My birthday dirt tour
I started writing a big ride log style post about my 3 night 4 day dirt tour for my 34th birthday last week. The thing is, the trip was so beautiful that it’s virtually impossible to talk about. And I was fortunate enough to have my bff Graham on the first 2 nights of the tour with his camera. He managed to capture the beauty, all while shooting from the saddle, all while we had no idea he was actually shooting. So instead of bombarding you with thousands of words of a play-by-play of the trip, here’s some gorgeous photos with some captions to highlight the trip. In a future post I’ll do bike checks on Eliisa and my bikes.
Bedheaded and no socks, loading up our bikes and putting air in the tires before we pushed off for the next few days. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
As you can see, Graham’s bike is loaded up and ready to go, my bike is loaded up and ready to go (and I’m even strapping my helmet on), and Eliisa still has shower hair and is loading up her bike. She leaned into how much she faffs on this trip, earning her the nickname The Faff Queen. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
I had ants in my pants and wanted to get the show on the road so I opted to help E put her panniers on. As an aside these REI Link panniers are amazing— more on that in the next post. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
A quick bike portrait before we headed off— 26”, 27.5”, and 29” all in attendance. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Yeeeeeehaw we’re finally moving! I don’t remember exactly where this shot was taken, but it’s a pretty typical Manistee National Forest road. Which is to say: sandy “gravel”. There’s a reason we were all on 2.1”+ tires. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
After we set up camp the first night we did a little recon in the forest. This particular trail was extremely off camber, narrow, and steep, so I opted to hike a bike as skinny as I could make myself. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Camp necessities. The 3 of us finished that flask the first night. Also that Ruby instant coffee is really good for instant coffee. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
In lieu of digging a cat hole we poached a very nice bathroom on our second morning. Hodenpyl Dam Pond is gorgeous! Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Brunch is served. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
The NCT - West 12 and 15 Roads to Baxter Bridge section is just incredible vista after incredible vista after incredible vista. It was mind blowing. Here’s E and I, captured by Graham, so that we at least had one couple photo to show our parents. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
We were all pleasantly surprised with how well we were cruising the singletrack. Graham and I were having a ball on the descents, even scandi flicking our loaded bikes on some of the steeper dogleg turns. When we came upon this vista we knew we had to settle in for a little bit to make lunch and just admire the #PureMichigan beauty. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
The last 3 miles of that NCT section were savage, including a lot of pushing our loaded bikes up steep fall lines. That being said I would 100% go and ride it again because the far east section has one of the longest and raddest descents in the lower peninsula. Little did we know that this wouldn’t be the roughest part of the day. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
After 12ish miles and 5-7 very savage hike-a-bikes we were finally out of the singletrack and cruising along on some pavement. We saw these hikers heading to the singletrack that we just came out of. We saw a whole lot of hikers all over the NCT trailheads, more than I’ve ever seen up there. We didn’t see a single cyclist the whole trip though. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
The last 9 miles of day 2 was Type 2 fun to the max. I had our route going through some forest roads / ORV trails instead of continuing on the NCT - Baxter Bridge to US-131 section. The picture above isn’t even the half of the sand— it was so deep and so rutted that Eliisa’s low rider panniers would drag and get yanked. It sucked really bad, but I’m happy we did it. Funny enough I routed us on the forest roads because I thought it would be easier than staying on the NCT. I gotta go back and check out the Baxter Bridge to US-131 section because I assume it’s a lot better than the forest roads. Lesson learned!
Day 3, morning, now rolling 5 deep thanks to the addition of Derek and Addie. Derek and Addie just got their bikes back in March and got quite the baptism by fire, but were great sports and had great spirits. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Probably hanging out at the top of a climb to catch our breaths. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
We knew we would have to change our route for Day 3, given the 9 miles of sand at the end of Day 2. Our options were either state highways our a few miles of sandy forest roads before [prayerfully] ending up on some more proper gravel.
No more sand!! Photo credit: Graham Bewley
“trail building is water management”
No more hike-a-bike!! Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Zoom zoom— did I mention the Manistee National Forest is gorgeous? Photo credit: Graham Bewley
One of the few actual groads on the route. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
While I tend to try to avoid paved roads at all times these country roads were beautiful and it was nice to tick off some miles while putting out minimal watts. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
In the words of Bob Ross, “Time to make a big decision.” The route for day 3 was still up in the air and I decided to get off this paved road to head back into the forest. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Photographer extraordinaire Graham Bewley at our lunch spot, which was “just around the corner” [for about 3 miles].
You really take bridges for granted until you’re on a bike. Michigan has so many rivers that route planning basically starts with bridges then works your way out from there. This gorgeous bridge came right after lunch. In both directions it’s a sick descent into it, followed by a subsequent granny-gear climb. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Getting closer to camp, and The Bucksnort Saloon, on night 3. The thought of whisky and TouchTunes kept us moving through the rain. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
Bob Seger TouchTunes, here I come. Photo credit: Graham Bewley
We decided to cut off day 5 and head back to the cabin day 4. The cabin is right on the Little Manistee River, and the thought of jumping in the river, cooking BLTs, and hanging out by the campfire before sleeping in beds was too good to pass up. Plus, the nixed camp spot for night 4 had no water (both for swimming in or filtering), and we all had our fill. This ended up being a very good idea.
We returned southbound on Upper River Road after taking it Northbound on Day 1. It was even more beautiful than I remembered.
The first 3rd of our last day’s route was along Upper River Road.
I don’t take pictures remotely as good as Graham, who had to bounce, but I had to try to capture this sick descent.
One of the most blissed out parts of the whole tour for me was this 5 mile paved road section. The rain stopped, the sun came out, and the sky was so beautiful and deep blue with fluffy clouds. I put TOPS - I Feel Alive on my Bluetooth speaker, and beamed from ear to ear.
Day 4 was another audible day for the route. To get off of M-55 we jumped in this gorgeous forest road. It was a bit sandy but not too bad. It’s definitely one of my new favorite sections, and will be utilized on the 1st Annual Run What Ya Brung Family Picnic in a couple weeks.
Little did I know we were traversing the side of the Pine River for that whole section. 240’ below is Low Bridge, where we stopped for a swim and lunch.
We had to stop for groceries to make those BLTs, about 8 miles from home. Before this we stopped at an adorable farm stand and picked up a loaf of delicious sandwich bread.
Even though we tried to leave a little room in our bags on the whole tour, we had to get a little creative with the grocery packing. I was really happy to have my Post Carry Co Musette bag to carry the more delicate groceries. And I found on the whole tour that the Stooge double top tube doesn’t only look great, it really comes in handy for lashing things to (like a can of bug spray, a JBL Flip bluetooth speaker, or a bottle of bourbon).
The final push until home. A firm surface and railroad grade downhill was a great way to end the trip.
All told we had 0 mechanicals and 0 injuries. The tour really couldn’t have gone better, even if I have new ideas for the next one. Lots of love to Eliisa, Graham, Derek, and Addie for joining me on the trip. I’m bit by the touring bug, so I can’t wait for the next one!