New Guy trying to move to Michigan
 

Had to title my post that in spirit of the new guy two new guys before me. Sadly I live in Denver right now, after moving from Marquette, MI, and I'm trying to get a job in Traverse City, actually.

So, I signed up here because I saw there was a potential group buy on an IRO Rob Roy which is the frame I've been eyeballing for a long time now. I want one and I want one bad. I want to put an 18 toother on the SS side and a 17 toother on the fixed side...I want Tony to lace up some purple deep V's for me with black, high flange hubs and put a black stem on it with Nitto bullhorns wrapped in Brooks honey bartape. Oh yeah, I want a brooks B-17 saddle on a black seatpost and I'm perfectly happy with Tony's BB and black crankset.

Now, all I need to know is how much it will cost me and when can my wife let the funds roll into my new ride?

-Adam-

Welcome! I live in Traverse City and love it. Send me an email or pm with what type of job you are looking for here. I might know someone.

Drop me a mail and we can dicuss futher on your prospect.

Congratulations. Its a beautiful area. I'd love the idea of a unitary bike trail running down the whole length of the west coast. Congratulations also. On your move to such a pretty state, did you not notice a huge number of moving vans going in the other directions. You are to be commended for bucking that trend. I love Leelanau. See how the auto industry is all but folding up.

Adam, that's a great introduction, a great bike goal, and I vote we tell your wife that she should go with the plan :) .

I guess we should ask what the current ride is, though, before we commit much further :p .

Good luck with the job search, and Welcome to BF!

East Hill

Adam: I used to live in Muskegon, Michigan, went to MSU, and miss living right on the big lake. Anywher from Muskegon on north is beautiful. Good luck re-locating back to the Great Lake State and welcome to the site. The folks here are great and you'll learn all you want. I'm a returning biker and am now tooling around on a $25 craigslist find 1980's Schwinn World Sport. Ride everyday and love it.

I live in Michigan. I'm trying to get the hell out and head back the way you just came from. There are no jobs left here. Plus I long for the Rocky's.

Michigan is a beautiful state. Except for Jan, Feb and August. Biking about Sleeping Bear, you will think you are in heaven. Great choice. and welcome to bike forums.

Yeah, the in laws have a place in Leland, just five minutes from Sleeping Bear. Having lived in Marquette for some time I am well acquainted with the harsh winter, but let me tell you that is my favorite part. I don't like the heat, I do like the cold, A LOT! I also like the massive dumps of snow...I like touring in the McCormick Tract (Yellowdog Plains) in early February when it's -30degF and I like skiing and blowing the drive. I love Michigan and I miss the hell out of it.

Now as for August, it isn't the most pleasant, but at least the lake is there to cool you off. Heck, it's better than the 100degF days we have here in CO!

Give me a chance to get back there and I'll take it!

November-February is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. Hunting season.

As for michigan being beautiful, it can be okay, but I've been all over this state, and I do mean all over, and I don't think it compares to someplace with mountains.

Well, I grew up in Colorado, so I know every corner of this state inside and out, but I can't think of a more beautiful site than sitting atop Mt. Ives in the Huron Mountain Club north of Big Bay, MI and looking out at the Keewenaw and L. Superior and the sandstone cliffs on the lake shore South towards Big Bay. Wait, is it more pretty at hidden beach where the only egrees is to walk beneath 100 foot cliffs in the L. Superior waters?

Or is it prettier sitting on a beach in Leland looking out towards the Manitou Islands with perfect tourquoise waters at your feet?

I can't decide, but they're pretty amazing.

They might not beat a mountain vista, but they certainly equal it.

Well, I do suppose if you haven't seen the worlds biggest freshwater supply much it can be a little awe striking. But, I've been here for 21 years, and I am oh so ready to head for the Rockies. That's been my dream since before I was a teenager.

Sea level is for sissies;)

I hear ya, but think about this for a minute, too:

I lived 3 minutes (max, usually done on a bike in winter) from Marquette mountain

I live an hour and a half from the closest ski area in Colorado, without the parking lot on the interstate that you can expect on any given weekend day.

Now, you might say that it's possible to get a job in the mountains in Colorado, and it's true, I had them...however, they don't pay much, ski town culture can really bite and the matter of fact is that if you want to earn a living and be in the Rockies you'll either live on the Front Range of Colorado or the Wasatch Front in Utah.

I can get to some decent backcountry skiing in 40 minutes, but with the stop and go line of traffic heading to the hills from Denver every weekend morning even the close BC turns where nobody goes are an hour and a half away, doubling the usual drive time.

The rock climbing is good, and I did plenty of it, but Colorado and Utah are hot and dry in the summer, and there is absolutely no water and no way of escaping it. To live an play, you live in a city, which means traffic, smog (yes, both the Wasatch Front and the Front Range have terrible pollution problems with smog and inversions) and tons of crime (I never thought I would want to carry a handgun with me, but I do here).

There's actually WAY more snow in Michigan. People in Michigan ski more, get out more, have a more friendly, neighborly attitude and are generally more pleasant to be around. People in Denver are as varied as those in NYC and tons of them are a PITA and the road rage is unimaginably bad.

So, yeah, if you want to give up simple, comfortable, clean livin' for an armpit city just so you can wait in line 2.5 hours every saturday to ski at a resort that while, yes, it has 2,000' vertical you only get to ski 2,000' all day because you spend so much time in the lift lines with Texans that can't ski, rich people who think they can ski but can't (and wear the shiniest suits you will ever see), then that's fine.

Oh, did I mention that we're so low on water that the streams are warming to a level that is toxic for the trout? So, there goes the fishing, too.

Like I said, tho, the climbing is extraordinary, the whitewater is good for about 2 months and the mountain biking is, much to my chagrin, pretty good. Then again, Marquette had the monster park and has some of the most amazing riding I've seen in my life.

I dunno, you'll have to try it and see, I guess :rolleyes:

See, I'm not actually interested in Colorado beyond a motorcycle trip here and there. As I was just saying in a few other threads, New Mexico is actually where I want to live. Perfect weather. Very little rain, not too hot, not too cold. Lots of jobs, and it's oh so rural. I am a hard core gun nut, so not having anyone else near me is always nice. Makes for some good target practice without bothering anyone. The bike riding is great, and the scenery could not be closer to what I want.

Lets compare that to what Michigan offers me. Okay, so it has 19 million acres of state land. That puts it light years ahead of most states in this time zone which are caked with endless farm fields. But, we also have a horrible economy causing crappy jobs I don't want, wildly changing weather that goes to extremes I can't stand, a mostly flat terrain, and people everywhere. I am tired of it and ready to move on.

I thought hiking thru the Porcupine Mtns. to be pretty special. Guess I just think those fresh water seas special.

The Porcupine Mountains are one of the best things Michigan has to offer. Thing is, its far and away from most any place one would normally live, especially if you are a working adult. Not a lot goin on deep in da UP for da most part.

I haven't been there to the Porcupine Mountains in over 10 years. There is this band that lives around there, I think they call themselves Lake Of The Clouds. They have a style all their own, not really fitting into any genre.

That's a good call, you can't argue with Porcupine Mountains.
http://www.photoseek.com/03MI-G0055-LakeOfClouds.jpg
http://epod.usra.edu/archive/images/100_0671.jpg

Some amazing whitewater boating in the Porkies, too. I never got over there while living in Marquette, but we did go to Bohemia in the Keewenaw lots. The whole western side of da UP is pretty amazing. Little known fact that there's a 300 foot cliff outside of Ontanogan with amazing multi-pitch rock climbing...no one around, a few camps on circular 40s out there in da woods, but that's about it. besides, no place out west has fall colors like Michigan.

New Mexico's alright, if you like hot, dry and barren. We're talkin' true rattlesnake country. Santa Fe and Taos would be fun to live in, so would Cloudcroft and Ruidoso, but other than that I don't think I'd enjoy living in a wasteland. You can shoot guns anywhere...but you can only swim in Great Lakes in the Midwest.

For a cycling trip, do discover Brockway Mtn Drive in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Incredible beauty. Maybe more beautiful the Sleeping Bear Region.

Hey now. :rolleyes:

da U.P. owns

*sighs*

I've yearned for a vast, thin aired, dry, uninhabited wasteland for a long, long time.