Return to the open road
First, an admission: Jay is fairly certain that he is the one who left the grey dump valve open for Matt’s unfortunate discovery. Jay seems to feel bad about it, but the leg 3 team really wishes there was video of the event!
Leg 3 riders Kathy Kelly and Dennis Hill departed on Friday afternoon along with support driver Jay Saterbak. Their destination was the Saterbak family cabin on Long Lake in northern Wisconsin. After arriving and unpacking, the team went for a pontoon ride, stopping for dinner and lemonades at a local lakeside restaurant. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable evening in preparation for our 3-day ride.
For the first time in (we believe) more than 10 years, we took to the county and township highways rather than riding on trails. We started day 1 with a beautiful 27-mile ride around Long Lake, starting and finishing at the cabin. The afternoon included a ride to Shell Lake, where we circled the lake. Along the way Jay stopped to check out a used sailboat for sale. He already has a sailboat, so I’m not sure why he was shopping for another. Thankfully, it was priced too high, so we were able to continue.
A bit further ahead we came across some interesting (one word for it) yard sculptures. We made a quick stop for photos and then completed our lake loop and headed back to the cabin, arriving with exactly 100 km. Jay cooked a fabulous ribeye dinner for us, after which we had a lakeside campfire.
Kathy and Dennis rode around Long Lake again at the start of day 2, while Jay remained at the cabin to smoke some ribs for dinner. After a quick lunch break, we headed north and east of the cabin on well maintained and lightly traveled county roads. We had a great time riding on the rolling hills through scenic lake country intermixed with farmland. The scenery and terrain on the roads is definitely different than the trails, and we thoroughly enjoyed every bit of our rides!
Jay drove us back to the cabin, where we devoured ribs and more ribs. There may have been some side dishes, but they seemed more like garnish to go along with the Famous Jay’s ribs. We were all quite tired from the day’s events and big dinner, but it was way too early for sleep, so Jay took us on a pontoon ride toward the north side of the lake. We arrived back at the cabin around 9:00, fully relaxed and ready for bed.
Our final day was to be different from the first two. Jay, the City Councilman, needed to get back for a very important council meeting. We opted to ride to the south and west toward home to cut time off the end of day drive. After cleaning, packing, and loading the truck, we pedaled out of the cabin by 9:00 am. We rode southward along the lake and continued into the countryside into a steady breeze straight out of the south. We zigzagged south and west, Jay guiding us through each turn. By the time we reached the 20-mile mark, the headwind was blowing steady at 15 mph with gusts to 25. Undeterred, we continued grinding mile by mile with very little ability to coast. By mile 50 our will to finish this out was waning, so a request was made to turn around to the east and north for the final 12 miles. Although a stretch of this ride was very hilly, the last 6 miles was completed in about 15 minutes. What a great way to end the ride!
We are very pleased to wrap up the 2025 Christian Elder Memorial 900 benefiting Kids ‘n Kinship. Thanks to all who have supported us! Special thanks to Jay for his outstanding work in the sag wagon and at the cabin, and to the Saterbak family for allowing us to establish our base on Long Lake! We don’t take this for granted.
We hope everyone will join us on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 11:00 am for our welcome home reception, to celebrate the success of this year’s ride! CEM 900’s title sponsor, Merchants Bank, will be hosting the reception for the at their Apple Valley location (14990 Glazier Ave). We hope to see you there!
