16:31:00.006-05:00

Although you may not be able to tell it, I am plodding thru the applications. I'm up to 515, about 2/3 of the way thru. We still are getting applications from all over: Washington, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma in this last batch. More families are registering and a few more people who weren't on the PALM mailing list (and so didn't get an application mailed to them). But there are people who I know have registered that I have not seen yet.

Tuesday was in the 50's and, since we have daylight savings time in effect and have plenty of daylight, we did our normal Tuesday night bike ride downtown. It was St Patrick's Day so we were a little worried about biking after work. We did go by Nancy Whiskey's by Tiger Stadium. It's on the other side of I-94 as far as Corktown is concerned, but it must be an Irish bar: there were 3 buses there and the parking was so dense we could hardly get our bikes thru. We pass goats on our route and they are still there. They have been joined by a pig. I wonder how that's going to work out.

The most surprising thing was the traffic on Belle Isle: there were two full lanes of traffic going over the bridge to Belle Isle and they were moving. Generally if your going to Belle Isle at 5:30 you're there to see and be seen. You're not going fast and you're stopping a lot. If you are on Belle Isle, you're not going anywhere. Not so on St. Patrick's Day. It was like rush hour.

One thing I learned on Tuesday: don't expect to do the same rides that you did at the end of the summer when you are first starting out in the spring. Like I said, we did our normal 24 mile ride at an easy pace. We started out well, but we were crawling at the end and biking wasn't fun. Even if you are in shape, you use different muscles biking. My back was hurting by the end. I should have done a shorter route so that we could have finished comfortably and felt good about our ride. Don't make my mistake. But if you do (or did), don't be discouraged. It's not spring yet.

Badger suggestions

2009-03-17T11:11:00.003-05:00

Toe Clips

For those less experienced riders, hybrid riders, and mountain bike riders there is a strapless toe clip.  I found four different brands that could be ordered through Emery's where I work and I am sure these and probably others are available through any good bike shop.  These clips position your foot properly on the pedal, give you a little bit of pull up ability and do not trap your foot at all.  See if you can find these at your local bike shop or at least have them look in their catalogs so you can see what they look like.

Prices are approximate.

Zefal half toe clips, sizes S, M, L, XL $12.These are probably the best because they match to the shoe size of the rider and result in the best foot position on the pedal.
Delta strapless $8
Cyclist mini toe clip $6
Winwood mini-clips $6

Anybody riding with platform pedals would benefit from using this type of toe clip.


Towels

Here is a trick we have found and use whenever we travel or camp out to save space and we never have to dry a towel from day to day or pack a damp towel in with our dry clothes.  All riders could use this idea.

Go to Ace Hardware in the auto department and buy an absorber towel for about $14.  It comes in a plastic storage tube.  Get it soaking wet, fold, roll and wring it out and it is ready for use.  At the end of my shower I get it wet, just before I turn off the water.  I do the fold, roll and wring routine and the towel will dry my whole body better than any cotton towel around.  When I am dry, I do the fold, roll, and wring routine and put the towel in the storage tube until my next shower.  After a trip we wash our absorbers with our regular clothes but do not dry them, we just fold, roll and put them in their tubes.  If a long time passes between uses and they dry out, we soak the towel in water for about 10 minutes and they are just like new and ready to go.  They are very durable as well, ours are in about their 5th year.

See, something good does come out of Wisconsin.

--the Big Kahuna

Spring is Closer

2009-03-13T15:47:00.008-05:00

It's getting close to biking weather. The temperatures are popping above 50 every once in a while and, at least in SE Michigan, there is no snow. After this week's heavy rains there is ice, but no snow cover. With the time change, it's still light when I leave work. I could bike after work, not for long, but I could bike. I try to ride every month. So far I've gotten rides in January and February (and in Michigan), now I need to check March off the list. Our bikes are tuned up and ready to go. Any day now.

I got a new batch of applications to enter and my application was among them: 396 and 397. Not a very low number for somebody who is actually working on registration. The bike shops that travel with us, D&K bikes and Diane Ruggles, have registered and some SAGs. Out of 47 riders, I only had to add the full address for one. The rest of the people were already on the mailing list (and so I could enter them quicker). That should change as I get to the later applications. I'm beginning to see people who emailed us asking if we've gotten their applications. And we've gotten our first 90 year old rider.

PALM is for everyone. It's one of the things that I like about PALM. The daily mileages are such that you don't have to be an athlete to ride PALM, just be in shape. You don't have to worry that you'll stand out if you are older. There are lots of us on the ride. You don't have to worry if you're a woman: it's about 50/50, men and women. You don't have to worry about bringing your kids. There are plenty of kids. You don't have to worry that you'll be too slow: we have people who ride with one kid on a tagalong towing another kid in a bugger. You don't have to worry that you've never done this before: about 1/3 of our riders have never ridden PALM and most of them have never done a week long bike trip before. And you should see the assortment of bikes that people ride! Everything from 30 year old Schwinns to tandems where the riders are facing different directions. We do offer longer optional routes each day but the last and I suppose you could go fast, but what's the point? Why miss your chance to see the things that you go by? If something looks interesting, why not stop?

Bike Feast

2009-03-10T10:15:00.007-05:00

We had a weather pattern here: start off the week with mornings in the single digits and end it on Friday with a day in the 50's. (Last Friday it set a record for the date at 67.) But now it's decided that rain is the new pattern. We've gotten inches of rain. If it freezes, we are in trouble.

Saturday I got my bike back from shop already for the summer. It was a day late: the rain had already started. But Saturday night was the Bike Feast. This event was started 23 years ago by the Downriver Cycle Club and three other local bike clubs. It takes place about a month before biking season starts (and after about 3 months of winter) and gives a chance for bicyclists who haven't been able to bike for months to talk about biking. This year it was sponsored by LMB. In past years you had to bring a dish to pass. This year we ate off china and used real silverware. I don't remember ever using real silverware as a bicyclist. There was a drawing for free registations to upcoming rides and I won one for the Farm Lakes tour. A woman presented a slide show of a tour of Utah. The views were spectacular, but I noticed that she always took pictures at the top of the climbs. There were lots of signs warning of 6%, 10% grades. She said that the climbs were gradual but the descents were steep. She zoomed by any pictures of herself: helmet hair.

Since LMB sponsored the dinner, they passed out copies of the 2009 ride calendar and the current LMB Quarterly magazine. And who was featured in a long article: Kevin Degen who was with us at the Feast. It was great spending a couple of hours talking about biking. Afterwards we had to go home in a cold, hard rain. But did I mention that I saw the first robins in my neighborhood yesterday?

PALM Meeting

2009-03-07T16:06:00.006-05:00

We had a PALM meeting last Sunday. I was hoping that we would have almost all the applications entered except maybe for some late staff by the meeting, but such no luck. We have completely processed 389 riders so far, about half. As I've mentioned before, all applications that didn't make the cutoff date of Feb 3 were mailed back on Feb 13. If you mailed in your application before Feb 3 and didn't receive your application back, you are on the ride. Until Vickie processes your application she won't cash your check, so don't be worried if your check hasn't been cashed. If you're still worried, email us. Vickie has alphabetized all the applications that she is processing so she can check to see if you're there.

We got a report on all the sites at the meeting. Things there are going well. Meal menus are pretty set. Entertainment has been arranged. The Stanton site co-ordinator said that the only food outlets in town are McDonalds and Subway. The downturn in the auto industry has caused the three downtown restaurants to close. Monday night might be a good night to pay for a PALM dinner. We got a look at this year's t shirt. If you thought last year's shirt was bright, wait until you see this year's shirt. The staff wanted to be sure that if you wore the PALM shirt while biking that you would be seen. They succeeded. I can't wait until this year's PALM parade. All the spectators will be squinting.

I've taken a look at the breakdown at the PALM riders so far. I would expect that the first applications received would be from former PALM riders. I remember adding only a handful of complete addresses when I was entering the applications. From this perspective, there should be only a handful of new riders. In fact 103 of the 389 riders that I've registered so far are first timers: 26%. Since I only entered a few addresses, this means that the first time riders were all on the mailing list. This shows that if you want to ride PALM and you've never ridden PALM before, you've got to get on the mailing list. (Former PALM riders are automatically on the mailing list.)

We already have 32 riders in their 70's and 7 riders in their 80's registered. Typically the 10 thru 19 year old age bracket is one of the two top age brackets. So far there are 49 riders in this age bracket as compared to 93 riders in their 50's and 101 riders in their 60's. This is low. I've found that families register later than individuals. With this year's Feb 3 cutoff date, I hope that they had enough time.

More Applications

2009-03-02T11:54:00.004-05:00

Now this is winter in Michigan. When I ran on Friday it was 52 degrees, today it is 10 degrees, and last Tuesday it was 8 degrees. This is what I expect, not 6 weeks where it doesn't get above freezing. Even though it is cold, all the snow and ice are gone in SE Michigan. You can see the debris that's gathered over 2 months but you can't do anything about it: it's all frozen in the ground. I once tripped on a piece of cloth on a sidewalk that was frozen solid. At least there is baseball being played in Florida and articles on the Tigers in the paper. I followed my own advice and took the bikes in to have them tuned up for the summer. I may not have to pick them up for a while though.

I got more applications to process. We are now up to 389 riders registered so we are about half way. There were a lot of the staff in this batch, but not mine. If you got a email/call from Vickie about a mistake/omission you made on your application, you are not alone. I made a mistake in the money and had to send her a new check. My number could be in the 500's. PALM riders do come from all over. In this last batch we had riders from North Carolina, Colorado, New York, and Kansas. The great majority of the riders are from Michigan but from all over Michigan. Lots of small towns.

Paczki Day

2009-02-23T12:38:00.008-05:00

More applications today. Now we are up to 332 riders. I'm even beginning to see applications from the PALM staff. Not mine though. I mailed mine in on Jan 25, two days after I got it. This year that meant that I was mailing it in late. I wrote a check for the wrong amount, which meant that Vickie had to call me up and tell me to mail her the right amount. It looks like I'm part of the problem as well as part of the solution. It will be a while before I see my application.

One of the nice things about living close to Hamtramck is paczkis. (I even know how pronounce the word.) It's one last indulgence before Lent, made from more butter, eggs, and sugar then you could belive possible. Each paczki is 450 calories. It's a Polish tradition but I buy them from the Danish bakery by my house. (All the Polish bakeries in Hamtramck are owned now by people from the Balkans as is my Danish bakery.) I'm originally from Flint and I didn't know about paczkis until I moved here. It was an easy transition to make: the Poles have it all over the Irish here.

When I run in the morning I turn down the same street that I bike. I'm very used to seeing this part of the road. When I run now, I can picture what the road looks like under the ice and snow. And when I do this, it's easy to imagine that I'm on my bike instead of running. Winter is losing its hold. Now is a good time to take your bike in to get it tuned up for PALM. If you do it now, you won't miss any days biking. Your bike shop isn't busy and they will be glad to see you. My bike shop is even having a sale, so I'll be taking mine in this weekend.

Am I on PALM?

2009-02-20T11:48:00.006-05:00

We are getting this question a lot lately. On February 13 Ellie sent back all the applications with regrets that didn't make the cutoff. There were 170 of them. If you were too late to get on PALM, you should have received your returned application by now and know that you are not on PALM. If you mailed in your application before Feb 3 and haven't heard from us, then the odds are very good that you are on PALM.

PALM does not have a waiting list. What we do is register 750 riders by accepting everybody that we get on the cutoff date, this year Feb 3. Then we count on 50 riders having to cancel to bring us down to the 700 rider limit. This has worked pretty well the last 2 years: the extra riders we accept act as waiting list, but they don't have to wait. Why do we have a 700 rider limit? We stay at schools and use their facilities. Schools are not hotels and some of them are small, especially in the northern part of the state. 700 riders is about what they (and our volunteer staff) can handle.

I got another packet of applications to process. With these, we are up to 283 applications processed. I'm the one who mails out the confirmation letters. I figure I'm working on applications that were mailed about Jan 23. I'll mail these out tomorrow so some of you will start receiving them on Monday, but, as you can tell, we are way behind. So far only a couple of riders have had to be added to the database from scratch. Everybody else I've processed are people who were on the mailing list, either at their request or because they have ridden PALM before. This shows that if you want to be on PALM, it is very important to be on the mailing list.

To stay in shape over the winter I run outside. I've decided that the hard part about running in winter is the snow, not the cold. Running on ruts of worn down snow and watching for patches of ice is tiring. The cold you can dress for, at least down to 5 degrees. When I got back from Florida all the snow had melted but it was still cold. I was able to run as well here as I did when I was on vacation. But, no use. There's more snow on the way this weekend.

Back From Florida

2009-02-18T13:02:00.006-05:00

I came back from Florida last night about 9:30. There was already a packet of applications waiting for me to process. This will bring the number of riders up to 203 when I enter them tonight. I checked the day's emails and Vickie wrote me that she sent another packet of applications yesterday. I've got to hurry.

Vickie emailed me later last night to tell me that I messed up my application and that I needed to send her a corrected check. I mailed my application on January 25. She is just now getting to my application. If you mailed your application on January 25 or later, don't worry if you haven't gotten a confirmation or had your check cashed. This is proof that we haven't gotten to your application yet.

We stayed in Jacksonville Beach. Since we were on the east coast and we stayed on the beach, I got to watch sunrise starting when it was still dark and the moon cast shadows to when the sun rises out of the sea to cast a different shadow and all the steps in between. There were two days when there were no clouds (unlike Michigan). Of course, it did rain one day and, since we were in northern Florida, the temperature only got up to 65. Enough for short sleeve shirts, but not enough for shorts. I guess you need Tampa or Orlando for shorts.

I did bring back a cold from Florida. I'm glad that I have a day to transition back to winter here. (It's going to be 38 today before dropping to 25 tomorrow.) Maybe I'm lucky that it wasn't 75 or 80 there. Then 25 would have killed me.

Alternatives To PALM

2009-02-12T23:33:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, PALM filled very quickly this year, and we have turned away a large number of potential riders. I think 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 have not yet filled.

The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. www.goba.com. June 20-27, 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 starts in Norwalk in northwest Ohio. The 7 days include 5 riding days of 45-60 miles each, with 2 layover days that include optional loop rides or alternate activities including a trip to Lake Erie or even Cedar Point. 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 travel from Eaton to Youngstown, with some days relatively flat and others very hilly. The daily distances range from 52 to 74 miles, with a total of 405 miles. This year’s ride appears to have an ice cream emphasis.

TRIRI. Touring Ride Across Rural Indiana. June 21-27. www.triri.org. This year's route is in southwestern 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, including the Sunrise Adventure June 19-21. Their other 2 rides all have longer days and challenging hills.

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 2009, and we hope that you will be able to join us on PALM in 2010.

Ellie, PALM Mail Granny

Feb 10: 58 degrees

2009-02-10T17:17:00.005-05:00

58 degrees was a record for February 10 in Detroit. During the summer we do a Tuesday night ride around downtown. We start whenever the temperature gets above 50. By then the days are long enough to ride. Well, when it was Tuesday and it was above 50, I rode my bike downtown. I didn't do the official route. I rode from work to (and around) Elmwood Cemetary, to (and around) Belle Isle, to Earthworks Garden, and back to work. I rode at noon instead of after work. Since I rode in the middle of a school day, there wasn't much traffic and there was lots of sunlight. As I mentioned before, unlike my neighborhood, all the ice on the roads was gone downtown and most of the snow was melted on the grass. Elmwood was beautiful and riding around Belle Isle was great. There were puddles and there were still Canadian geese and swans. It convinced me that spring was a possibility and I think I know what it will look like. I know winter will be back soon and it will be bad, but I sure appreciated the break.

The next two days were also in the 50s. All 15 inches of ice covered snow melted in my yard. All the ice in my driveway melted. Even my compost heap thawed out. Of course, the rain helped. It makes me wonder why I'm going away to Florida this weekend. That will mean that I won't be processing applications again until next Wednesday, Feb 17. I got some today that I will do tonight, but that will only get us up to 153. I mailed my application on Jan 26 and I'm not in the 153. Unless you mailed your application before Jan 26 there is no way we could have processed it yet. Don't worry.

So far Ellie has mailed back 170 applications with regrets. We really hate doing this, Ellie especially. All of the staff are volunteers who have done this ride for years and really love it. (Ellie's done it 25 years.) To turn someone away from something you yourself love and that you know they would love too is very upsetting. If you mailed in your application after Jan 26, you don't want to hear from us until, say, next Thursday.

PALM Riders

2009-02-08T08:29:00.005-05:00

I've entered the applications for 91 PALM riders so far. I shuffle through the applications before I enter them to see if I recognize anybody. I would have expected only familiar names and people from Michigan in first 100 riders, but I was wrong. We already have riders from 8 states, including Pennsylvania, Missouri, New York, and Virginia and I didn't recognize that many names . I would also expect that younger riders would be the earliest to sign up since the Internet is their friend. Wrong again: we have 21 riders in their 60's and 8 riders 70 and over signed up already. PALM riders continue to surprise me.

This is the weekend of the Winter Blast in Detroit. After a month of being in the 20's and 5 days of a temperature below zero, the temperature reached 50 yesterday. Everything is melting. I still can't see the grass, but now I can notice that my car is filthy. This will increase attendance at the Winter Blast, but now they'll have to make snow for the snow slide. Where is the justice?

Our friend Shelley threw a party Sunday for her Saturday bike ride crew at her apartment downtown. It was a beautiful day, not as warm as Saturday but bright sunlight. While the streets where I live have big puddles and the occasional chunk of polished ice, the streets downtown were dry: no puddles, no ice and pretty deserted. We were kicking ourselves: why didn't we bring our bikes? The party was great: lots of food and biking videos. Maybe spring and biking is a possibility after all.

First PALM Applications

2009-02-06T17:13:00.003-05:00

I got my first 24 PALM applications to process for 2009 yesterday. I'm using these to check out the programs and the confirmation letters for the new year. As I expected most of the people were former PALM riders, but there were people who were added to the mailing list this year and a couple of people who have never been on PALM. I'm wondering how many first time riders we are going to have who aren't on the mailing list. Since we put the application on the web site a week after we mailed it out, these people would have had only one week to (maybe) find PALM, discover that the application was on the web site, download it, and mail it in. Not a lot of time.

I checked the applications, programs, and confirmation letters after I entered first 24. Sure enough, there was a bug in the confirmation letter if you got the bus to Whitehall after the ride and a small formatting problem. I fixed them and the first confirmations have been mailed. This leaves me with 700 to go. But the way I look at it, since we got our first applications two weeks ago Saturday, I'm only 2 weeks behind. This will work up to Wednesday. Two weeks ago Wednesday we got the applications for 181 riders. I'll be working on Wednesday's applications for a while.

I got another batch of 67 applications on Saturday. We've been helped by the rain in Florida. When the sun shines, Vickie rides her bike, otherwise what's the point of being in Florida? She's emailed me that she already sent me another batch after the Saturday applications. It looks like we have the registration machine stoked up.

PALM Is Filled!

2009-02-03T21:52:00.005-05:00

Ellie picked up the mail today. There are over 700 riders that have signed up for PALM. We have reached our limit so, as of Feb 3, PALM is officially closed. Last year we filled in a little over 3 weeks on February 19. This year we filled in less than two weeks. This is really amazing, given the winter we're having. Who can believe in spring?

Vickie has hundreds of applications that she's working on. With the big rush to mail in the applications, there were a lot of errors: missing checks, signatures, names, etc. It's going to take time to contact each rider to get the errors corrected. I have the easy job: I enter the corrected applications into my PC and send out confirmation letters, but I have no applications. Tomorrow I will get the first small batch so I can test the program for this year. I'm looking forward to it but I'm 700 applications behind. It's going to be weeks before I catch up. Spring training and Lent will have started before I'm done. Please try to be patient.

There is no easy way for us to tell you whether you are on the ride or not. The applications are spread out between three people in different geographic locations. Any effort we make to determine whether an application made it in time takes away from the effort to enter it and mail out the confirmation. Even if we did compile a list of people who are on the ride, what would we do with it? Use it to send emails? Isn't that what the confirmation letters are for? Post it on the internet? Personally, I wouldn't be happy if my name was on the internet. I get enough spam as it is. Does anybody have any ideas?

I'm going to spend the last free night that I will have for a while packing vegetable seeds into envelopes for the Garden Resource Program. I've heard back from the Michigan Land Bank. I'm still on track for leasing a lot two blocks from my house for gardening. At least one neighbor there is all for it. And I have another meeting next week on a proposed community garden. I've taken pictures of one proposed site. It's completely covered in snow (surprise!) so it's hard to visualize a garden there and it's a long way from a source of water.

PALM Filling Fast

2009-02-01T08:02:00.007-05:00

The applications are still coming in. Currently 571 riders have sent in their applications. Our limit is 700 riders. It looks like the ride will close Tuesday or Wednesday. If you mail your application today, you may or may not get on PALM depending on your geographic proximity to Ann Arbor. (The people we mailed applications to in England and Norway are in trouble.) Mail the application in anyway. We don't keep a waiting list. Instead we accept 50 or so riders over the 700 limit, generally by accepting all applications on the cutoff date. Then we count on cancellations to bring us down to the 700 limit. Since we started reaching the rider limit, about 50 riders cancel every year: things come up in June that you couldn't know in February/March. In the years where we didn't fill early, we had about 15 cancellations.

No January thaw this year, but February is starting out nicely: it's 33 degrees and the sun is shining. I don't remember the last time it was above freezing. The paper said that we've already gotten twice as much snow as an average winter but it seems a lot more since none of it has gone away. What we've gotten (42 inches of snow so far) in SE Michigan is nothing compared to west Michigan with their lake affect snow, but with the cold, our mobility has really been affected. We seem to be in a snow cave.

We did get out to see the Ann Arbor Folk Festival last night at a sold out Hill Auditorium. One of the headliners was Pete Segeer who is 80 years old. He was in a band with his grandson and Woody Guthrie's granddaughter. The highlight of the evening was Pete Segeer lining out Amazing Grace, doing the call, and the entire audience of 4000 doing the response. That was followed by all the performers and all of the audience singing This Land Is Your Land. It was amazing. I felt sorry for the performers that had to follow.

New Single Day Application Record

2009-01-30T09:40:00.009-05:00

Yesterday we had 285 riders signed up for PALM. Yesterday's mail had 101 applications in it with 181 riders on them: a new one day record. Now we have 466 riders and, with a rider limit of 700, the ride is 2/3 full. It looks like PALM will fill before the middle of next week. If you sent in your application already, good. If there are people that you are hoping to see on PALM, call them and make sure they have sent in their application. If they haven't sent it in yet, tell them to do so immediately and then light a candle. (Click here for an application.) We've started to make our calls: the oldest rider from last year (90) has mailed his in. Gino has mailed his in. Others we reminded.

If you've mailed in your application already, you're on the ride but your check won't be cashed nor will you get a confirmation for weeks. Let me outline the PALM registration process. First Ellie picks up the mail. She dates and opens the envelopes to count the number of people. Then she sends batches of applications to Vickie in Florida. Vickie checks the applications and assigns rider numbers: all the signatures there? emergency contact? dollars add up? 20% of the applications have errors. Then she has to call people up, get them to correct the errors, and send new checks, applications. When the application is correct, she gathers the info that the accountant uses and then sends the applications to me in Michigan. I enter the corrected applications into my home PC and generate confirmation letters that I mail to you in the self addressed, stamped envelope that you have provided. (Later I'll generate bus lists, meal lists, and the mailing list for next year's applications from what I've entered.) So where are we in the process? The applications have come in so fast that Vickie has yet to get the 1st one. So Vickie and I are 466 applications behind. You won't get your confirmation letter for weeks.

FAQs:

Why can't I register for PALM online? It costs money to do that (I pay $5 to register for races) and we work for free. It will take us a few weeks, but the ride isn't until June and we save riders money. Plus we have a lot of riders who are not friends with the internet.

Why isn't my check cashed? Vickie doesn't cash the checks until she verifies that the applications are correct and 20% of the applications have errors.

If I made a mistake on my application, will I miss PALM? No. Vickie assigns you a rider number and a place on PALM while you correct your application and/or send her the proper amount.

You have mail

2009-01-28T12:29:00.007-05:00

Ellie picked up the PALM mail on January 27. We now have applications for 165 riders. This is what we experienced last year when the ride was filled by February 19. Ellie said that she got 8 Express mail applications so these 165 are probably the riders who were in line outside the store waiting for it to open, but still it looks like the economic times may not be affecting PALM too drastically.

In any case, our limit is 700 riders and we are 20% there. You might be saying to yourself: it's January, how do I know if I'll be ready for PALM in June? How do I know my family's schedule? Suppose you have to cancel. It will cost an individual $15 to cancel before May 15. If all of your family is on one application, it will cost your family $20 total to cancel by May 15. If you think you can do it or if you've always wanted to do something like this, sign up. It's not like an airline ticket. It won't cost you much if you change your mind.

It's been a week since the PALM applications have been mailed 1st class. If you are on the mailing list, you should have received your application by now. If you haven't then you are never going to get it. If you need an application, click here to download one. I'll be adding this link to the website tonight.

I Sent in My Application

2009-01-25T22:32:00.004-05:00

I got my PALM application on Thursday, but I live 45 miles away from where they were mailed. I got an email from PALMsters in Arkansas and Nebraska. They just got their applications on Saturday. It looks like its taking a bit longer for the 1st class mail to be delivered. Give yourself a few more days before you panic. I'm mailing in my application tomorrow, but you'll be glad to know that the riders in Nebraska and Arkansas have already beaten me. It's the quick and the dead.

I talked to Ellie who picks up the PALM mail. Only 5 applications came in on Friday, about 20 on Saturday. Last year the applications started coming in with a bang. The real test will be at the start of the week. If we get a lot of applications then we could be in for a repeat of last year when we reached our 700 rider limit on February 19. We've had a lot of people asking to be added to the mailing list, but I've also had people telling me that they are going to be registering now, but paying for their meals later. We won't know anything more until Tuesday or Wednesday because Ellie is off cross country skiing in northern Michigan. At least she stayed in Michigan and didn't go to Florida.

Currently I'm working in downtown Detroit. I was by the downtown library at lunch and what did I see? A robin. It's 22 degrees and there is a foot of icy snow on the ground which has been there for weeks and I see a fat robin. A robin and a PALM application in the same week. This can't be a coincidence.

Inaugural Day

2009-01-24T18:55:00.003-05:00

I live in Detroit. The last presidential election had a special resonance for people in Detroit. Election day was magical. I run before work and decided to run by the school where I vote. The lines were already outside the school and across the lawn almost to the street. This never happens. I decided to take a late lunch and vote in the middle of the afternoon. When I voted there was still a line. I'm generally voter 200. I was voter 577. I drove by the polls just before they closed. They were deserted: everybody had already voted. No one wanted to be left out.

Inauguration Day was another special day. My brother's wife is retired. She has a brother in DC, realized that it meant she had a place to stay, so she went to the inauguration. My neighbor across the street took her daughter out of school and got on a bus so that they could be at the inauguration. Our Community House had an almost impromptu pot luck to watch the inauguration on a big screen. It was a bitterly cold, festive day in Detroit.

It seems fitting that the first Garden Resource pot luck was held on inauguration day: new beginnings. Even though it was bitterly code and it was the night of the inauguration, the pot luck was packed. Last year the number of people in the Garden Resource Program increased by 45%. This year family gardens are going to get 32 packets of seeds and 138 plants for $10. These people are very serious about encouraging locally grown food. They have free classes on composting, gardening, canning, etc and have setup a program to help you sell any extra produce that you have at local farmer's markets. This is literally a grassroots organization.

And the next day I got my Johnny's Seed Catalog. Even though there is 18 inches of snow on the ground and the temperature is in the single digits, I'm excited.

And They're Off

2009-01-22T20:14:00.005-05:00

The PALM applications were mailed off on Wednesday Jan 21. We got our application in the mail today, but we are only 45 miles from where they were mailed. We mail applications 1st class, so, if you are on our mailing list, you should your application tomorrow. If you haven't gotten an application by Monday, the chances are you are not going to get an application by mail. The application is not on the web site yet. I'll put it there Tuesday so you'll be able to download it. This is important because last year we filled up by Febuary19, 3 weeks after we mailed them out. If this year is like last year (and we've been getting a lot of inquiries about our ride), time is of the essence.

The latest PALM meeting was last Sunday. Last Saturday the weather was horrible, even for winter. It was below zero in the morining, then it snowed 6-8 inches during the day with wind. I was on the expressway on Saturday night (fool) and you couldn't see the lanes. You could drive 30 mph, but at 35 you would start losing contol. So I was really looking forward to driving to Lansing. But once I got past Novi on I-96, it wasn't a problem. When I got to the meeting in Lansing, there were staff from all over the state there: Muskegon, Columbiaville, Three Rivers, Coldwater, etc. Hardy people. We were able to distribute applications to everyone to take back to their bike shops, bike clubs, and friends. (That's another way to get an application.) So I was able to mail off applications to all the Canadians on the mailing list on Monday. They may get all the low rider numbers.

We all know times are tough. You may have enough for the registration, but not have enough money to pay for meals and bus rides just yet. You may want to wait until you have all the money before you submit your application. You don't have to. You can send in the registration fee now ($110 for riders 18 and over, $65 for riders 11 thru 17, and $55 for riders 10 and under) and reserve your spot on PALM and send in money for meals and buses later (before May 15 though). Even though every bit of green is under 18 inches of snow and the roads are not fit for cars, never mind bikes, watch for that PALM application. Summer starts when you mail it in.

Deep Freeze

2009-01-16T17:59:00.004-05:00

This is not the week to consider going biking. It was 6 degrees below zero this morning in Detroit, the coldest that it's been in years. Tomorrow its supposed have a wind chill of 20 below and on top of that snow 3 to 5 inches. I'm still trying to figure out how that's going to happen. (It was actually closer to 6 to 8 inches of snow.) I've had to run inside that last couple of days, something I never do. I'm back working downtown and I can tell you that when its below zero, there are no ice skaters at Campus Martius. We have so much snow now I wonder what they are going to do for the Winter Blast. I think all the cars at the Auto Show are going to have chains on their tires. I went to a meeting on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM to start organizing a community garden in my neighborhood. There must have been 25-30 people there, all of them desparate to see even a single blade of grass. And its only the beginning of January!

Right in the middle of this, what do I get? A link from Amanda August to her pictures of PALM. Just in time. The sun is out. People are smiling and wearing t shirts. There are about 100 pictures of the PALM parade at the end of the ride. (Her mom was trying to get pictures of as many different people as possible.) Thank you, Amanda.

Snow Day

2009-01-12T17:41:00.006-05:00

I was able to get home Friday evening but it started snowing overnight and didn't stop until 5:00 PM on Saturday. We got about 8 inches which is a lot for us. This gave me time to work on PALM. I had my annual battle with Mail Merge and completed the confirmation letter that I will be sending out after I process the applications (and which I will mail to you in the self addressed, stamped envelope that you will remember to send to me). Is there any decent tutorial on Word's Mail Merge anywhere that covers things like optional text and how to make Mail Merge fields appear in the Word document? Forget Word Help. It tells you how to create labels, but nothing deeper. The best I've been able to find by searching with Google is company/university instructions to their employees/students on how to use Mail Merge . There's got to be something more organized than that. (The label part works well. It was very easy to create the mailing labels I needed for the Canadians on our mailing list from scratch. And I found out that Scar, ON is really Scarborough, Ontario if you're Canadian.)

Once again Andy Vast Binder plotted the PALM proposed daily routes in MapMyRide. You can find them by using the Key Words PALM 28 in Advanced Search on the MapMyRide site. I added links to the maps to the PALM website. You'll notice that the Miles on the PALM 2009 Route table are hyperlinks. Click these links to get to Andy's MapMyRide routes.

What else to do on a snow day? The Free Press had an article about seed catalogs on Saturday, so as the snow was coming down, I was ordering my free Johnny's Seed Catalog on the web. I found out that you can lease a lot for a garden from the Michigan Land Bank for $50 a year. I went to their website and found a vacant lot that I can lease two blocks from my house.

Do you see a problem with what I've been writing about? It's winter and it will be winter for 3 months and everything that I've been writing about and doing is about spring and summer. Obviously this is a guy who hasn't embraced winter. It's not that I don't go outside. For instance, I had to take a picture of the vacant lot for my garden to send in with my application. (All you see is snow in the picture. I could send a blank sheet of paper with the application and it be the same thing.) And I do get the paper from off the front porch. But the best I can come up with for a winter activity is going to Florida, which is pretty bad for someone who's lived all his life in Michigan.

Applications

2009-01-06T14:15:00.005-05:00

I called the printer and the applications are scheduled to be printed at the end of this week. That doesn't mean that they will be mailed right away. The applications have to be printed, then folded (another machine), then tabbed (another machine), then stamped (yet another machine), and then mailed. The different machines could be backed up. Look at it as a plane flight with multiple connections and you get the idea. But it does look like the applications could be mailed before the 18th rather than after. Once again, I'll post the exact date they are mailed when it happens so you'll know. I have to submit my mailing list to them by the end of the week. I hope you are on it already. We'll mail out apps to any stragglers, but they will be behind.

The next PALM meeting will be Jan 18th. Staff come from all parts of the state. They'll get some applications to distribute to bike shops, bike clubs, friends, and acquaintances in their area. This is another way to get an application, but it is more hit and miss. I'll learn more about this year's sites that I can share. One thing though: with the populations of the sites under 3000, there may not be any microbreweries. We are supposed to go thru Frankemuth though.

As you know, every day I feed the birds. I am trying to feed the cardinals, the only spot of color in the winter, but to do this I end up feeding pidgeons and squirrels (2 or 3 of them) too. I scatter the seed so that cardinals, juncos, chickidees, and sparrows have a chance. I came out one morning this week and there were two black cats out there too. When I looked around, I noticed that there lots of nice places for cats to hide, waiting. Just who am I feeding anyway?

The New Year

2009-01-01T20:31:00.006-05:00

It's hard to realize at winter solstice that we won't be on PALM until summer solstice. But at least the days are getting longer and we are in the same calendar year as the next PALM. And, given the weather that we've had the last 2 weeks, we have nothing more to fear about winter: we can get more, but we can't get worse. The two things that wear on me in winter is the lack of daylight and the lack of color. Winter is a black and white movie. That's why I value cardinals and put out bird seed for them every day (even though the squirrels get most of it). Their red color seems like an act of rebellion.

I rode the First Dozen in Dearborn today. I was supposed to be the Ride Captain for the Ann Arbor bike club. There were about 125 bundled riders (but none from the Ann Arbor bike club: go figure). It's hard to believe how cold 26 degrees can be. I put on two sets of gloves and two pairs of wool socks but my hands and feet were still cold. My wife stayed home and she had a point. But it was good to see people biking: I know the pedestrians we passed appreciated us. They'll have stories to tell.

I was putting together some information on this year's sites for the website and I noticed that every place we stay this year has less than 3,000 people in it as of the 2000 census. Grant had 880 people in it in 2000. This might be a good year to consider buying the meals on PALM. Can you imagine 700 people looking for breakfast and dinner in a town of 880? Talk about locusts. Remember: to get on PALM you just have to pay the registration ($110 for riders 18 and older, $65 for riders 11 thru 17, and $55 for riders 10 and under). You have up to May 15 to add/change meals and bus rides.

Happy Holidays

2008-12-28T20:03:00.006-05:00

Hope everyone had a happy holiday. I got to catch up with lots of my family and friends. Hasn't the weather been bizarre the last week, even by Michigan standards? On the Friday before Christmas we get 10 inches of snow. Then Sunday it goes down to 3 degrees with a wicked wind. More snow on Tuesday, followed by lots of rain on Christmas Eve. The Saturday after Christmas it goes up t0 56 degrees, all the snow melts and we have flood warnings. And winter is just starting. How can January top this?

The good news is that the part that was backordered for my mountain bike came in and I have it back, in time for the 1st Dozen ride on January 1. I checked the weather: no snow, but 26 degrees. I tried to ride one cold 1st Dozen using long fingered bike gloves. Bad mistake. My hands froze. It was painful. Now I use the same thinsulate winter gloves that I usually wear outside. It's fun to see what everyone wears. Generally riders wear so many clothes that if they fall, they can roll to the finish. I have friends who used to live in the condos by the start. The first year that they were there, they watched several hundred people unload bikes New Year's Day and wanted to know what was happening. And then the mayor of Dearborn showed up and everyone started to bike to the "Ride of the Valkyries". It made quite an impression.

I'm keeping the PALM mailing list. There are over 3100 people on it so far and I'm still adding new names. It's not too late to get on it. Just email us your home address and we'll send you a PALM application by 1st class mail. It's the quickest way to get a PALM application since the application won't be on the PALM website until a week after the applications are mailed.

Into the winter

2008-12-12T19:49:00.003-05:00

We had a long, long fall this year. We didn't get a blast of cold weather to warn us of what was coming and then Indian Summer so that we could be grateful for what we had. Instead we got all the warm weather at once (it was in the 70's all thru October well into November) and then all of the cold. I put off harvesting all my greens until the start of December. I pulled the plants out of the ground on the last day before they would have been frozen there until spring. I did cook and freeze some so that I can have a little summer in January.

I try to ride my bike every month of the year. November was not a problem and since the 1st Dozen in Dearborn is on January 1, January looks OK. December however... I run outside to stay in shape. Yesterday I ran when it was 19 degrees and I froze. It wasn't even windy. I'm weak. I'm usually good until around 5. Of course a lot of clothes are involved.

My point is that now that it is really winter you have probably forgotten all about spring and summer. This is a mistake. The PALM application comes in the mail to you in the 3rd week of January, before the Super Bowl even. You may not believe it. You may put it aside. Be strong. Have faith. Read that application. You will be riding your bike again. Sign up now. A little secret - all you need to do is send in enough to cover the registration to reserve a spot on PALM. You can send in the money to cover meals and buses (if you want them) later. (I shouldn't tell you this since I work registration and it's more work, but these trying times. We all need help.) Get out the sun screen and fill out that application!

How to get on PALM

2008-12-09T21:37:00.005-05:00

Ellie Knesper, the person who answers all the PALM email and phone calls, has been getting questions about PALM applications almost every day. I'm going to tell you how to get on PALM. Don't look for the application on the PALM web site. I'm in charge of the web site and I don't put the application on the site right away. I do it a week or so after the applications are mailed out. Why? Because a lot of our riders, especially ones who have done PALM a lot, are older and have not made friends with the Web. I want to give them a fair chance.

What can you do? The way to get on PALM is to get on our mailing list. Then you will be mailed a PALM application by 1st class mail. (Why 1st class? Because then everybody gets the application at the same time, within a day or 2. Then everyone has the same chance.) Don't worry about me selling your email address to Canadian pharmceutical companies. This is a low tech operation. Just look at our web site. I'm one of those older PALM riders who have done PALM a lot. Email us your home address and we'll put you on the mailing list. I'll also email you when the ride is getting close to filling up.

I am proofing the application now. It should be mailed out sometime in the week of January 18. I'll post the exact date of the mailing on the web site and here. If you are on the mailing list (and all past PALM riders are on the mailing list) and you haven't received your application by Jamuary 25, email us right away and I'll email you one.

Last year we mailed out the applications on January 25 and the ride was filled by February 19 (my sister's birthday). This year with the uncertain economy, who knows. But we have filled up early the last three years and, at $110 with $75 more for 2 meals a day, PALM is an awful cheap vacation.

Cycling Safety

2008-05-27T20:51:00.003-05:00

It’s a little over four weeks until we are all making our final preparations to leave for PALM.

As you train for PALM, please keep the following in mind:

Helmets - Always wear your helmet when on your bike, even in your driveway. Your helmet should sit straight on your head.

Always ride on the right and as far to the right as “practical”

Ride no more than two abreast and only single file in traffic.

Hand signals - Left turn, left hand straight out. Right turn, left arm bent at the elbow pointing up or right arm straight out. Stopping, left arm bent at the elbow pointing down.

Be sure to actually stop at stop signs and lights!

Riding with other riders - Stay to the right, but pass only on the left. Say “Passing on your left” when passing other riders. Ride predictably.

Making a left turn - First, check that it is clear behind, signal and move to left side of lane. Signal again, check for traffic, and complete the turn. If on a multi-lane road, move across each lane in steps.

Crossing Rail Road tracks - Always cross the tracks at a right angle and make sure the bike is perfectly upright and not leaned over when crossing. If there is any doubt, get off and walk your bike across.

Finally, ensure your bike is in good repair.

Contact me if you have any questions about cycling safety, equipment or training.

More Spring, More Riding

2008-04-21T15:24:00.003-05:00

We are beginning to be able to ride our mid week bike ride consistently now. SE Michigan is flat, but last Wednesday the wind was blowing so hard that we were pedaling up hill on the flats. I'm making progress: I was able to ride 10 miles before my seat hurt. We still haven't riden more than 25 miles and the restrooms on Belle Isle are still not open. I ride by a large community garden on Cochrane just North of Tiger Stadium. It was all tilled up and ready for planting. The rows had already been marked with string.

The Garden Resource Program is underway. We went to a potluck dinner at the 4H Center in Detroit on McClellan south of Gratiot. You know when you are on a street named after a Civil War general that you are on an old street. There were fresh graduates from the Urban Roots program (a nine week program that teaches you all things gardening and community organizing), members of the Detroit Agricultural Network, and humble family gardeners (like me) from all all over the city there, all people with hopes and plans for the summer. I'm planning on putting in a raised bed behind my garage. It has sun, but it also has gravel. I'm supposed to be getting over 100 plants. They got to go somewhere. I know spring is here because I spotted my first neighborhood rabbit. For a gardener, this is both good and bad.

Kevin's New Bike

2008-04-13T11:34:00.008-05:00

Anyone who has ridden in a bike event in Michigan knows Kevin Degen, at least by sight. Over the years Kevin and his trike have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for various charities (the Kenny Foundation, MS Society, Make A Wish, etc.) He has ridden PALM over 20 times. One of the few times he missed PALM was when he was riding across the country from California to Washington DC. Having ridden with Kevin, I can tell you that everyone who sees him seems to know him. Having put his trike into his car I can tell you that not only is it old, but it is heavy.

Three years ago the St. Huberts youth group was on the PALM, met Kevin, and saw his bike. They made it their mission to raise enough money to get him a new bike. Some engineers from Toyota met Kevin while riding the MS 150 and volunteered to design it. At about this time last year they presented their first attempt. One of their main goals for the bike was stability, especially in turns. Kevin has taken many spills. He wears protective padding on his elbow because of this. Their design had two wheels in the front and one in the back for stability. But unfortunately when Kevin rode the new bike on a test track, it was apparent that this design wasn't going to work.

Even though they already spent hundreds of hours on the first design, the Toyota engineers were undeterred. They redesigned it, this time with one wheel in the front and two in the back. And last Sunday, they were able present it to Kevin at St. Hubert's. The new model has lots of nice features. It was a feat for Kevin get on his old bike. With the new model the top tube is low, there is a locking front brake, and the seat can be raised and lowered by a switch, making getting off and on the bike much easier. To make the bike more stable in turns (especially right turns) the frame is off center. Kevin rides using his left arm and leg only which means he rides off center. The frame compensates for this so the bike's center of gravity is where it should be for stability. Needless to say the frame was custom built.

The best thing was that Kevin got to take the bike right home with him. He's already has had it out for a 50 mile ride. (My first ride this year was 20 miles, but you know Kevin. ) Bring on summer!

Better Weather

2008-04-12T09:03:00.004-05:00

Finally the weather has gotten better and I've been able to get out on my road bike. It was in the 50's last weekend and my wife and I rode both days. You know, sitting on your bike after not doing it for 4 or 5 months makes your eyes open wide, especially the second day. We do a ride with a few friends on Tuesday night and we wanted to check the route. It's a good thing we did: the construction on I75 and I375 is going to make for some changes. We won't be able to go by Xochomilcho's in Mexicantown: Vernor is now a very busy narrow two lane road so getting there is bad and there is a barrier all along Fort Street so you can't make a left turn to get to the much safer Lafayette. On the east side of the route, the Canfield bridge over I75 is being rebuilt so we can't cross there after going thru Eastern Market. We rode the route with detours on Wednesday and it's a little shorter. I'll have to extend the route to go through Indian Village to make up for the lost miles.

We rode on Wednesday this week instead of Tuesday which had the better weather so that I could go to the Cluster 9 Garden Resource meeting. Even though everything still looks mostly dead, I have garlic and chives starting to sprout. The meeting was packed. People want spring bad. It ends up that there are about 64 types of vegetables that can be grown in Michigan and through this program you can get seeds or plants to 41 of them. I haven't started on getting my garden ready. The emerald ash borer has killed some trees behind my house so now I have more sun light. I'm thinking of doing a raised bed behind the garage where there is a lot of gravel. (It may have been an alley once.) And I'm thinking of expanding the garden where I have it now. If I can ride my bike, it's time to stop thinking and start doing.

Forcing a Bike Ride

2008-04-02T19:52:00.003-05:00

I've waited all the way thru March for the temperature to get above 50 so that I could ride. It hasn't happened. On Saturday, I couldn't wait any longer. The sun was out and it was in the mid 40's. As far as I was concerned, this was as warm as it was ever going to get to the end of time. I put on everything including a down vest and rode. It was only 12 miles, but hey. The streets had a lot of debris left over from the melted snow so I rode my mountain bike, the one with the big tires, the same one I used the last time I rode when I did the First Dozen. I forgot that I had trouble shifting then. It still doesn't shift right but it did enough to finish the ride. Time to take it to the shop. Thank goodness my other bike, the one that I ride 95% of the time is ready to go.

I didn't have trouble sitting on the bike seat on the mountain bike (but the road bike...) but my legs were sore the next day. You would think that running through the winter would prevent that. It doesn't: biking uses different muscles. Running does help with conditioning. I could use a trainer or a stationary bike but it drives me crazy to stare at a wall when I'm exercising. I don't run inside for the same reason. Going by the same place over and over drives me crazy. So I'm outside with the dark and the cars and the wind chill.

We are at a dead time as far as PALM registration goes. There are still a few applications that have problems that haven't been entered and people can still add/change meals and bus rides thru May. I'm taking the opportunity to add the people who called/emailed us for applications this year to our mailing list. That's about it. Now if I could fill up the time with bike riding...

PALM Statistics

2008-03-25T05:27:00.009-05:00

Since we have 786 people registered, I made a first pass at generating PALM statistics. I've posted them to the website. There are a few things that I notice. We have 225 people who are on the PALM for the first time. This is 29% of the people on PALM. This may seem like a lot but last year 35% of our riders were doing their first PALM and the year before that it was 45%. We've reached our 700 cutoff the last three years: 2006 in the middle of April, 2007 in the middle of March, and this year in the middle of February. Before 2006 no one remembers reaching the cutoff. In 2006 a lot of our regular riders were caught off guard and missed the cutoff. That's why there were so many first timers in 2006. By 2008 people figured out that they have to register early. If you didn't get a registration mailed to you this year, the odds of getting on PALM weren't good. (I didn't enter many new names and addresses during this year's registration. Most of the first timers this year were already on our mailing list and were mailed an application. )

The age band counts have some differences too. Notice that the number of 10-20 year olds is down this year and that the smallest age band is now 0 to 9. (Traditionally its been the 20 -29 age band.) One reason for the drop of 10 - 19 year olds is that we don't have the St Hubert's youth group with us this year. (They have been riding PALM every other year.)

Last year's PALM was the longest six day PALM that we've ever done, almost every day was 50 miles. We drew hot weather last year, high 80's to 90 for the first three days. This year we made sure that we mixed in some shorter days with the longer ones. (If you want to do longer miles, we offer optionals on our routes. We've always done this.) Weatherwise, we made sure that winter went on much longer in 2008. This year we had to raise our registration fees. Because of the rise in gas prices and schools we were losing thousands of dollars. We raised adult more than child and teen fees to keep PALM affordable for families. And this year, we filled early. If you look at the statistics, the median number of PALMs that a rider has ridden is 4. The number of riders drops greatly after 5 PALMs. It is very important for us that we attract new riders. One of PALM's missions is to encourage family biking by providing an affordable biking vacation. Attacting families is very important to us. I hope that the reason the number of first timers and 0 - 19 year olds are down is that we closed early, not a reaction to last year's route or the increase in fees.