Great Lakes - This is why I live in Northern Michigan

Today our local group meets up for the Wednesday morning ride, about 20-25 of us. We decide on a 60ish mile ride and leave a little after 9:00. No clouds, Nice breeze, and temperatures in the mid 80's a perfect day for a ride. Somewhere around Mile 20 we our in a long climb on a narrow winding road. The pack is strung out and a car comes up behind us so we all go single file and move to the right but the car just follows for almost a mile up the hill. When we reach the top the car starts to pass and the guy rolls down his window to say something. He yells out nice day for a ride enjoy it.

Then to top it off at mile 45ish we stop after a long string of hills to regroup when a lady comes out of her house and tells us that she has the coldest best well water around and that we should help ourselves. She then leads us to a faucet and turns it on for us.

Yes, Northern Michigan rules!!!!

sounds like a great ride, what town do you live in?

sounds like a great ride, what town do you live in?


Boyne City, we went around the Chandler Hill area and then through Petoskey towards Charlevoix and back Home.

I'll be in Harbor Springs all next week. unfortuantely, i crashed 2 weeks ago, broke 4-5 ribs and my collarbone. i asked the doc if i could ride next week, and she looked at me like an idiot: NO!

so, i might be that motorist, wearing my sling, and wishing i was you guys on those beautiful roads! as for well-water, i've got another idea of something to pour down my throat!

Awesome. :thumb:

The only bad experience I ever had in the U.P. was getting my car stuck on some railroad tracks that crossed a logging road I was driving behind Republic Mine ... in December, in fresh snow, on a Sunday night. :rolleyes:

Finally got out after wearing half my clutch off.

Spent some quality time around Grayling as well.

I :love: northern Michigan!

Don't be silly. You live in SOUTHERN Michigan. OK, the very nicest part of Southern Michigan. The road biking is great up here if you don't mind having just two decent roads to ride on.

Don't be silly. You live in SOUTHERN Michigan. OK, the very nicest part of Southern Michigan. The road biking is great up here if you don't mind having just two decent roads to ride on.

Troll ! (lives _below_ the bridge :D )

Any Yooper knows not to get his own car stuck. Da wife's car or da mudder in laws car is made for South Republic RR crossings. Then you can blame the clutch on female vs manual transmission.
Pasties Rule!

Isn't the winter like 9 months long in the UP?

Isn't the winter like 9 months long in the UP?

Only if the ground hog can dig himself out of the snow and see his shadow on Memorial Day. - TF

Norhtern Michigan is awesome. I particularily like being north of the Bridge. How is the biking infrastructure in Northern Michigan? Do the roads have wide shoulders. ?

9 months of winter and 3 months of tough sledding eh? The road biking is getting better, not because of wider shoulders but because of fewer and fewer Winnebago mirrors. One of the plusses of $4.00 gas.

Hi all didn't want to hijack your thread but yea biking in northern MI is super duper:). I bike on the NE side. Basically I got the road to myself in my morning rides. I leave at daybreak and with the time of day an high gas prices hardly see vehicles anymore:lol: time to saddle up the pony:love:

Today our local group meets up for the Wednesday morning ride, about 20-25 of us. We decide on a 60ish mile ride and leave a little after 9:00. No clouds, Nice breeze, and temperatures in the mid 80's a perfect day for a ride. Somewhere around Mile 20 we our in a long climb on a narrow winding road. The pack is strung out and a car comes up behind us so we all go single file and move to the right but the car just follows for almost a mile up the hill. When we reach the top the car starts to pass and the guy rolls down his window to say something. He yells out nice day for a ride enjoy it.

Then to top it off at mile 45ish we stop after a long string of hills to regroup when a lady comes out of her house and tells us that she has the coldest best well water around and that we should help ourselves. She then leads us to a faucet and turns it on for us.

Yes, Northern Michigan rules!!!!

Thats an oxy-moron.

I live in the Keweenaw and, no, winter is not 9 months long. In fact, I've had two years of six to nine months of great riding. :) The road riding up here is excellent, and most towns are quite bike friendly. The mountain is awesome as well. :-)

Love that area of MI. I live downstate, but I can only imagine how beautiful the rides must be up there. Enjoy!

LOL, I love the Yooper v Troll discussions!

Awesome story. Tell those folks to yell at their kids and grandkids who live in Metro-Detroit to be freakin' nicer to cyclists already. That or warn them I'm considering a CCW (kidding).

Can't wait! I'm going backpacking up north soon, but I really want to consider doing a road ride when I'm done.

My wife and I just got back from gaylord. We bike from indian river to the bridge. There we had lunch and then made back to the car. All in all we logged over 70 miles on a nice gravel trail. :)

Real nice day ride. Got to try out my new trek:love: now it's back to the roads:thumb:

I just finished a bike trip around Lake Michigan and the UP was my absolute favorite part of the trip. MI-2 and MI-35 are amazing roads with nice shoulders. Nicest people in the country as far as I'm concerned.

As long as I got some Northern Michigan people reading. Is there any interest in setting up a Bike Forums group ride. I am the self appointed leader of the NWMBFC and would gladly take care of setting up the route and cue sheets.

In fact I pulled the group the entire 110 miles last time.:D Here is the ride report http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=421289&highlight=hhh

You can't beat M-119 for 26 miles from Harbor Springs to Cross Village (the "Tunnel of Trees"). Rode it while on vacation last month and it just gets prettier every time.

And - "Northern Michigan" is different from the U.P., or so says everyone on the radio, TV, and the street. Emmet County is "Northern Michigan," and it's below the bridge.