PALM XXVII

2006 Ride

We were blessed on this year's ride. At one point we had 807 people registered for a ride that had a cutoff of 700. We were worried about whether we would have enough room and how we were going to handle the meals. We ended up with 757 registrants but we had good weather, larger schools, and patient participants so that no one noticed the 57 extra people.

The weather was great. Highs were in the 80's during the day and the lows were in the mid 50's at night. It rained twice, but both times it was for an hour in the late afternoon after all the tents had been setup and before the sun set. And after one shower, there was a great rainbow.

The route was beautiful as usual. After all, it is Michigan. It started off with rolling hills through rivers and lakes featuring lots of water lilies and cat tails. Then it moved to rolling hills and farms. (Can you tell that I'm from southeast Michigan where a curb counts as a hill?) There were a lot of woods and shade. We saved the flat farmland for last and threw in a little rough pavement to prepare you for your drive home. The ride ended with a parade of all the riders wearing this year's ride shirt in Luna Pier.

Here are some personal memories and hightlights from this year's ride:

• The Gilmore Car Museum on the way from Plainwell to Battle Creek
• The size of the pancakes at Plainwell: limit 2
• Meeting a Brit who was cycling from Los Angeles to Quebec City on the way to Battle Creek
• Getting a bandana from the mayor of Albion that contained a map of his town
• The honey whole wheat bread from the bakery in Leslie
• The rainbow over the camp ground in Leslie
• Seeing Doris West and Louise Piranian in Chelsea
• Trying to help some kids change a flat tire, ruining two tubes, and having to be rescued by Diane Ruggles, the bike repair lady
• Hearing "Amazing Grace" played by a bell tower while riding through Clinton
• The four sisters from Virginia, Washington, and Michigan who reunited to ride the PALM
• The 87 year old rider being beaten out of being the oldest rider by the 88 year old rider
• 4 generations of the same family riding the PALM together, all of them on their own bikes
• The rider who played his guitar and sang at his tent after each day's ride.
• The father who towed his son's bike on a trailer as well as riding with a tag-a-long so that his son could do part of the ride each day on his own
• The father who completed the century with his son on a tag-a-long
• The man who dislocated his shoulder diving into the pool returning to ride the last two days of PALM with his dad and his brother
• Kevin
• Finding out that 150 - 160 watermelons were consumed on PALM
• How strange it was driving back home on I-75 on a Friday afternoon after a week on PALM

If you have memories, highlights, pictures, blogs, comments etc. that you would like to share, please send them to me and I'll add them to the web site. Let's keep the memory of PALM XXV alive.

If you have any complaints or suggestions or are interested in joining the staff to make sure your suggestions are implemented, please email me. We need everyone's perspective and help to keep/make PALM the bike ride that we want it to be.