Bruce and Henry - The Century

On Saturday, August 9, Henry Scott and I rode 108 miles. It was my first century; Henry's 10th or 11th . . .

Our ride didn't start with a century in mind; rather, the plan was to ride to Warren Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan, spend a couple of hours, then ride home. 70 miles; no sweat.

We arrived at WDSP after battling some fun head winds. Our ride took us on our usual route out of South Bend: northward on Niles, Angela, and the Riverside Trail. Then Darden to Lilac to Bertrand Road to Mayflower. Then Chamberlin to Bakertown Road to Madrone Lake Road to Warren Woods. Then Warren Woods to Gardner to Browntown Road. That takes us to the Red Arrow Highway and about 100 yards from the entrance to WDSP. If you check a map, any of those roads headed west equaled headwinds.

After a good rest at WDSP (and a total of 36.5 miles) we both felt pretty good. Henry suggested a century and I quickly laughed . . . but the more I thought about it, if we just turned around and did the same route home, our total would be 73 miles, only 27 short of a 100. We needed only to ride out of WDSP about 14 miles (sounds pretty easy) and then turn around.

I was in.

We headed back along Browntown to Hills, then Hills into Baroda, MI. In Baroda, we hit some light rain (those who've ridden with me know rain is the one thing I really hate to encounter on a bike). I'm thinking, "what the h . . . am I doing," but we pedaled on. Less than 10 minutes later, we were out of the rain.

Out of Baroda on Lemon Creek Road west, south on Holden, west on Shawnee into Bridgeman, MI. As we headed south on California out of Bridgeman, more rain, but it, too, didn't last long.

California Road south took us to New Troy, MI. Then east on Glendora Road to S. Log Cabin, east on Kaiser, south on Cleveland, west on Warren Woods, south on Avery (this section is hard-packed dirt; pretty funky riding), west on West Elm Valley, south on Three Oaks Road into Three Oaks, MI.

(Remember, each of those "west on" routes meant headwinds!)

By now, we're at 74 miles, and Henry is sure we cannot get back to South Bend in less than 25 miles. So, unless we/he/I bonk . . . our century is pretty much guaranteed.

In Three Oaks, we stopped at Froelich's bakery to "fuel up" on sandwiches and awesome baked goods. We took a bit of a stroll and it was "biker on!"

The route to South Bend from Three Oaks was, thankfully (and blissfully), due east. With a tail wind, riding was much easier. We back-tracked north just a bit out of Three Oaks to Kruger. East on Kruger, north on Pardee, east on Elm Valley. (Note, Elm Valley at this point is single lane, really rough asphalt . . . bone-jarring rough asphalt!) South on Cleveland, east on Galien Buchanan Road. This eventually brought us back to Bakertown Road where we turned south to Chamberlin. At this point, we back-tracked our exact route as before returning us to Henry's place.

In all, 108 miles; 7 hours, 45 minutes on bike; and an average speed of just at 14 miles per hour (13.93 to be exact).

We celebrated with a pitcher of beer and a large Barnaby's pizza. A fitting end to a momentous day!