Last summer I did LMB's Bow Tie Tour, a loop out of Gaylord, MI. My brother George and I decided to do the Shoreline
Ride this year with Curt and Valerie. This was a terrific ride along the shore of Lake Michigan from Spring Lake to Mackinaw City.
Read Valerie's article about the ride that she wrote for the newletter of the Bicycle Touring Club of North New Jersey. Valerie and her new Trek 5000 near the start of the tour.
Nancy Bradbury of Marquette, Michigan, who appears in some of the pix below, has put together a terrific web site describing the tour. It can be found at milesofsmiles.crazyguyonabike.com. Check it out! Nancy & Pat at the House of Flavors ice cream parlor in Manistee, MI.
The route of the shoreline ride. See Valerie's and Nancy's descriptions of the route.
On the way to Michigan I visited Curt, a cycling friend in Moline, IL. We had done Cycle Montana, Cycle Utah, and the Bow Tie Tour together. He was going to do the shoreline ride but had to drop out because of surgery. We did a breakfast ride along the Mississippi River.
My brother George has done this ride many times and, on this one, rode and, when his back gave out, helped work one of the SAG vehicles.
George had done this ride many times and was so well known that I mentioned him on my banner.
Cool rig! One of the riders (from IL) showed up driving a 1962 MG-A towing a trailer with a bike on it.
With Valerie and a line of riders on Duck River.
At the top of "Killer Hill" north of Ludington.
Kathy and Valerie at the top of Killer Hill.
One of our camps. On a high school football field.
George telling stories in the evening to Mark, Shannon, me, and Kathy.
With Valerie on the shore of Lake Michigan.
A field of sunflowers along the road.
With G. Rae (aka Gail) on Grand Traverse Bay. Still life with lake and pretty girl!
A rest stop along the way in Onekama, Michigan. It was unlike any other with tableclothes, flowers, and home baked goodies. The ladies of the town did it up in grand style.
Sitting on the dock of the bay. I rode on one day from Benzonia up to the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula and down to Traverse City - a 109 mile day. This was taken in the town of Leland by Lee Robinson, of Cincinnati. I caught up with him outside of Leland and rode with him for a while. He was training for a triathlon and had run 10 miles in the morning, was riding 75 miles on the bike, and then getting in a sea going canoe and paddling 12 miles. Totally awesome, man!
With other riders at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. This is in Leelanau State Park 10 miles north of the town of North Point. As shown on the map, Route M-22 goes around the peninsula and Route M-201 goes out to the point.
A shoulder massage at the end of my century ride.
High density housing. We had only a small area in which to camp in Traverse City.
Torch Lake This is a beautiful lake. We vacationed here one summer when I was about 10 years old.
Nancy & Valerie in Charlevoix.
Biker Chix on the Lake Michigan shore.
Jake, my son, entitled this pic Bad Ass Biker.
Nancy, Valerie, & moi at the end of the ride in Mackinaw City.
With Valerie on the ferry from Mackinac Island. I am sans hat or helmet, which is a rarity.
Driving home across buggy Iowa.
Sunset on I-80 in Nebraska. I left Grand Haven, MI on Monday morning, drove 1100 miles, slept for a while in the car (I sleep better in the car than I do in motels) in my usual rest area outside Ogallala, NB and rolled into Monument, CO Tuesday morning in time for breakfast with Jake before he went to work. The driving distance is about 1400 miles.
Home again, home again. Jake "helping" me unload the car.
The pix were taken by me using a 28 year old collapsible lens Rollei full frame 35mm camera and 200 ASA Kodacolor film (yeah, film - you know, that plastic stuff that comes in a roll!) and by Valerie Josephson, Ken Howe, and Nancy Bradbury using digital cameras.
