26th Shoreline West Bicycle Tour

                                             26th Shoreline West Bicycle Tour website

The Ride: Susan and I participated in this bicycle ride/tour along Lake Michigan that is organized by the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB). The event ran from August 5-11, 2012, and took us from Montague, Michigan to Mackinaw City, Michigan over the course of seven days. The route went from Montague to Ludington to Frankfort to Traverse City to Charlevoix to Harbor Springs to Mackinaw City. The total length of the ride was publicized at 388 miles but we actually biked 425 miles that included a partial pre-tour ride in Montague, doubling back a few miles near Traverse City, and generally make some short sightseeing detours. Almost 500 people took advantage of this tour, although some only rode the three-day option of Traverse City to Mackinaw City. The average age was 57, the oldest person was 86, and the youngest rider was eight-years-old. Most everyone camped in tents on the grounds of the daily host facility.

Preparing for the ride was not much different than similar BRAG rides we've taken in Georgia. We did pack an extra blanket and a sleeping bag to keep us warm up there in Yankeeland. Each evening we stopped at local schools (except in Traverse City where it was the Civic Center). Camping was permitted on the host facility grounds but no sleeping was allowed indoors, however indoor showers and bathrooms were available.  We were allowed two bags not to exceed 50-pounds each so we had plenty of room/weight to spare in our four bags.

Getting there: I drove from Georgia to Grand Rapids, Michigan with our luggage, camping gear and bikes a few days before the tour was scheduled to start. Susan flew from Atlanta to Grand Rapids after work on Friday, August 3, but didn't arrive until near midnight. Since the ride ended in Mackinaw City it worked best for me to drive up to Mackinaw City on Saturday morning and take the pre-ride shuttle bus back to Montague. Upon arrival I discovered most people busy loading their luggage and camping gear into a large truck and also preparing their bikes to be loaded in a second truck for transportation to Montague. I skipped this unpleasant task since Susan and I realized it would be easier for us and a less stress on the bikes if I left everything but the car in Grand Rapids and then have our daughter-in-law, Kathy, take Susan and all the gear and bikes to Montague. Susan arrived at the Montague High School, the official starting point for the tour, about an hour before my 3 pm arrival time.

Pre-ride day/night, Saturday - Montague, 16-miles: After pitching our tent and storing our gear we started the 36-mile pre-ride loop through  Montague and Whitehall that included seeing the lighthouse on Lake Michigan. Before we reached the lake we could see storm clouds darkening the western skyline so we scooted back to base camp. We beat the light rain but our total mileage for the day was only 16-miles. The bike tour provided breakfast and dinner most days so our first meal was dinner at the Montague High School. Overall the food was good to excellent except for the stop in Charlevoix. After dinner the executive director of LMB, Rich Moeller, explained what we would see and do over the next week. Rich, an avid cyclists in his own right, accompanied us the entire route. Rich explained that we had to either wear or place on the back of our bikes fluorescent red 7" X 9" tags with our names and our hometown. I thought this was silly until realizing seeing the easy to read tags built camaraderie by meeting and greeting our fellow riders on the road. That, combined with eating two meals a day with everyone and Rich's daily evening meeting, made this one of the friendliest rides we've been on. Many states were represented on the ride and there were four other Georgians beside Susan and myself.

Day 1, Sunday - Montague to Ludington, 59.9 miles: Throughout the week breakfast was served from 6:30 to 8am each day but coffee was always ready by 6:15, if not sooner, so you know where I was at 6:15. After a few swigs of java I took Susan a cup and we put on our biking clothes and packed up the tent. After loading our gear in the truck we ate breakfast and headed out on the well described route for the day. There was no official starting time but trucks had to be loaded by 9am, however we were usually on our way by 8am. Some riders took advantage of Bubba's Pampered Peddlers, a service providing a tent and pumped air mattress each day. Not us, we brought cots and roughed it! Lunch is not supplied on this tour but each day we went through a few small towns or past country stores.

   The weather front that produced light rains the previous evening had moved through by Sunday morning. The day would be sunny but with a strong, 20-30mph, wind out of the north.... the direction we were heading.

Cyclists meet and greet and eat at Cherry Point Farm and Market

  Today's ride took us up the Lake Michigan shoreline, but the Lake is usually not in view due to vacation homes, woods, or sand dunes. Today we rode primarily on State Route B-15 which is a lightly traveled, well paved, and has a decent shoulder. Twice within the first 20-miles we passed beaches that beckoned some riders into the cool waters of Lake Michigan. We just kept on peddling and kept our mind on reaching the famous Cherry Point Farm and Market at mile 26. SAG vehicles routinely drive the bike route and occassionally provide rest stops but their location always seemed to be unknown in advance. When you do find a rest stop they provide only water, power-ade, and sometimes packaged crackers but since we usually rode past many stores it did not pose a problem. However, Susan and I soon learned to always carry two water bottles and snacks.
     But I digress. When we arrived at Cherry Point Market it was almost buried in bicycles, suggesting that we either started the day's ride way too late or dilly-dallied for the first half of the ride. Either way, the cherry pastries and coffee were delicious and fellow riders offered us chairs at the few outdoor tables in front of this picturesque 50-year-old establishment.

Silver Lake Sand Dunes

     Soon we were off and within a few miles were atop a long grade with Silver Lake and Silver Lake Sand Dunes in the distance. We could have opted for motorized rides on the sand dunes but our end point for the day was still 30-miles away. By the way, today was sunny with a stiff breeze out of the northwest that didn't bother us much because we were often sheltered by trees along the route. At mile 41 we rode through the small resort town of Pentwater before passing Mears State Park. Ten more miles north borught us to the Ludington Pumped Storage Facility. This Consumers Power owned facility pumps water from Lake Michigan to a high reservoir during low electric demand times and releases the water back into Lake Michigan during peak demand times to generate electricity. From the power station to the Ludington High School, our overnight stop, was only a few more miles. Upon arrival we performed our daily ritual: retrieve our luggage, set up the tent, take a shower, eat dinner, attend the evening informational meeting, and quickly fall asleep surrounded by numerous other tents. Dinner was served in the school and contained plenty of local produce including fresh cream in a glass milk jug from a local creamery next to the coffee pot! Farm to table produce and fresh milk or cream was the norm for the week.

Day 2, Monday - Ludington to Frankfort, 65.2 miles: Another fine day for riding. The temps peaked out in the upper 70's and the wind had diminished some and shifted from north to out of the west. Today was all about riding and not about sightseeing events. We peddled quickly on quiet roads, passing by lakeside homes and numerous State Parks.

 In the village of Arcadia we stopped at an ice-cream shop for refreshment. During most of the ride we could not see Lake Michigan until at mile 53.8 we climbed the second of three hills named the "three sisters". This .5 mile, 12% grade was appropriately named "watermelon hill" because a rest stop at the top served slices of fresh watermelon. It also provided a panoramic view of Lake Michigan which was outstanding in its blueness due to a cloudless sky.

Atop Watermelon Hill

   The last 10 miles were uneventful, although we did climb the last of  the "three sisters" and had nice downhill run into the tourist town of Frankfort. The school and local volunteers provided us with what I felt was the freshest and tastiest meals of the ride.

Day 3, Frankfort to Traverse City, 62.4 miles: The first half of today's ride took us north past Crystal Lake and the small villages of Empire, Glen Haven and Glen Arbor. At mile 28, shortly before reaching Glen Haven, we stopped at the "dune climb" area of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

This is a sight to behold and a challenge for the adventurous. The dune is rises over 400' above Lake Michigan. Once atop the dune one can hike the 1+ miles through sand to reach the Lake. We did neither but took a great picture of us in front of the dune! After passing Glen Arbor we headed east and left Lake Michigan behind us. We were now in farm country and, except in the little town of Maple City, without a store or shop to refresh ourselves with food or drink. At mile 51 we found a SAG rest stop in front of the old Solon Schoolhouse. We chatted with the "twins", volunteer identical twin ladies who were constant support personnel on our ride, topped off our water, grabbed some crackers, and headed up "Philosopher's Hill". This gentle climb is only 3-5 percent but is a 3.7 mile climb. But it was little challenge to us Georgians and soon we were flying down a steep grade towards West Traverse Grand Bay. If it hadn't been for two cyclists waving at us to slow down we would have missed the turn onto the TART trail, a multi-use trail, that we traveled for the last few miles to Civic Center in downtown Traverse City. Since tomorrow was the "layover day" the Civic Center would be the place to pitch tents and eat for the next two days. Well, it would be for most participants but weeks earlier we decided to make hotel reservations. We grabbed our personal luggage off the ground, reloaded the two camping bags back onto the truck, and manhandled/girlhandled our bags and bikes about .5 miles to the Bayshore Hotel. After a bit of haggling with the hotel over our reservations we scored a top floor room overlooking the Bay. We returned for a delicious BBQ roasted pig dinner at the Civic Center that was catered in by LMB. After a look around Traverse City, population 94K+, and rubbing elbows with the many vacationers, we retreated to our room and watched the sun set over the Bay.

Day 4, Layover Day in Traverse City, 41.8 miles for Newt and 32 miles for Susan: All the riders were on their own during Layover Day. No meals were served but two rides were suggested. One took the riders to the tip of the Old Mission Peninsula to the Mission Point Lighthouse. The other ride, led by a local cyclist, visited a number of barns painted with the image of handmade quilts. Susan opted for the Quilt ride while I teamed up with two fellows, Keith and Glenn, whom we befriended during the ride. Susan enjoyed her ride and I was presented with great views of orchards, vineyards, and hops growing on 18' poles. Usually one would see cherry stands in front of all the local farms but the 2012 crop was virtually destroyed by storms and unusually high temps earlier in the year. During our layover we took advantage of local dining and a sampling of local brewed beers. The Mackinaw Brewing Company restaurant was a big disappointment. Food was not much better than a sports bar but the local brew was tasty. On the other hand we enjoyed the excellent food at Amical. We had perfect weather for layover day - sunny, upper 70's, and slight wind out of the south.

Day 5, Traverse City to Charlevoix, 74.0: We arose early at the hotel, drank a few cups of coffee, packed our bags, and carried them on our bike seats as we pushed the bikes to the Civic Center. There we had breakfast before heading out for the day. A few blocks after leaving the Civic Center we were back on TART Trail paralleling US-31. About seven miles out, shortly after reaching the end of trail, Susan realized that she left her Blackberry. After a few calls from my cell phone we realized no one was going to rescue it and bring the phone to Charlevoix so we backtracked to the hotel. This added 14+ miles to our ride, but what the heck, we came to ride and these were just bonus miles. The weather for the day was excellent for bike riding; high in the upper-60's, overcast, and light wind out of the southeast.

   Once back on track we zigzagged north and east on back roads until we reached Elk Rapids at mile 31. Out of Elk Rapids we caught glimpses of Lake Michigan before cutting eastward above Elk Lake towards Torch Lake. For 10 miles we peddled north with Torch Lake, one of the more beautiful inland lakes in Michigan, on our right. With the wind at our backs Susan and I were making good time and started passing slower cyclists that we had passed early before our need to backtrack. By the time we reached Eastport we were more about 2/3 through our ride for the day. Crackers and water would hold us until we reached the camp site at Charlevoix High School.

   The high school was about 1.5 miles south of Charlevoix so we opted to stay put. Usually we walk around the local town but not this time. We found a nice, flat place to pitch the tent and then discovered that no hot water was available in the showers. Dinner was a huge disappointment. Only fair food and dished out in small quantities. Also missing were the promised coffee and brownies. Before bedtime we showered in what could be termed "cool" water. But, hey, we were roughing it after all and the friendliness of all our fellow riders turned a gray day into a happy evening. By morning the food had not improved at all and the coffee was lukewarm, but it filled our bellies. Charlevoix was the only place during the week that failed miserably in the food and comfort department. The ride organizers were also surprised since they noted that last year the school facilities and food had been very good.

   In the evening we were greeted by a nice rainbow over the camping site and later a beautiful, red sunset. We figured that tomorrow would be an excellent day for riding.

Day 5, Charlevoix to Harbor Springs, 56.5 miles: Overnight we had been sprinkled with a light shower but all was dry by the morning and the predicted high for the day was to be 68-degrees. That was the good part. The bad was the stiff 30-mph wind out of the east that stayed with us all day. Fortunately much of today's ride was either south or north and only about a third of ride took us straight into the strong headwinds.

  We left Charlevoix and peddled southward for about 16-miles along the western shore of the south arm of Lake Charlevoix to East Jordan and then switched to a more northeasterly direction towards Boyne City. Along the way we could have taken and optional ride that attacked "The Wall", an incline that topped out with a 18-20% incline for the last 100-yards. We left "The Wall" to the younger crowd. Boyne City may best be known for its excellent ski slopes, but it is also an active boating, golfing and hunting area.

   Leaving Boyne City we put our heads down and faced the wind for a 10-mile ride to Walloon Lake. There we turned north for a 13-mile scenic ride into the bustling city of Petoskey (6,000+ population). Here we took our first real break of the day. We were now 53-miles into the ride but were ready for a nice lunch. On this day the city was packed with tourists, both in cars and walking on the sidewalks. We biked up Lake Street until we came to a wide, grassy and shady park where we leaned our bikes against a tree and enjoyed a break from the wind. Now the sun warmed us up enough to pull off our biking jackets for the first time. We were fortunate to stop at this spot because the closest eatery, the American Spoon Cafe was right on the park's edge. What a delightful place. Great food, I had my usual serving of fresh Great Lakes whitefish and Susan went for a specialty salad, and the servers were all local, clean-cut teenagers earning money for college.

Downtown Harbor Springs

   On the way into Harbor Springs on Beach Drive, a rather high-end resort town, we passed numerous houses built in the late 1800's by Chicagoans to use as summer homes. They were all unique, well constructed and in top-notch shape. A number of large yachts were anchored in the marina's facing the downtown district, which was only two-blocks by three-blocks in area. After a quick ride up the bluff we arrived arrived at our final camping spot, the Harbor Springs Middle School.
   After setting up the tent we walked back to town to visit a few stores and stroll by a few more blocks of nice summer homes. Our host school was a new facility with HOT water - so thank you Harbor Springs for a nice, long shower. Dinner was very good, as was breakfast the next day. In the morning we packed up our camping gear for one last time and loaded them into the truck.

Day 6, Harbor Springs to Mackinaw City, 45.2 miles: Another windy day but comfortable temps. After a hearty breakfast we headed out on our final leg. We followed the Lake Michigan shoreline for the first 20-miles to Cross Village. Much of this stretch took us through the "tunnel of trees" on a very narrow, well paved lane. It was still early so we kept on riding, and fighting the strong north-east wind along scenic Sturgeon Bay, until we reached Cecil Bay, near mile 37, where a friendly general store with a padded double-seat swing in front beckoned us in for an ice-cold coke (or "pop" in Michigan).

Cecil Bay - last chance to eat before Mackinaw City

   The next few miles along Wilderness Park Drive may have been the most difficult that we rode all week. The road was full of pot holes and the wind picked up more intensity. But, that only last a few miles and conditions improved as the roads became better and shifted slightly inland. The route took us in along the Lake and within a block of the end point, but was purposely expanded to take us for a tour through downtown Mackinaw City and a great "picture taking" view of the Mighty Mac, i.e. the Big Mac or simply the Mackinac Bridge, that connects the Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.

View from Mackinaw City looking toward the Upper Peninsula

   We found our lonely Prius safe and sound and then went to round up our bags. Showers were provided for those who had to take the post-tour bus back to either Montague (seven day riders) or Traverse City (three day riders) to pick up their cars. Many riders were already preparing bikes to be loaded into trucks and we were grateful we had left a car here because the bus wouldn't reach Montague until late in the evening. After loading everything up we walked around Mackinaw City, had a bite to eat (whitefish for me) and bought local fudge, a must purchase if you want to keep the "Fudgie" [<- that's the best definition I can find] tradition alive and help the local economy.
   Since Susan had never been to this part of Michigan we had made reservations to spend another night. Of course we wanted to drive across the Big Mac so we rented a hotel room in St. Ignace on the north side of the bridge and not as touristy as Mackinaw City. It would have been nice if we could have ridden our bikes across the bridge but that is a not allowed except when the DelMac bicycle ride or the LMB organization occasionally places it in their riding itinerary. Walking is not allowed on the bridge either except on Labor Day morning when two of the four lanes are shut down and 50,000+ pedestrians can take walk the bridge north to south for free, however there is a fee to take a bus back south.

Wind Down: We made contact with my double-ex-bother-in-law (ex-ex can negate "in-law" so perhaps "out-law" is more appropriate) Gary drove over from his summer home with his wife, Newt, to meet us for dinner in St. Ignace. It was interesting that Gary's wife is nicknamed "Newt" just like I am so Susan was careful not to call me Newt. I'm not sure what she called me but it was not Newt. At dinner my walleye dinner was delicious but the service at this particular restaurant service was nothing to brag about. We skipped dessert and instead opted for a small grocery store that had a coffee and pastry shop inside. They were out of pastry but did have one cherry pie left so we bought it and the girl running the shop cut it up for us. She also made us a fresh pot of coffee even though the pastry section was closing and we stayed as long as we wanted. Thanks for treating us "fudgies" so kindly. Later Gary and Newt headed home while we two, Susan and Newt, headed to the hotel where our lakeside room high above the beach offered us the sound of crashing waves throughout the night.

Done Deal: It was now Sunday and I had planned for Susan and I to take the ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island, where no motorized vehicles are allowed except for police, fire and ambulance, and ride our bikes around the island a couple of times. But by Sunday morning I wasn't ready to get back on the bike so we packed up and headed towards Grand Rapids for the evening. Early the next day (Monday) I dropped Susan off at the Grand Rapids airport for her 5:30am flight to Atlanta so she could get to work by 9 am. I pointed the car south and arrived home around 8pm. We had survived an entire week without a computer, however we did cheat as Susan used her Blackberry and I my Droid from time to time.

Conclusion: This is a bike tour I highly recommend. Luckily it does not conflict with the BRAG rides so one can do both and I wouldn't rate the LMB rides over the BRAG ride or vice-versa. They are different enough that it is hard to compare one to another. Of course it is a long way to travel for my Georgia friends but they will meet many nice people from around the country and enjoy the scenery. I certainly would like to ride the Michigan tour again but I'm also looking forward to 2013 BRAG and many more to come.