Great Lakes - Riding the Michigan coast. - Advice needed.

My girlfriend and I are doing our first extended weekend bike tour starting this Thursday. I bought maps from League of Michigan Bicyclists and they have the trip broken down into 60 mile days. I have a couple questions for those that know this area:

If we're only able to do a couple legs of the trip, what would be your favorite route? Options are:
Montague to Ludington:60 miles
Ludington to Frankfort: 64 miles
Frankfort to Traverse City: 61 miles
Old Mission Peninsula: 40 miles


Also, what do you guys do with your car when you leave it for a few days? I ask because we have to drive up to our starting point and have to get back to it somehow. Ideally, I'd like to ride straight north for 3 days, rent a car and drive back to my car at the starting point. But that's proving to not be as easy as I originally thought.

Any advice for a noob? :twitchy:

Sorry, I haven't much to tell you, I'm a novice at distance bike riding myself. However, I can say one thing, and that is I rode the Little Traverse Wheelway from Bay Harbor to Harbor Springs a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely beautiful. Great views of the bay, lovely forest, a waterfall, a marina, a historical museum, a jog through Petoskey's neighborhoods, a zip by the local airport -- it's a nice ride, and I was on a '72 Schwinn Suburban, which is not the easiest bike to pedal up hills. So it was not difficult.

SO, if the Wheelway is on your path, definitely take it. If not, then see if you can add it to your trip.

I've also been on the path from Grand Haven to Holland, and that's nice, but it's kind of like biking the sidewalk in the neighborhood.

Hope this helps.

I'm not too crazy about Old Mission Peninsula. You might consider M22 on the Leelanau Peninsula. BTW, there is a very good bike route (much using rails-to-trails) running from Suttons Bay, through Traverse City to Acme. Us31 north out of Traverse City is a pretty good route. North of Traverse, a more scenic route than US31 is to go along the east shore of Torch Lake (one of the world's most beautiful lakes). From Elk Rapids you would get off 31 headed for Kewadin and then Torch River, then northward along the lake shore to Eastport. Hope this gives you some ideas for your planning.

Old Mission Peninsula is pretty, Haven't biked it, but we have driven through the area. Montague to Ludington will likely have you riding some miles on the Hart Montague Trail. we rode that earlier this summer, it was a nice ride. The trail is a bit rough in places, but other than that it was fine. We rode it during hot weather and were glad to have the shaded sections. There are some details about the ride on our blog.
http://trikersbiking.blogspot.com/
50 miles is doable in one day, if you have been riding all summer, other wise it might be a good idea to stick with 30 per day. All the routes sound like they be great. Let us know which you chose and how you like it. Happy trails
TP

Old Mission is one of my faves!

To the OP: the routes you're looking at are all on the Shoreline West tour, run by League of Michigan Bicyclists. Typically it's early every July. This year the cost was about $350 /person. You and the GF save up your coins and ride that next year. You'll love it.'