Jetlink’s Michigan rail trail cycling extravaganza

[Jetlink]

Jetlink’s Michigan rail trail bike tour dates and routes have been finalized. If any cyclist wants to pedal along with myself, my son, and my daughter for any portion of the tour make your own arrangements and join us. It won’t be a super fast pace ride. Think 12-16 mph or less. Comfortable paces.

Sunday July 23 starting in the mid afternoon Hart-Muskegon (Hart-Montague trail, Berry Junction trail, Muskegon Lakeshore trail)

Monday July 24 Muskegon-Grand Rapids-Cedar Springs (laketon Trail, Musketowa trail, Musketowa White Pine Connector Trail, White Pine Trail)

Tuesday July 25 Cedar Springs-Evart (White Pine Trail, Pere Marquette Trail)

Wednesday july 26 Evart-Midland. (Pere Marquette Trail)

[~Z~]

I'll be departing for Muskegon soon in car, then bike north out of Muskegon till I find you three.

[GP30M4216]

Jet link I might have seen a few photos on Facebook, but were there any highlights from your trip?

[Jetlink]

Hey, Thanks for asking. Yeah there were a few highlights.

The first highlight was that we rode about 225 miles in 4 days and had no flat tires or mechanical breakdowns on any of the bikes. For that I was grateful.

On Sunday My mom drove us and our bikes to Hart. After shaking down the equipment and touring gear we started south. We met Z around Shelby and he rode South to Muskegon with us. We stopped for Ice Cream in Montague. Had a nice ride and nice weather. It was also good to visit with Z.

On Monday we started east and after a while we encountered a gentlemen also on a bike tour. We talked with him for quite a while and leap frogged past each other several times throughout the day. He had started his tour about a year ago in Montreal heading east. He has been touring eastbound around the world and was planning on arriving back in Montreal from the west in mid August. https://www.bike62.com/ is his website if anyone would like to know more about him. He picked on me about riding such an old steel bike and suggested that in Ravenna perhaps I could find a machine shop to weld a little more material on the bottom bracket of my bike. Also on Monday my Dad's sister Jill and her husband came out and met us near Conklin and rode along side us to Walker.

On Tuesday we had a lot of difficulty with the trails. We found new pavement initially but North of Howard City the trail was closed all the way to Big Rapids. We struggled to find suitable detours and tried to revisit the trail in several places but it was being logged in preparation for paving. We could use the trail but encountered frequent brush and log piles. Also the surface was very difficult to pedal through and there were multiple crews with heavy equipment working. Northland Drive is not a road to cycle on. Down right dangerous. Eventually though we got to Big Rapids safely and continued on uneventfully from there.

On Wednesday thunderstorms were forecast and I thought about calling our ride to pick us up early but my daughter really wanted to finish. We ended up grabbing some lunch in Clare and picnicking while sheltering in the tunnel under US 127. It was clean and dry. We ate lunch and watched the thunder and lightning. The kids were content and mostly watched videos on their phones while we waited. After 3 hours the storms had passed and we continued to Midland to the Tridge. When we arrived the kids played on the Splash pad and walked around the park and the Tridge. My mom met us there and was our ride home.