Day 50: Mock Rock

Course: East Lansing, MI to Ann Arbor, MI
Distance: 65 miles
Terrain: Mostly flat
Conditions: Overcast

Today, the ride went pretty smoothly. There wasn't too much in our way to slow us down. Construction was minimal, the winds were decently out of the way, and the roads weren't as terrible as they have been. I rode with Kyle Marpe and Chris "Steady" Stubel. We pretty much just played games for the whole ride to make the time pass. It rained on us again for about 10 miles, but it wasn't cold rain, so it wasn't so much of a problem.

We arrived to the Pi Kapp house at the University of Michigan. When we got there we got to split a box of pizza with one other person. Kyle Marpe and I split a box and I was still hungry after eating my half. Afterwards we rode to our dorms closer to campus where we would lodge for the night. The hall that we were in was very new. It was practically a hotel. We then headed out to our first friendship visit of the night with PEAC (Programs to Educate All Cyclists). It's a program that teaches kids with disabilities to ride bikes. We met with a few kids and got to ride bikes with them. One of the kids, Brad,  had Down Syndrome and had been with the program for over 10 years. He had gone from riding a trike to speeding around the parking lot faster than a lot of the JOH guys could. It was cool to see how a lot of the kids had developed. We got to see one boy begin to ride a two-wheeler on his own for the first time - very touching.

Afterwards we were shuttled over to our second friendship visit of the night. We met with the Eisenhower Center, which is a facility for people with disabilities. It was predominantly occupied by clients with brain damage. We ate a great dinner there and then participated in their Mock Rock show. Six groups of clients put on lip sync performances and in between their shows our guys would jump in. We did the Every Time We Touch dance that we always do at dances, and the four guys that know the Single Ladies dance did that as well. It's always hilarious to see them do that. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the clients and see them put on their performances. A lot of them got really into it.

Naturally, we all got hungry again, so we went to the Buffalo Wild Wings that was right across the street from our dorm hall. Everyone got their wing fix and then called it a night.