Beswicks bike across Michigan

Fri, Jul 3, 2009    to del.icio.us

Tammy Beswick can share quite a fascinating "What I did on my summer vacation" story with her third-grade students at Griffin Elementary in the fall.

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Beswick, along with her daughter Mallory, 13, recently completed a six-day, 253-mile bicycling tour across Michigan called PALM — Peddle Across Lower Michigan. The tour, which was organized by three cycling enthusiasts in 1982, follows a different route through seven Michigan cities each summer.

The starting point for the cross-state extravaganza has been on the West Michigan shoreline a handful of occasions, including in Spring Lake in 2007; in Holland in 2004; and Grand Haven in 1999.

This year, the Beswicks, along with an estimated group of over 800 cyclists and an army of volunteers, began the trek on June 20 in Whitehall.

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"A friend of mine has done it in the past, and we asked her if we could join her this year," said Beswick, who along with Mallory were two of 263 first-timers at the event. "My daughter and I trained for it for a few months, increasing a few miles each time. We eventually got up to a 16-mile route, then eventually a 20-, 30- and 40-mile ride."

The group traveled between 30 and 50 miles per day, but more experienced cyclists had an option to travel alternate routes that covered over 100 miles.

Upon competition of each day's ride, the group spent their nights at massive campsites set up at public schools at each destination. From Whitehall, the PALM course traveled to Grant, then to Stanton, on to Mid-Michigan destination St. Charles, then in the Thumb communities of Vassar and Marlette and before its final stop in Lexington — nestled on the shoreline of Lake Huron.

At each new campsite, cyclists were provided with hot showers, catered meals and local entertainment.

"There were different kinds of shows for us each night," Beswick said. "In Vassar, there was this band called the 'Pickle Band,' which was a group of older folks who played all sorts of music. There was a magician one night in Grant, and a dee-jay another night."

By no means was the tour a walk in the park. Beswick and her daughter battled through an intense heat wave during the trip, including temperatures that peaked at 103 degrees in Vassar.

"It seemed like the motto on any given day was 'Just keep on pedaling,'" she said with a chuckle. "It was dreadfully hot.

"We made a lot of jokes throughout it, saying 'Where are you going to find 800 crazy people on bikes?' Maybe it was crazy, but looking back on it, it was a challenge, and we completed a great task. We're already talking about doing it next year."

The group followed lightly-traveled, back-country roads, and had support vehicles nearby that stocked the cyclists' luggage, as well as coolers of water and tools to address any bike problems.

"I had a flat tire on my second day, but they encourage you to carry a spare with you," Beswick said. "Fortunately, I had a friend help me out. We stopped by a gas station and I was back on the bike is about 20 minutes."

Aside from the $135 entry fee for Beswick and the $65 fee for her daughter, the group had to fund their own lunch, giving them opportunities to check out unique, local diners in communities that barely make a mark on the state map.

Grand Haven residents Jack and Katie Bos also completed the journey, giving Michigan over 600 participants. Cyclists from 29 different states participated, as well as one from British Columbia, Canada.

"It was like a big family out there, going town-to-town," Beswick said.