Tandem Cycling - Bike Ride Detroit to Cleveland

Younger brother and I are thinking about a bike ride from Detroit to Cleveland. Does anyone have any route maps for such an endeavor? Here the catch we are both captains and we may use his tandem. Now all we have to do is fight over who will be the captain.

I don't have an explicit route map, but can offer some thoughts and suggestions:

It seems like getting around or through the Toledo metro area might not be a lot of fun. And if you are in Troy as your sig suggests, getting through Detroit metro may not be either. As odd as it might seem, heading into Canada might be the way to go.

Only problem is, it's nigh well onto impossible to get a bike through the tunnel or over the bridge, unless you have it loaded on your car. The Adventure Cycling Association (http://www.adventurecycling.org/) recommends a route to Marine City, followed by a ferry (http://www.bluewaterferry.com/) to Sombra, ON. From there, find your way to Kingsville / Leamington to catch the Pelee Island Ferry (http://www.pelee.com/transportation_island.asp) to Pelee and on to Sandusky. Once in Sandusky, the only 'route map' you need is a single-line cue sheet: US 6 West.

That leaves working out how to get from Troy to Marine City, and from Sombra to Kingsville. For this, consider using ViaMichelin.com (http://www.viamichelin.com) . Yep, the tire folks. Like most route-planning software, you enter a 'from' and a 'to', and it figures out how to get you there, with cue sheets, maps, and so on. The trick: Under the 'Options' button, where you normally get to choose whether to pick or avoid tolls, etc. there is an option - BY BIKE. Choose that, and it will select bike-friendly routing. In my experience, it does a pretty amazing job at it.

One catch: it only routes to some threshold distance (don't know what it is) for 'by bike' before returning an error, so sometimes it's necessary to split the trip into a few legs. I just tried it, and the legs mentioned above came out OK.

OK, so I may have oversimplified the Ohio portion of the trip a tiny bit. As you approach the Cleveland 'burbs, US 6 starts being called "Lake Road", then eventually "Clifton Ave." in Lakewood. When (or before) you hit W117th on the Lakewood/Cleveland border, head north a couple of blocks to get on Edgewater, then head East again. It doesn't matter for your trip, but take the 1-block detour up the Cliff Drive loop to see 'the' Cleveland skyline shot (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Cleveland_Skyline_Aug_2006.JPG/800px-Cleveland_Skyline_Aug_2006.JPG&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Cleveland_Skyline_Aug_2006.JPG&h=206&w=800&sz=47&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=KMXLxRNtfUGMLM:&tbnh=37&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcleveland,%2BOH%2Bskyline%2Bcliff%2Bdrive%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den). Proceed to Edgewater State Park on Cleveland's Western edge, and from there pick up the "Cleveland Lakefront Bikeway" signs.

An alternate, if you want slightly faster and much less attractive, is to pick up Detroit Rd. in Rocky River, and carry that right into downtown Cleveland. You can also choose Lake Ave instead of Clifton in Lakewood, but the road surface isn't as nice and the lanes are narrower - though depending on the time of day, there is somewhat less traffic.

I've done all of the Ohio bits to this ride, including the ferries to Pelee - at least in parts. All flat, mostly good roads save the usual patch or two, and a significant portion has a dedicated bike lane. I understand the Canadian roads are generally pretty good, with a relatively low speed limit (that is actually obeyed by many) and good shoulders. I can't speak to any specific Canadian roads along this path.

Hope it helps. Sounds like an adventure!

Thank you for the information. I will check it out and talk with my little brother. Thanks I will let you know how it all goes.