Owosso-Ionia Bike Trail Railfanning Ride

[AARR]

I hear the bike trail is paved from Owosso to Ionia. Can someone confirm?

Also, anyone want to get a group going? I think it's around 45ish miles one way so we can stage vehicles at both ends and go one way or do the 90-100 mile round trip. I figure with railfanning and food stops it could be 6ish hours one way or 10ish hour day round trip. Let me know if you're interested and we can schedule a day.

[Raildudes dad]

It is only paved in the cities / villages. The remainder is surfaced with crushed limestone. 2/3rd of the material is smaller than 1/8th inch. Similar to stone dust on a ball diamond.

http://www.cistrail.org/maps.html

[Jetlink]

I would be very interested.

I've ridden Saranac-Ionia and Ionia-St.Johns.

Ionia-Saranc is in great shape, well packed and frequently used.

I rode a few weeks ago east of Ionia and the trail was very ride-able but not packed as firm. I've heard that they are having troubles with dirt bikes and ATV's tearing up the surface.

I'll confirm what RDD reports. Very similar to the surface on the Kal-haven trail and the Pere Marquette trail west of Reed City.

[hoborich]

I've ridden the Pere Marquette trail from Clare to Midland. Nice ride. Little diner in Coleman for lunch.

[AARR]

Is the limestone surfaces packed down or loose? Can I ride it with skinny road tires or would I need fat/stud tires?

[GreatLakesRailfan]

I'd be interested, although I don't have a road bike.

[AARR]

I'd be interested, although I don't have a road bike.

If you feel your bike can manage part or all of the trip you should come with me. It'll be like a road rally on bikes

[Michael]

If you have one of those tandem bike I'd be interested

[GreatLakesRailfan]

I'd be interested, although I don't have a road bike.

If you feel your bike can manage part or all of the trip you should come with me. It'll be like a road rally on bikes

Sounds good to me.

I'm not worried so much about the bike making it that far as the rider.

[AARR]

~Z~ and me are considering mid to late June. Stay tuned...

[Jetlink]

Do able with a road bike but difficult. Wider tires would be better. Studded tires not needed.

As loose as the area just east of Ionia was last week I personally wouldn't want a road bike. The surface will become packed harder as time goes on based on my experiences with similar trails .

[BerkshireKid]

Im off and can be there the last weekend of June thru the 4th of July weekend.

[pbmaxno15]

Sounds like fun to me. I will have to polish up the old Cannodale!

[J T]

~Z~ and me are considering mid to late June. Stay tuned...

We should really start planning something. I've been thinking about this a bit lately and with a decent sized group we could have a lot of fun.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

~Z~ and me are considering mid to late June. Stay tuned...

We should really start planning something. I've been thinking about this a bit lately and with a decent sized group we could have a lot of fun.

Im off and can be there the last weekend of June thru the 4th of July weekend.

Looks like we have a timeframe. Weekend? Weekday? I'll have to request time off if we do it during the week, but there may be less traffic if we don't do it on the weekend.

[AARR]

I am definitely biking this trail! It'd be more educational and fun to go with you guys. If we can reach a consensus on a date I'll join you. Late June works for me. Weekday or weekend is fine.

[~Z~]

20th/21st or 27/28 of June would be best for me, not a weekday please. Would it be better to travel eastbound from Ionia towards owosso so the wind will be less likely to impact us?

I'd say let AARR pick the date since he came up with the idea...
A thought : start in Fowler. Bike west to ionia, food somewhere, come back east. If some are tired, be done at Fowler. Others can continue east as far as comfortable, turn around when tired and go back to Fowler... that way we don't have to take the extra couple hours to stage cars at start and end points.

[AARR]

IIRC more people were available the end of June so how's 27th/28th? I'm pretty flexible AFAIK.

20th/21st or 27/28 of June would be best for me, not a weekday please. Would it be better to travel eastbound from Ionia towards owosso so the wind will be less likely to impact us?

I'd say let AARR pick the date since he came up with the idea...
A thought : start in Fowler. Bike west to ionia, food somewhere, come back east. If some are tired, be done at Fowler. Others can continue east as far as comfortable, turn around when tired and go back to Fowler... that way we don't have to take the extra couple hours to stage cars at start and end points.

[AARR]

FYI

Posted by Joe on 5/25/2015, 12:57 am, in reply to "Bike the Owosso-Ionia Trail"
Its not exactly "packed" limestone. I have gone from St Johns to Pewamo and back. I don't believe the trail is really complete all the way to ionia however, it seems to be a 2 track and larger stones towards Ionia. Better check it by car first. the gravel portion can slow one down a bit as it is softer than you might be used to, so like you mentioned, fatter tires will be preferred.

[J T]

Last weekend in June works for me as well. No weekdays.