Adventure on Michigan's North Country Traverse!

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We headed out of Traverse City in early morning to go bike camping on bikepacking.com's (bikepacking.com/routes/north-...) 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!
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Опубликовано:

10 июл 2023

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Комментарии : 119

@Lousysuperior 21 день назад

Wow! I was considering doing this route! Super excited to see this vid!

@williamlebron9873 11 месяцев назад

Welcome to Michigan ✋🏼. Can’t wait to see more videos of this EPIC ADVENTURE. 🏕️

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks! It gets even more gnarly - but we cut even more of the miles 😁

@stephenmorton8017 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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!

@robertroot3790 11 месяцев назад

Always enjoy your adventures & informational productions. Thx!

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks!

@themoodyteam 11 месяцев назад

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 😊

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks! It really was pretty there. The pace did feel chill a lot of the times because it simply had to be!

@glennpettersson9002 11 месяцев назад

That looked like a challenging first day especially with loaded bikes the physical and mental fatigue, well you must have slept well. 🤘💪🖖

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

We did for sure! The fatigue carried over and we went with a much more chill second day.

@robinheil 11 месяцев назад

Those forest roads look dreamy... and a bit sandy

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@jeremylutersz3374 11 месяцев назад

Looks like you guys are having a good time out there.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Absolutely loved it - already talking about heading back sometime!

@mikegutterman3427 11 месяцев назад

Thanks Tim!!!

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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)

@mikegutterman3427 11 месяцев назад

@@TimFitzwater Haha!!! It is the 12" dance remix!

@mickcook9277 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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!

@Cobwobbler 11 месяцев назад

That looked great fun. Makes me want to build up a touring bike ..

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

It was and you should!

@vieuxacadian9455 11 месяцев назад

Grande bon temps !

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

😎

@Jamie.S. 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@peterolson1743 11 месяцев назад

Good times. Definitely worth the extra wait for my stickers. I was hoping the delay was caused by an adventure.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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!

@dokomademo 11 месяцев назад

Thx for sharing your adventures, they help me building up my courage to do one, probably in near future 😊

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Heck yeah! That is definitely the goal in sharing these so I love to hear it!

@paulvanreesch2493 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks! It was - a little tough but totally worth it!

@TheBikeChallenge 11 месяцев назад

really cool adventure, plenty of times we ended up stealth camping or cutting the route short too!

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks - yes - we were lucky it was a loop and not an end to end!

@petercroce 11 месяцев назад

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. 😂

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@distortohio 11 месяцев назад

Looks like y’all had quite an adventure. Just put some Jones H bars on my Bridge Club, loving them so far. ✌️

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Yeah - more than we bargained for but still awesome! I could imagine the Jones bars would be great on a Bridge Club.

@dennis_aus_neukoelln 11 месяцев назад

That was a fun watch, thanks a lot. Loved the scenery.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Yes - truly wonderful up there!

@rogerhart612 11 месяцев назад

Awesome ride. With all your challenges it seemed you guys had fun. Can't wait for the next one.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks! Yes - it was still a blast and I would do it again - just with more reasonable mileage for the days.

@dalekling7303 10 месяцев назад

1:45 speaking of that, look up “Ann Arbor to Traverse City commuter line” they are making commuter trains to TC

@TimFitzwater 10 месяцев назад

I will - that’d be rad.

@obsequious_obsolescence 11 месяцев назад

Looks like an awesome trip even with the sand traps

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

It was - tough terrain but totally worth it.

@kristamcnamee1456 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@FollowThomas 11 месяцев назад

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! 👍

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Yeah - would be right at home on a MTB or a fat bike on these trails. Still fun - but very challenging!

@nino8344 11 месяцев назад

Good and informative video, Tim!

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Thanks!

@GoSparker 11 месяцев назад

Great video Tim. I ride those trails a lot. Regarding bear - more than a slight chance of encountering them. Quite a bit more.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Good to know. We did some research and that is what I based it on. Makes me glad we did hang out food!

@mactan_sc 11 месяцев назад

yep these trails are solidly type 2 and type 3 fun

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

As Erin said “type 2 is fine - we aren’t trying to get into type 3” It was close!

@philiprayner 11 месяцев назад

oh yes and ticks

@MB4ever88 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

For sure - and we knew it would - just didn't think it would be THAT amount slower!

@127ibenedict 11 месяцев назад

The NCT is no joke. Best place to ride in the lower peninsula if you don't want to see anything twice.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@MB4ever88 11 месяцев назад

Also, I was never envious of being bald until 11:17 in this video, haha, bet that felt amazing!

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

👨‍🦲

@Abracadabrad 11 месяцев назад

Nothing to stop that sweat getting in your eyes once your headband is soaked!

@MB4ever88 11 месяцев назад

@@Abracadabrad Those are just free electrolytes trying to make their way back into your system! Very efficient!

@goodobservers 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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!

@goodobservers 11 месяцев назад

@@TimFitzwater It is so good. Hopefully you guys do it one day.

@BMad-we6qf 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@CaptainJimJames 7 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 7 месяцев назад

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.

@Galactico42 11 месяцев назад

58 miles under those circumstances is still huge. I recently did like 45 loaded on sandy desert roads and it killed me.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

We were thinking if we had planned a couple 40 mile days it would have been about perfect. Luckily it wasn't always sandy.

@kirkchase5048 11 месяцев назад

Ya i live near the VASA, I take my ebike on it all the time....surprised you didn't see bigfoot

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

We were looking for him! 🦍

@gantiplex 11 месяцев назад

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

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Ha! Its a good one!

@cb6866 11 месяцев назад

Thanks Tim....

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Cheers!

@kervilou5905 11 месяцев назад

Good, des aventuriers zvec fes loups et des ours, et fes indiens.....

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

🐻

@tmayberry7559 11 месяцев назад

I think your group should do the tour divide

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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....

@tmayberry7559 11 месяцев назад

Good video Fitzwater it's definitely not carbonated 😊

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Yup - thanks!

@robertgraves3215 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@joshodonoghue3326 11 месяцев назад

Always enjoy your Videos 😊 Could you ship some stickers to Ireland ? It's not an option on your shop I think 😮

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@joshodonoghue3326 11 месяцев назад

@@TimFitzwater just made an order thanks so much Tim ! 🤙

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Just saw it - will have it “winging to you”(as I hear the Britts say)tomorrow. Thanks!!

@philiprayner 11 месяцев назад

and what about black flies mosquitos and bears

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@stephenrobertparkes 11 месяцев назад

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!

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Actually no one responded to that question.

@audrey3319 8 месяцев назад

Question, Inkeep trying to discern what front bike rack does Erin have? And yours as well? Thanks

@TimFitzwater 8 месяцев назад

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.

@audrey3319 8 месяцев назад

@@TimFitzwater thank you so much. Enjoying your videos whole bunches

@dlux626 4 дня назад

Don’t tell the people in my mountain bike park that trails have directions!

@TimFitzwater 4 дня назад

😬

@skelitalmisfit12 11 месяцев назад

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.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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 RU-vid research on bike fits. It could just be the way your are positioned on your bike.

@grumpycyclist3319 11 месяцев назад

One way single track? So much oppression man.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

Our trails here either switch direction every few days or are always one direction. Yearly is an interesting way to do it!

@stephenmorton8017 11 месяцев назад

what i was thinking. are they planning for mass exodus? just give way.

@denisrogers4358 11 месяцев назад

Ha !🔨🚲🎸✌🏼🍕

@lenkomsa1399 11 месяцев назад

These trails are marked one way only?

@lenkomsa1399 11 месяцев назад

Nice trip! Looks like a fun adventure

@mogulmayhem 11 месяцев назад

How were the skeeters?

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

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.

@seanflorian4653 11 дней назад

No significant elevation? Thats bs, the marilla section has loads of ups and downs

@TimFitzwater 11 дней назад

Yeah - it was tough! I said it in the video but this kind of climbing is some of the hardest - all punchy and rough.

@seanflorian4653 11 дней назад

@@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

@myvicariouslife4012 11 месяцев назад

70 miles a day? thats kinda pushing the envelope but I am sure u all are in better shape than moi.

@TimFitzwater 11 месяцев назад

It was pushing it on these kind of trails!

@steelisreal4313 11 месяцев назад

@@TimFitzwater I could do 50 60 back when but dang...70? On dirt trails? On a side note whoever has a tire stashed on front rack came prepared. No weight shaming from moi...weight weenies can take a long walk on a short pier. Real men pack weight.