Around Lake Michigan 2021

[Charlesr6s]

Hey all, just wanted to share a trip I took this past Labor Day weekend. Weather started out perfect and then changed out of nowhere. Was supposed to do 1300-1400 miles but due to rain round trip ended up being 1061. Got my custom seat two days before I left,  absolute ass saver 

sorry for image water marks, had to use snipping tool as original file sizes were to big for upload. GoPro video is still being edited, but Im not happy with the results, stupid rain drops stuck to the lens. Most of the photos we took were group photos and I dont want to post them without their permission.

2nd to last photo is the "tunnel of trees" route in Michigan. Absolutely beautiful. I will go back for that and the UP in a year or two. Day 2 was supposed to be Tunnel of Trees then all of the UP but due to complications we only completed tunnel of trees. We had some rain gear defects rear their heads as well as a saddle bag that decided to break at the seal and soak everything inside.

[jayecin]

Awesome, I did a similar ride end of June, but instead of going through chicago I took the SS Badger from ludington to Wisconsin. The tunnel of trees was absolutely my favorite part, that road was beautiful and fun.  I did it on the stock seat, rode around 140-200 miles a day over 4 days.  But got sore but did better than I expected, I will still be getting a new seat before attempting such another long ride. Where did your ride start/end?  I rode from Ann Arbor to ludington, rode the badger and then up through the UP of michigan and back down pretty much the same route you took.

I stayed in Escanaba for one night, if you make your way back up there I highly recommend you get a steak from Hereford and Hops.  The UP of michigan is know for producing really high quality steaks and its a unique restaurant that lets you grill your own steak over a giant coal/wood fireplace.

Throw some pics up

[Charlesr6s]

Thanks Jay!

Yeah I definitely need to go back up there and include that steak place in the trip.

Started off in Chicago suburbs, rode about 460 day 1 to Harbor springs, on 22 as much as possible. Day two was Harbor Springs to Manistique. Day 3 was to Oshkosh (skipped as much of green bay/Milwaukee as possible and took side roads. Final day was all WI back roads to Fox Lake then home.

Went counter clockwise because 1) didnt want to deal with IN traffic coming home on a holiday weekend and 2) Mackinac bridge was closed on Monday.

Ann Arbor huh? One of, if not my favorite city on the planet. I have a family on a large farm in Manchester and go to University of Michigan for work regularly (well pre pandemic).

[jayecin]

Oh yeah you did a lot more miles than me.  The stock seat I could do about 200 a day max and then I was just miserable.  Im actually not from Ann Arbor, just used that as a point of reference, much closer to manchester, just north of it actually.  There are a ton of good roads to ride in my area, if you ever make your way back out here with your bike hit me up and ill take you out.

[dogbreath]

Awesome pics  I went down and rode OH-555 for labor day weekend.