Biking around Lake Michigan

I've been scouring the internets trying to find a easy-to-read route to help plan an upcoming tour around Lake Michigan. I've checked crazyguyonabike.com and bikely.com, which are both great resources, but i'm having a tough time puttin it all together.

It seems like this is the "go-to" for chicago residents. I bet lots of people are going this summer.

Anyone out there have any experience, advice, or resources to share on route planning?

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Permalink Reply by Anne on May 29, 2009 at 10:14am
Some friends of mine are doing it right now! follow their progress and cheer them on: www.alldownhillihope.blogspot.com
Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on July 11, 2009 at 11:07am
that reminds me... We finished the circle tour last week. Had a blast. Although we didn't log any 140 mile days, like the fellow mentioned in MARK's article, we didn't do too shabby. I think our longest day was 85 and our shortest was 40.

In regards to my original post. I think i was sweating the route planning a little too much. We would stop and buy county/region maps as we went, since the large maps and atlases i looked at before our trip didn't show the smaller county roads. I ended collecting quite a few maps my the end of the trip. I must have accumulated at least ten.

I posted a few of our pictures here if you want to check it out.

Permalink Reply by Greg Coleman on July 13, 2009 at 2:01am
Glad you had a great time! I just got back from a ride from Chi to Muskeogon, MI, where we took a ferry to Milwaukee and then rode back south.
I wish I would have seen this thread before today because maybe I could have tossed some ideas your way BEFORE the trip. I am going to look into doing the full lap within the next year or so I may tap your brain in the future for some ideas or tips :)


Kevin Mulcky said:
that reminds me... We finished the circle tour last week. Had a blast. Although we didn't log any 140 mile days, like the fellow mentioned in MARK's article, we didn't do too shabby. I think our longest day was 85 and our shortest was 40.

In regards to my original post. I think i was sweating the route planning a little too much. We would stop and buy county/region maps as we went, since the large maps and atlases i looked at before our trip didn't show the smaller county roads. I ended collecting quite a few maps my the end of the trip. I must have accumulated at least ten.

I posted a few of our pictures here if you want to check it out.

Permalink Reply by Jim Kreps on January 21, 2013 at 4:14pm

I've done the trip.  1381 miles, except per the national park district the total permiter is 1638 miles, so I have to do it again, missing some 300 miles.  Anyway, if I can find my notes, I'll share them.  I had the GPS file, but my old computer crashed big time last Sept and I lost almost everything.

 

Let me know if interested and we can communicate off line.

 

PS:  a friend and I did this 1381 mile ride agressively, in 14 days.  Most of my past research has been on average folks doing the trip in 18 to 30 days.  14 days is 87 miles per day.

 

PS2:  anyone know of a route around Lake Superior.  I'll be doing Lake Erie this year, only 850 miles.

 

PS3: the route thru Indiana was not as bad as the route thru the far north lake suburbs of IL, south of Zion.  That was scary.  The CCC has a old route thru the south side of the lake, eventually, yes you have to hop on route 12, but they you can go thru beverly shores, into michigan city and then your on great roads.

 

Jim

Chicago Cycling Club

Great Lakes Randonneurs

Jimmyk22@aol.com

Permalink Reply by James Hartman on January 21, 2013 at 5:06pm

Yes A YET for me to make the turn around the Almighty Lake! too Michigan

Oh darn, no prudent way yet.http://googlemaps

"If they build it bicyclists will ride"

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on January 21, 2013 at 5:09pm

I'm going to try to circum-cycle Lake Nipigon this summer. More of a bike-packing trip than touring.

I've been inspired by this ride report and web design: http://cpfarrow.blogspot.com/2012/07/around-lake-nipigon-on-bicycle...

Permalink Reply by Peter Dykstra on August 7, 2014 at 9:39am

Hey all, I know this thread is super old, but in case anyone else is referencing it (ranks high on google), I thought I'd contribute the site I recently built: http://bikelakemichigan.com

I'll be doing the circumnavigation starting this August 30, 2014 with a friend, and will be posting updates and continuing to add other resources/info to that site. If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please let me know!

#bikelakemichigan

Permalink Reply by Ttrails101 on August 7, 2014 at 2:53pm

What a cool idea.  Love this thread.  Tx.

Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on August 7, 2014 at 3:24pm

I have been talking to a coworker about this, might be a trip next year, may not do the whole thing but might do the ferry cut through the first time around.  Or might do the whole thing if enough people want to do it, might be a cool chainlink event!

Permalink Reply by H2 on August 8, 2014 at 5:16am

I have a group of friends doing a ride around the lake as a fundraiser for Recovery on Water (Row team for breast cancer survivors). They start on Sunday and finish on the 24th... If anyone is interested in contributing or following along the info is at bike4row.org. I believe this will also become an annual or biannual thing so maybe next year...

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on August 8, 2014 at 7:16am
Permalink Reply by Tandemonium on August 24, 2014 at 11:03am

Peter - Good luck and let us know how it goes! We just returned from a week backpacking in Denali and have been discussing next year's camping vacation. I think we have settled on touring/camping around lake Michigan. Will you be camping or staying hotel/motels? Either way please give us a ride report when you return and good luck again!

Peter Dykstra said:

Hey all, I know this thread is super old, but in case anyone else is referencing it (ranks high on google), I thought I'd contribute the site I recently built: http://bikelakemichigan.com

I'll be doing the circumnavigation starting this August 30, 2014 with a friend, and will be posting updates and continuing to add other resources/info to that site. If anyone has any questions or suggestions, please let me know!

#bikelakemichigan

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