Day Four Ann Arbor to Leamington Ontario

Day Four Ann Arbor to Leamington Ontario

Dayt fours ride took us out of the country. We recieved a very gracious and lengthy escort from Dearborn's Fire and Police department which led us through Dearborn and into Detroit. When you receive one of these escorts your riding at a distance behind the fire engine. Dearborn added police cars to create a rolling blockade. Kind of reminded me of being in a parade. You get to march right down the center lane. All traffic in front and behind is delayed while we pass. 

We bypassed downtown Detroit and traveled to the south of town around to the Ambassador Bridge which crosses over the Detroit river and into Canada. At eh bridge, two Leamington Firefighters with pickup and trailer met us to help transport our bicycles over the bridge. The bridge is closed to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Our two support vehicles and Leamingon crew passed through the boarder crossing quickly. The RV was detained for a brief period so customs could review everyones passports. After we finished at the crossing we stopped for lunch at a nearby church parking lot before heading out on the Leamington stretch.

 Tony Snyder going over todays plan

Along the Dearborn Escort

Passing Ford Motor Company Stamping Plant

The Dearborn escort

Matt and Jim standing next to Dearborn engine#9. #9 was Hank Schuelers baseball number.

 Coming into Motown

Everytown has one of these. If this was in Chicago

it would be priced much higher. Grant St our route to the

bridge in Detroit was lined with beautiful graystone homes

Mike and Sean. Mike departed us for home Chicago at the boarder.

No turning back now boys...

Loading our bikes in the trailer

Leamington to the rescue

Good bye Detroit

Ribbons from Firefighter family and friends

Assumption Church of Windsor. Where we had our lunch break.

Ambassodor Bridge. Apparently this is owned by one person.

The road down along the Detroit river. Those poles on the train cars are Wind generator tower sections.

Sometimes I feel like I'm dragging one of these along my bike.

Barrels at Pellee Winery

Tomato capital of Canada.

Grand reception upon our arrival

Lake Erie looking south toward Ohio. Hi Mom and Dad!

We took the scenic route today. That wasn't the original plan but it rarely is. We look for the best roads to ride, use local knowledge and try to take routes that are interesting to travel. Our original route was to go at a direct diagonal from the bridge to Leamington. Firefighter and cyclist Bob from Windsor's fire department met us at the bridge and joined in the ride to Leamington. He recommended the route shown here following the river south and then along the lake. It was quite the scenic route.

Todays Plan

Leamington to St Thomas

Day Four Plan

Thursday we ride from Ann Arbor to Detroit. Then enter Canada via the Ambassdor bridge if open. Or via the tunnel under the Detroit River to Windsor. Apparently we cannot ride over the bridge or take the tunnel on our bicycles. The bikes have to be trucked over and we go over on a bus. After crossing we ride onto Leamington.

There's been much talk about the condition of Detroit. In the general sense. Word has it the area with exception of downtown, roads and infastructure are in great disrepair. Hopefully our travels will fare well.

Day Three Coldwater to Ann Arbor

Hills, Wind and Hills and, wait watch out for those Tracks. The mood is pretty jovial with my teammates. We are by the way on vacation and doing what we love to do. Ride bikes. The benefit that we're doing this for a great cause is icing on the cake of life. So when our day starts out on the rode, the vibe is sky high. You grab your gear, top off your tires, fill your water bottles, stuff your pockets with snacks and hit the road. For a brief time we leave most of our cares and worries behind. Then when you least expect it, you let your guard down and it sneeks up. In this case, railroad tracks, about 5 miles into our first leg of the day. While riding easy down the road the group had to cross rail road tracks which led over the road at a long diagonal. Unless you can traverse the tracks at a perpendicular angle, you probably are going to get a wheel caught and fall.  It happened before he could react. Founder Matt Schueler and riding partner Brian Foley fell. Nothing broken, but each recieved some scrapes "road rash" from the pavement. I'm searching for a name for this ride and I think it may be "The trip of care". We have Firemen, Paramedics, a Lawyer and a Doctor." We are protected. So care to Matt and Brian was immediate. All supplies you would see in an ambulance are onboard in our supply trucks and RV. Within minutes each was treated and released to return to vacation. As we resumed to riding, that's just what we did. There was not much time spent on reliving the moment or contepating the thought of Matt or Brian abandoning. Which speaks a great deal about their character and the group as a whole. We resumed our two by two formation and pedaled on as one. We are all different individuals, united together for two weeks, with one cause. "All for one and one for all". It's an amazing feeling to be a part of this group.

Morning prep. Rob Weil giving some pointers to Tom Brown

First rest area of the day

Interesting barn doors. For some strange reason I'm attracted to Miller things.

Riding partner Mike Ng. Sporting his CPD racing kit.

Entering the Irish Hills

Rest area two at Walter Hayse State Park

Whats the Mystery?

Mystery Solved.

Riding partner and roommate Carlos Ramos

Medical care

The back of pack on escort to The Big House

Super Highlight of the Day

Entering the stadium from the tunnel

Matt presenting to the team

Head coach Jennifer Ulehla, Matt and Anna Schueler. Anna is a freshman on the U of M Lacosse team. The Bulldogs Jersey is from the late Hank Schueler. Whom this ride is dedicated and sparked the creation of the 41&9 Foundation. One rider carries this in their jersey pocket throughout the ride.

Our group and members of the lacrosse team

Boston Team with Anne Schueler

You just can't capture the enormity of this stadium in one shot. It seats 109,901

Yours truly

Time to go

Keep the Donations Coming: You can continue to contribute and see updates about our ride through the foundation site. www.henryschueler.org

© Chuck Judy 2014