Adventure on Michigan's North Country Traverse!
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- We headed out of Traverse City in early morning to go bike camping on bikepacking.com's (bikepacking.co...) North Country Traverse route. We used Ride w/GPS to get to the North Country Tail on the TART Trails and the the single track of the VASA Trails and pathways. This was day one of a 5 day bike tour and we started to realize we had way over planned the mileage we could pull off on the curvy, rooty, and sandy routes. It was beautiful and a lot of fun - we jus had to pivot!
#bikepacking #bikecamping
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Welcome to Michigan ✋🏼. Can’t wait to see more videos of this EPIC ADVENTURE. 🏕️
Thanks! It gets even more gnarly - but we cut even more of the miles 😁
58 miles on the first day is monstrous in those conditions. i think a much better planning metric is simply to go by hours and have multiple camping
waypoints to choose from. out here in Idaho all we worry about is having water nearby the route. it's all relative. you all did surprisingly well. KUDOS.
i spied lots of stealth sites on that route, but no fires in that option.
Thanks!
One of the reasons we always try to plan ahead is because the holiday.
Later in the trip we got the last campsite at a campground (booking 2 months out)!
Stealth camping definitely could have been pulled off on the trail but would have been harder later in the trip.
We would have been in trouble if this was an end to end ride but being a loop finding a couple other sites and cutting the miles worked for us.
I think we simply learned a bunch about covering ground off-road - we have road and bike trail touring pretty dialed.
Cheers!
One way single track? So much oppression man.
Our trails here either switch direction every few days or are always one direction. Yearly is an interesting way to do it!
what i was thinking. are they planning for mass exodus? just give way.
Ha !🔨🚲🎸✌🏼🍕
These trails are marked one way only?
Nice trip! Looks like a fun adventure
and what about black flies mosquitos and bears
Flies were annoying when setting up the tents but once the fire was going not too bad. I never got bit by a mosquito amazingly - but Ben did have a device we used also.
Saw bear tracks but no bears.
We each did find a tick on us but no one got bit.
Those forest roads look dreamy... and a bit sandy
It was so rad - worth having to put a foot down here and there. If we would have planned for about 40 mile days it would have been perfect - but we adjusted.
Like they say Tim, don't search for adventure then complain when you find it. Looks like your unplanned outcome had a little type 2 fun which is what you and your mates will be chatting about over beers on years to come. Thanks for the video.
Yup - buy the ticket , take the ride! We had planned on it being more adventurous than anything we had done - just totally misjudged the pace. Would have been perfect at about 40 mile days.
Cheers!
Don’t tell the people in my mountain bike park that trails have directions!
😬
We hiked a loop on Grand Island in Michigan. Lot's of bike packers on that trip. We had some other frustrations with how the trails were managed, but what frustrated us and the bikers most was the huge piles of sand at the islands dock used for trail maintenance. It is sand that is rounded grains rather than jagged (locking action). Looks very similar to what you road through. It made the trip so unbearable that it became one and done for us "up north". We had some other hiking and bike packing trips planned up north, but have since scrapped for trips out west solely due to buying the literal worst trail repair material.
Huh - we rode the whole Grand Island loop about a month and half later with no trouble. It had rough sections but nothing we had to walk. Maybe you hit it when they were doing a bunch of trail maintenance?
We didn't mind the terrain of this trip - we just weren't properly prepared in our planning. I think we would all do it again just with much shorter days planned.
How were the skeeters?
Not as bad as I thought they would be. Getting the fire going early always helps a bit and Ben had a device that is supposed to keep them away.
But even when we took a break in the woods we didn’t get attacked which was surprising.
Do you have any advice on finding a good saddle for long rides? I cant seem to ride more than 14 miles without pretty horrible butt pain. Any recommendations would be helpful.
I love Brooks B17's. The problem is saddles are so personal that what works for one person may not work for others - but they are used by lots of people who tour.
The other advice would be to get a bike fit - or do some UA-cam research on bike fits. It could just be the way your are positioned on your bike.
This is really cool. I’m in the middle of a tour in the UP. The tour offered both paved and “mixed surface” routes. Have a Backroads Lynskey with 700x40c tires which I thought were sufficient but the long stretches of sand were soft and fluffy. A fat bike would have done much better. (Michigan gravel isn’t anything like Ohio gravel 😂) looking forward to your next video.
For sure - I'm mostly fine on my 42s here in Ohio - so glad I brought the 55s to Michigan!
Have a blast on the rest of your trip up there! I definitely want to see the UP sometime.
Good video Fitzwater it's definitely not carbonated 😊
Yup - thanks!
Any word on those trails in September? We're thinking of riding late in the month and it would be great to know if the trails are visible or overgrown by then. Thanks!
Actually no one responded to that question.
Looks like y’all had quite an adventure. Just put some Jones H bars on my Bridge Club, loving them so far. ✌️
Yeah - more than we bargained for but still awesome!
I could imagine the Jones bars would be great on a Bridge Club.
Great video Tim. I ride those trails a lot. Regarding bear - more than a slight chance of encountering them. Quite a bit more.
Good to know. We did some research and that is what I based it on.
Makes me glad we did hang out food!
You sound exhausted in the narration. Haha. That sand can be draining. Michelson trail had a surprising amount of sand/loose gravel that made it tough, too.
Yeah - rewatching the footage and feeling the vibes!
It should go without saying but it is amazing how much the surface can change the exertion - definitely learned a lesson.
Michelson looked amazing though!
@@TimFitzwater It is so good. Hopefully you guys do it one day.
1:45 speaking of that, look up “Ann Arbor to Traverse City commuter line” they are making commuter trains to TC
I will - that’d be rad.
Ya i live near the VASA, I take my ebike on it all the time....surprised you didn't see bigfoot
We were looking for him! 🦍
Tim and all, fantastic job! Riding off road in that sandy region of northern Michigan is not easy. Great footage and mileage. Looks like a little type II fun, mixed with good frienship.
Thanks! It was - a little tough but totally worth it!
Anything that has single track on it is going to take much longer than any type of road or regular trail riding, usually like 6-8 miles an hour is what I plan for depending on the terrain an elevation gain. Takes a lot more effort too usually.
For sure - and we knew it would - just didn't think it would be THAT amount slower!
Over estimating was a pitfall we had on our last trip. We had 60 east road miles followed by 12 miles of horrendous hills with a lot of walking. I’ve decided I want to target 45-50 miles per day and actually enjoy the trip instead of dealing with the physical, mental, and even emotional fatigue and depression, and anxiety of making it preplanned camping stops in the dark.
I hear you.
One of our issues is that we have always done more road and rail trail touring - we know what we can handle on that kind of terrain.
The good news is we learned a lot and we got lucky with finding spots when we did decide to cut the mileage.
Good times. Definitely worth the extra wait for my stickers. I was hoping the delay was caused by an adventure.
Yes!
I was sitting in the car on the way up and thinking of my pre-vacay to do list “I didn’t send out that order!”
So thanks again for the patience- one man show over here.
It was a rad adventure though!
Could watch you pootling (I’m sure that it wasn’t pootling for you😀) through those sun dappled forest trails all day.
Oddly relaxing 😌
Lovely colours.
Oh yeah, and a great effort 😊
Thanks! It really was pretty there.
The pace did feel chill a lot of the times because it simply had to be!
Not all elevation is created equally hey Tim. Looks like a great ride anyway mate and having to change plans on the fly is all part of the adventure. We hit massive head winds on our last trip and had to just cut one of our planned days in half.
100% on the elevation.
This was the first time ever we didn’t hit our planned stops so it was a great lesson in winging it a bit(we plan so thoroughly because it’s the 4th of July week).
But yeah - learned a lot and still an amazing trip - it being a loop saved us - would have been in trouble if it was end to end.
oh yes and ticks
Good, des aventuriers zvec fes loups et des ours, et fes indiens.....
🐻
yep these trails are solidly type 2 and type 3 fun
As Erin said “type 2 is fine - we aren’t trying to get into type 3”
It was close!
Always enjoy your adventures & informational productions. Thx!
Thanks!
really cool adventure, plenty of times we ended up stealth camping or cutting the route short too!
Thanks - yes - we were lucky it was a loop and not an end to end!
58 miles under those circumstances is still huge. I recently did like 45 loaded on sandy desert roads and it killed me.
We were thinking if we had planned a couple 40 mile days it would have been about perfect. Luckily it wasn't always sandy.
Question, Inkeep trying to discern what front bike rack does Erin have? And yours as well? Thanks
She just sent me this:
www.somafab.com/archives/product/demi-porteur-rack
Mine is a Tubus but it was given to me second hand so I don't know the model name.
@@TimFitzwater thank you so much. Enjoying your videos whole bunches
You’ve learned why we run 2.8” tires on our “gravel bikes” up here. 😉 Dig the route, looks super fun if not moderately demoralizing. 😂
That makes total sense!
Definitely why I left my favorite bike with its 42s at home!
Even with the challenges I still loved it and would do again as we were saying last night.
No significant elevation? Thats bs, the marilla section has loads of ups and downs
Yeah - it was tough! I said it in the video but this kind of climbing is some of the hardest - all punchy and rough.
@@TimFitzwater I rode it on a full suspension on a day trip and it was hard.
Saw a father and son riding with backpacking bags on doing their first overnight trip. Would not recommend
That looked like a challenging first day especially with loaded bikes the physical and mental fatigue, well you must have slept well. 🤘💪🖖
We did for sure!
The fatigue carried over and we went with a much more chill second day.
The NCT is no joke. Best place to ride in the lower peninsula if you don't want to see anything twice.
I had read al the comments and thought I had a good idea of what we were getting into - but I was still a bit wrong. We are now talking about going back to the area but just renting a spot so we could do day trips with unloaded bikes.
I think your group should do the tour divide
Guessing Ben and I would be the only ones up for that kind of climbing - but regardless - don't think any of us will ever have the time or money....
Thx for sharing your adventures, they help me building up my courage to do one, probably in near future 😊
Heck yeah! That is definitely the goal in sharing these so I love to hear it!
That looked great fun. Makes me want to build up a touring bike ..
It was and you should!
Awesome ride. With all your challenges it seemed you guys had fun. Can't wait for the next one.
Thanks! Yes - it was still a blast and I would do it again - just with more reasonable mileage for the days.
Looks like you guys are having a good time out there.
Absolutely loved it - already talking about heading back sometime!
Always enjoy your Videos 😊
Could you ship some stickers to Ireland ? It's not an option on your shop I think 😮
Thanks! Yes - I've just been too busy(lazy) to figure out international shipping. Just make up a US address an I will ship the stickers to your billing address(or email me the correct address if it happens to be different. Stickers can go in regular envelopes so I can get away with just putting an international stamp on it.
@@TimFitzwater just made an order thanks so much Tim ! 🤙
Just saw it - will have it “winging to you”(as I hear the Britts say)tomorrow. Thanks!!
Good and informative video, Tim!
Thanks!
That was a fun watch, thanks a lot. Loved the scenery.
Yes - truly wonderful up there!
Also, I was never envious of being bald until 11:17 in this video, haha, bet that felt amazing!
👨🦲
Nothing to stop that sweat getting in your eyes once your headband is soaked!
@@Abracadabrad Those are just free electrolytes trying to make their way back into your system! Very efficient!
Looks like an awesome trip even with the sand traps
It was - tough terrain but totally worth it.
Wow! I was considering doing this route! Super excited to see this vid!
oh sand, you - wish I didn’t not like you; mucky dirt over sand for me
perched on the ledge for day 2, haha; cheers, gang
Ha! Its a good one!
Yeah I should have mentioned the sand . And I can see the draining of the short climbs . Did you lower your PSI? My LD Trek 930 tourer would have been sluggish on that, I'd probably use the gravel bike with just baby rear panniers and seriously minimal weight . Like 30 lbs. I don't do sleeping bags now, I just use a "wubby" which is a vietnam era poncho liner , works great . My tent weighs like 8 lbs. though , I need a lighter one. I might add a light poly blanket. Are those Mountain House meals any good, I have yet to try those. The lakes in Michigan are absolutely wonderful to swim and fish in. Check out those dunes if you can . I think it's Makinac Island . I think you take a ferry out there.
We were well aware there would be some and - our friends did the Coast to Coast Gravel Grinder the week before. We just didn't realize how much we would be slowed down.
Light tents are key - expensive but worth it. I don't bring a sleeping bag anymore either - just a super packable down quilt.
I actually upped the tire pressure because of the weight - but it didn't feel like I had. about 40 psi in my 55mms.
We did stay at Sleeping Bear Dunes and saw some others south of there. We weren't near Mackinaw on this trip.
Grande bon temps !
😎
It's tricky to ride sandy roads. One time I got into real trouble and now I'm hesitant about sandy roads. Looks like you need a real mountain bike there with bikepacking setup without the panniers. Singletrack ride looks a lot of fun but it takes more time. Great first day ride! 👍
Yeah - would be right at home on a MTB or a fat bike on these trails. Still fun - but very challenging!
Thanks Tim!!!
Thank you! Cheers!
(I’m sure you noticed but it’s pretty amazing how Adobe can remix your 4 minute song into 14 minutes so seemlessly)
@@TimFitzwater Haha!!! It is the 12" dance remix!
Thanks Tim....
Cheers!