Oscoda’s 100 Miles

This past weekend Gina and I headed up to her parent's place in Oscoda, Michigan for a few days.  Her parents live on Cedar Lake and have a great place to get away and relax.  Cell service is sketchy and it forced us to enjoy things and slow down a bit, although they do have WiFi. :).  We did plenty of relaxing, but I couldn't relax completely – deciding to set out and put some miles on the mountain bike which I hadn't been able to spin around on much since getting it.

I had a goal of 100 miles, which was slightly daunting but something I wanted to do.  It wasn't a true century, but it was on a mountain bike and done on both pavement and dirt.  At about two-thirds of the way to the goal, I was wondering what I was doing and why I wasn't trying to accomplish this on a road bike with less weight, narrower tires, etc., but Strava kept pushing me along and by Sunday morning, the 100 mile mark was surpassed.  It felt great to do.  Not so much the distance itself, but throwing a lofty goal out there and pushing to reach it.  The uphill climbs against the wind each day were anything but fun, but the scenery more than made up for it. 

Coincidentally a certain track was playing on my S3 as I finished out the 100.  "On a Good Day" by Justine Suissa.  Riding alongside the water early in the morning, with the sun up in the clear blue sky .. Well, somehow it made the last twenty miles seem pretty manageable.  It was a good day – and a great weekend for sure.

If you're bored, you can download and listen to the remix of Justine's track here.