The tour headed north this past week to...pedal some more! The fun started on Sunday the 20th at the Short's Glacial Hills Challenge in Bellaire. One of my favorite trails, the 11 mile (22 for the experts) race loop had some hills but no ball breaking ones and some beautiful views. I got caught a bit with some day dreaming while enjoying said views but am pretty happy with my 6th place finish in my age group. A few "wo-wo" call outs but no falls and the bicycle performed like a 6th place champ!
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| Short's Glacia Hills Challenge - start line |
The tour left the Dave/Judy Lake Skegemog palace (big thanks for the lodging, as always!) Monday morning to the top of the U.P. for some Copper Harbor riding. I took the scenic route in getting there and recreated the U.P. bicycle ride Gus and I embarked on in the early 1990's; the Mackinac Bridge to the Keweenaw Peninsula. It sure is easier in a vehicle but the saddlebag pedal was just as enjoyable looking back on the ride. One road back in the 90's that wasn't enjoyable on the ride was County Road H58, or 'Hell Road 58' as I called it during that trip. Out of Grand Marais into Munising, it was 40 miles of part dirt road and part sand dune road. To make matters even better, Gus' derailleur fell apart about half way to Munising. More on said derailleur later in this post but we somehow put it back together so the bike could function and the tour pedaled west. So that is the evolution of Hell Road 58's nickname.
Fast forward 20-something years and Hell Road 58 is now paved (before and after pic below) and one of the most beautiful drives out there. Hell is now heaven!
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| County Rd H58 - 1990-something |
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| County Rd H58 - present day |
Tuesday came and to the top of the U.P. the tour went to pedal the Copper Harbor trail system. Gus and I had ridden the trails there about 10 years ago but missed a good portion of the entire trail network. A local company drives riders up Brockway Mountain or over to Keweenaw Mountain Lodge to meet the trails for a small fee or riders can pedal up (it is a climb) to pedal down.
I had them drop me off at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge and my ride started off fine until I took a wrong turn, backtracked for a bit and then my derailleur exploded!!!! Dragging a disabled bicycle through the woods with no cell phone coverage; not the vision I had when I planned the trip. Life wouldn't be any fun without a few kicks in the ass so no pity parties for this rider. Looking at the glass half full though, I was thankfully not too far from US41 and a lady at the lodge called the service to pick my sorry ass up. The local bicycle shop didn't have the part I needed but I was not going to leave the area without some more riding so I rented a bike and had them take me up Brockway Mountain for a pedal down 'The Flow.' That trail intersects with a double black diamond (expert rating) trail called 'Overflow' that has the noted jump below looking off onto Lake Superior. I am an experienced rider but this was one serious jump; almost Fonzie-like in the distance you needed to clear for a safe landing. No, I did not try it.
I made a new purchase for the trip to try out so below you will see some links to my new helmet cam. My hair got in the way a bit but it gives a good perspective on the ride; and just how crazy this ramp is live!!
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| Copper Harbor - "Overflow" |
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| Copper Harbor - "Overflow" |
Copper Harbor - holy shit ramp
Copper Harbor - the flow - mid way down
Copper Harbor - final descent to the road
The Copper Harbor pedal was enjoyable but I still had a disabled bicycle with the Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network still to hit on Wednesday. There was only one bicycle shop I was going to consider when I arrived in Marquette late Tuesday afternoon, Quick Stop Bike Shop. Queuing the way back machine to the early 1990's when the previously mentioned derailleur for Gus was on life support, it was Quick Stop in Marquette who came to the rescue as they dropped everything and fixed his bike. While most of the current employees probably were in diapers or not even born yet at that time, Quick Stop came to the rescue again this past week as my bike was ready to go Wednesday morning. There is still great service in this world!
The Marquette Trails had something for every type of rider; easy flowing to "you have got to be fu##ing kidding me" which the 'Flow' trail should be called. My favorite of the helmet cam videos below is the 'Down Dogger' trail. You have to pedal up a bit to get to the beginning but it is worth it. The other videos give a good perspective as well; even one of me falling.
In the "its a small world" category, I was speaking to a rider with Ontario plates and it turns out she was from Kingsville where we used have our cottage. She didn't recognize any of the names I threw out there but she knew of our place as the stone wall entrance stands out a bit. Pedal on Jennifer K.!
Trail Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ur1P2JNvJU
Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network - river view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXRhpBS9g_Q
Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network - ridge ride
Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network - river bank
Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network - serious ledge
Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network - Tim down
Marquette Noquemanon Trail Network - very rock portion
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| Baggs Rd near Williamsburg, MI |
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| bus near downtown Bellaire, MI |
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| coming into Grand Marais |
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| Copper Harbor (had to take the tourist pic) |
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| Shanty Creek - Bellaire, MI |
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| a must stop for any Keweenaw Peninsula trip |
