Would love to do the Manistee Overnighter this weekend, anybody have tips?

If you're local how's the weather? Is it swampy?

Any info would be very helpful!

Made a new friend. He seemed a bit angry, so I made sure to give him his distance.

After taking a bunch of mountain biking trips this summer all my wife wants to do on her birthday is a “long, leisurely ride” to view the fall colors and ride to lunch. We ride the Polly Ann, Paint Creek, CRT, MOT, and Oakland County gravel roads all the time so I want to venture out further and make a weekend of it. Her only stipulation is that it’s some kind of trail, she doesn’t want to deal with vehicle traffic on this ride. Her favorite away from home has been the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and that’s what I’m leaning toward again, but wanted to see what other trails like that we should check out. If it’s closer to home that would be great since we’re a little pressed for time that weekend as well. Looking for scenery, hopefully with a fun town like Glen Arbor we can ride to for lunch and shopping.

I was talking to some NW MI locals a month or two back about some great trails in the stretch between Traverse City and Mackinaw City. I'm driving through there next week, and now that I'm looking at Trailforks, I can't remember which trail network(s) they said was worth the stop! Glacial Hills? Boyne Forest? Avalanche Preserve? The Highlands? Would prefer blue/black more challenging stuff (as opposed to VASA which I'll be riding over the weekend). Thanks!

I'm looking to ride the full loop of the Dragon trail on Monday and camp there Sunday night? What's the best place to tent camp. Need a shower, would like a nice natural campground.

Also, wondering about water on the trail. Looks like there are a lot of places to get it... but are the pumps still on in mid-October?

Thanks in advance.

Really great trail through mostly woods.

Does anyone here own one and if so what do you think?

I took this picture out on Mike Levine today. It was a bit out of focus, but after playing around with it a bit I think it’s actually a pretty decent picture.

It was a gorgeous day for a ride. Probably not too many left before winter hits.

It's looking to be a gorgeous weekend and we are hitting record numbers for Rode to Hell. Seeing as how I spend way too much time on Reddit I thought I'd offer everyone a $10 off code (code is simply Reddit). Happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Website

I am working on some cool new stuff for course marking and think we will have over 300+ markers on course, and that doesn't count the paint I put down for each route on the corners. It takes so long to set this course that we actually start two days before the event instead of the day of.

I'm planning a tour that loops from Lansing up along the Manistee river, around sleeping bear, up to the bridge, and then back down along the huron side of the state. As part of it I'm stopping in TC to visit family.

I'm having trouble with the section headed north from TC to Petoskey. Normally I try to stick to gravel roads or bike paths to avoid cars, but on RWGPS I don't see any good options in this section until the little traverse wheelway picks up.

So, for people who ride in this area, what is the best way to get North out of TC? Would you follow 31 to at least have a shoulder? Are there good secondary roads? Would you bypass Petoskey entirely and head east to one of the bike paths going north by 75?

Got out for a quick 2 night 3 day bikepack last weekend up to newaygo. Rode lots of gravel single track and sandy two track covered just about 200 miles over half of which was off-road.

Wanted to share some pictures I got along the way.

I was at a charity ride for Garrett”s Space in Ann Arbor this past Sunday and met the Executive Director of League of Michigan Bicyclists who was also riding. I had a great chat about their priorities and their mission to Unify the community, Advocate for safety and access and to Educate road users on the rights and responsibilities regarding vulnerable road users. I encourage you to join. If you have not had a chance to review the LMB site, here is a link.

One of my favorite places to ride to. A peaceful stop.

My last bikepacking/bike camping trip was almost 15 years ago. Back then it was on a single speed from Chicago to the Wisconsin border with hardly and gear and back before my first child was born. This time I planned better, had a better bike and a better understanding of what I wanted to do.

This was more of a test trip for some longer trips next year, but I still packed like I was going for a few nights. Everything worked great on the way out. Camp was simple to set up, I knew where everything was and aside from needing a sleeping bag instead of a wool blanket, it was perfect. I was supposed to go last week but the rain caused me to reschedule. What I didn't know was that it was "Halloween Weekend" at Proud Lake. While it wasn't the quiet night I had in mind, it was a lot of fun to see everyone's decorations, kids trick-or-treating (they weren't interested in my Backpacker's Pantry meals) and everyone was super nice. Lots of conversations about what I was doing, "Where's your car?" and about my setup.

I didn't have a huge budget after getting my bike earlier this year, but I picked up front fork bags, a 2 person tent (which is really 1 plus bags), a backpacking chair, merino base layer, Wolly Mammoth blanket and used some gear I already had like a sleeping pad, which had a hole in it, quick-boil, rear rack/panniers, fire kit and tools.

I ended up just under 33 lbs, which I rode with for a few weeks leading up to the trip so it wasn't an unexpected effort.

My rear rack is from a little before that trip 15 years ago and unfortunately broke about 5 miles into my ride home. I was lucky that my wife was a few miles away, so she picked my bags up and I rode the rest of the way home unloaded. Really, I think it was the frame bolts that weren't long enough, mixed with the rack being old and I'm guessing not made to be compatible with newer bikes. I went through 4 extra bolts off other mounting points on my bike and finally caved and called for backup. It felt great going from a 13mph average up to 18/19. Stopped for ice cream in Northville and made it home in time to mow the grass.

I know the few things I need, and was glad to at least try with what I had instead of buying everything. I'd love to hear how others use a handlebar bag and manage to get a light and computer up front. I have an out front mount and couldn't find anything that would work. I thought I saw a bag on the market that had the Garmin/Wahoo mount built into the top flap, but couldn't find much online.

Next trip will be late spring from Livonia to Pointe Pelee, over the new bridge.

Dam east of Merrill. Probably just the start. I didn't see the lodge anywhere. They've been active on the Huron River for years but this is the first I've seen on Horseshoe Creek.

What are some of the best and safest (avoiding busy streets/ sections of road with bike lanes) to get from Ferndale to Belle Isle?

Rode the local bike shop's overnight camping route from Ann Arbor out to Blind Lake near Pinckney. Had gorgeous weather there and back. Loaded up the cargo bike with a bunch of things and had a great ride at tortoise pace.

Beautiful route, with a perfect stop at the good gas station off Territorial for some firewood and food not far from the campground.