Pedal Through the Mitten: Discovering One of Michigan's Cycling Gems with Neal Glazebrook

Speaker 1: 1:13

Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure, the podcast for cyclists who understand that riding is not just about getting to the destination, but the experience along the way. Now here are the original Cycling Men of Leisure Adam and Michael.

Speaker 2: 1:29

Hey, good to be with you. We are Road Adventures of Cycling, men of Leisure. I'm Adam, and across from me, digitally, virtually across the world, is my good friend and co-host, michael hey how you doing Adam? Oh, doing pretty good. Stayed up a little bit last night Watch those football games. Your chiefs were successful. I know you're a Broncos fan, but your family and chiefs were successful. My Lions I don't know.

Speaker 3: 1:59

You know I was so, and we actually talked about it during the game, especially after the first half of the Lions game. We were so looking forward to a Lions chiefs showdown.

Speaker 2: 2:08

Oh that would have been fun.

Speaker 3: 2:09

And then the Lions came out at halftime and decided they were going to do whatever they were going to do other than play football.

Speaker 2: 2:17

But yeah, I don't know what happened there, I mean when at halftime, you know, everybody was texting and rooting and hooding and hollering, and then, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3: 2:26

Don't buy those.

Speaker 2: 2:27

Super Bowl tickets yet. No Heck of a season. Pretty happy for the Lions. Pretty exciting to actually have that in this area. I've lived here since 1997. And all I've ever heard is the Lions that are made of the Super Bowl. So I get to keep hearing that that hasn't changed, unfortunately.

Speaker 3: 2:46

And we're going back. For what? Third time in four years or something.

Speaker 2: 2:50

Yeah, something like that.

Speaker 3: 2:51

You know it happens, Maybe next year I'd like to see that game.

Speaker 2: 2:56

Well, the only thing I will say is I hope the IRS is not listening. I won't say how much, but I made a bet in the beginning of the year for the chiefs to win the Super Bowl, one of the fan duel specials, and let me tell you you should see the skyrocketing amount. That looks good. So we'll see. I'm not going to go out and buy the Ferrari yet, or at least the Matchbox one. But anyways, to the IRS.

Speaker 3: 3:21

He lives in Brighton Michigan.

Speaker 2: 3:24

Just so you know I do. Come on down. Come on down and find me with my whopping gambling winnings. Actually, I bet you, if you look, it's probably losing. Yeah, you know what do we got going on. So the last time you and I met you and I spoke about rides that are in the area or near or around, we've already told our subscribers and fans that we were going to go to Big Bragg 2024 at Lannetys of Vanna and we're kind of looking at our schedule to see what we're going to do and we kind of tease the idea of this Michigan ride and it got me thinking and I got pretty excited and so I lined up something pretty cool for us. I've got the events director of the League of Michigan Bicyclists and I'd like to bring him on now. Okay, so with us is now Neil Glazebrook. He is the events director of the League of Michigan Bicyclists. Neil, welcome to the show.

Speaker 4: 4:29

Hey, hey, adam, thanks for having me on, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Absolutely, Absolutely. Neil, you are the events director of the League of Michigan Bicyclists and we were looking at rides to do for the 2024 season. We decided one of the rides that we normally do, which is in Iowa, called Raghbury we decided not to do this year. So we're looking for something different and came across your site and everything and so wanted to have you on to talk about some of the rides that you do and what it exactly is you do. So what is it that you do?

Speaker 4: 5:11

Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, like you said, I'm the events director for the League of Michigan Bicyclists. The League of Michigan Bicyclists has been around for a handful of years, since 1982, as an advocacy organization here in the state, and one of the functions we do within the state is put on events and rides to fundraise and support the advocacy we do here in the state. So my job post, pandemic to current times, has been to run our cycling tours alongside some of the other events and skills clinics and single day events that we put on across the state.

Speaker 2: 5:59

Cool. So I've got your site up here for LMBorg so anyone who is interested you could go to LMBorg. Looks like you've got events, some initiatives, how to get involved. Is this statewide, throughout Michigan?

Speaker 4: 6:14

It is a statewide advocacy organization. You just brought up Raghbury and I actually happen to just be returning from attending the Expo and the route release party there. And we're very similar to what the Iowa Bicycle Coalition does. Right, we're doing statewide advocacy to bolster laws, safety and cycling community throughout the state of Michigan. So pretty big job with all the land we have to cover here. But yes, we are a statewide advocacy organization that's looking out for all disciplines of cycling, not only touring riders, but gravel riders, mountain bikers, the whole facet Okay.

Speaker 2: 6:57

So how did you get involved? How did I mean? What brought you to do something like this? I mean, this sounds exciting to me.

Speaker 4: 7:04

Yeah. So I have probably the better part of a decade personally been very heavily rooted in advocacy at a local level. Over a handful of years I was looking at the league as a potential place that I could lend my efforts. I have a background in marketing and operations and logistics and just kind of, from the outside looking in, appreciated what they did, never really saw a clear lane for someone like myself that's maybe a multi-discipline cyclist to really feel safe and comfortable and that it was an org I wanted to kind of deeply involve myself with. And then in 2020, they came out with a new strategic plan where it was kind of representing all cyclists and that kind of made me take a different look at it.

Speaker 4: 7:58

I also got heavily rooted in doing ultra endurance, gravel and mountain bike stuff myself, and that sort of angle that I already had experience in is really what, when I did approach the league and they were hiring, that's really what kind of sparked their interest in bringing someone like me aboard to be able to have someone that could run events. I had experience running events single day and some smaller tours, but bringing someone in that could have a multifaceted approach to the events we're putting on and cool. I was really excited to get the position I came in. I left the corporate world in 2021 and to get their events back up and running after two year hiatus during the unfortunate pandemic.

Speaker 2: 8:47

Pandemic what?

Speaker 4: 8:49

is that? I'm just kidding.

Speaker 2: 8:50

That little thing we called the pandemic.

Speaker 3: 8:54

That little blip in time yes, oh yeah, Side-line does certainly that existed, huh.

Speaker 2: 9:03

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 9:04

That is a real thing, not fake news. That's interesting. I have. Clearly I'm not from Michigan. I have been to Michigan many times. I have cycled in many events around and across to Michigan, Thanks to my good friend Adam here. So what exactly do you have to offer for a guy like me who wants to do some road biking or tour cycling?

Speaker 4: 9:33

Yeah, it's so.

Speaker 4: 9:34

We had a number of events for a handful of years and we've kind of shaken up our offering and really deeply focused this year, in 2024, to go back to our roots, which is cycling, touring, to do those events, do them very well, and what I would have and the league would have for someone like yourself and Adam Michael is we have two events, the first one being just at the beginning of July.

Speaker 4: 10:05

It's called MUP, M-U-P for Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a great ride in the Upper Peninsula, a little more rugged, a little more adventurous, not great developed towns, but a little more being out in the wilderness and kind of experiencing nature. And then we also have Shoreline West, which I think or Shoreline, rather, whoops, I'm even messing that up which we just changed the name of after 30 some years of having the name of Shoreline West, we have Shoreline, which is our lower peninsula venture, which really does focus on keeping the ridership and the event as much as we can along the shores of not only the Great Lakes but also some of the inland lakes that are not too distance off the Shoreline of, say, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron. So that is a seven day event that we put on in Northern Lower Michigan.

Speaker 2: 11:08

And, truth be told, that's why I reached out to you, because we are interested in this ride. The itinerary we'll get to the itinerary, but the itinerary seemed nice to us, that lower peninsula area up against the lake, I mean, the waters are blue as they are and some of the Caribbean islands I've been in. But, Michael, go ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt you. I apologize.

Speaker 3: 11:30

No, I was just saying. You know we have done some rides up there in the lower peninsula and yeah, what you said, I mean it's just beautiful along the Great Lakes there, so it's fantastic scenery.

Speaker 2: 11:45

So when we talk about shoreline ride, the history of it, I think, is extremely important. So to do due diligence to the history, so for 30 years you did call it shoreline west, and so do I assume that it went up the west coast of Michigan.

Speaker 4: 12:02

Yes, actually this year would be the. It will be the 37th running of shoreline Wow. So we've been doing this for a number of years. It's taken various forms over the years. That shoreline mantra has stuck, but it has been called shoreline east, which is actually I'll get to that in a second is part of the event we're doing this year. It's been called shoreline exclusively and it's been called shoreline west. So for the last at least a decade and a half now, it has been running on the west coast of the lower peninsula of Michigan. So typically the last handful of years we've been running a route that starts in Montague, which is kind of middle of the western side of the lower peninsula, and runs up and ends at Mackinaw City, right near Mackinaw Island.

Speaker 2: 13:02

Okay. So and then this year you're pulling a Hail Mary, which personally I'm fine with. I love the itinerary. So, and now you're calling it shoreline ride, because of course the ride is up against the shore. Does it mostly follow right up against the lake, or as much as you can?

Speaker 4: 13:22

Yep. So this year we have switched it up instead of that Montague to Mackinaw route, we are doing a route that would start on the east side, so it's going to start in El Pina and end in Traverse City, and as we move along that route, we will be along the shore of Lake Huron to begin with, and then, when we surpass Mackinaw City, after our layover, we will be heading along the shores of Lake Michigan. Additionally, yes, there are many inland lakes in there, some of which have those beautiful teal blue waters you just spoke of, adam, and we'll be traversing along some of that territory as well.

Speaker 2: 14:04

The one I'm excited about is Torch Lake on the latter part of the route. Beautiful, I mean beautiful. I mean I felt like I was and remind me like in Shawshank Redemption when they say Zayah Watanayo, and the blue water going by there and all those signs that said keep Torch Lake blue, and all that stuff. So I know this is a podcast. For some this is a YouTube also. If you want to check this out on YouTube, check it out, but we do have a map up on the screen. So Alpina, on the eastern side of Michigan, you go the first day. Well, actually I'm getting ahead of myself. So if the riders decided to sign up for Shoreline Ride first of all, they go to shorelinerideorg. Is that correct?

Speaker 4: 14:50

Flip that around, rideshorelineorg, and I apologize. We'll put that show note.

Speaker 2: 14:57

So, rideshorelineorg, it'll be down here. You can click on it right here. So if they were to choose to sign up and ride the ride, traditionally, some of the bike-touring rides they'll start in one area. You can load in one area. What exactly do you do?

Speaker 4: 15:15

Yep. So this particular ride is a point-to-point ride. Like I just said, starts in Alpina, ends in Traverse City. So on the seven-day route we have a pre-tour bus. So there are a couple options you could do. You could park in Traverse City and then take the bus which would occur on the first day of the event, on August 3rd and take that bus. We would transport your bike. You would take the bus back to the start in Alpina and then start from there and ride back to your vehicle or the airport, whatever form of transportation you're using to get out to Traverse City. Additionally, you could start in Alpina.

Speaker 4: 16:03

There isn't transportation back, but we do have a lot of folks that work together to make that happen. I will say that in years past we did have buses on both ends, but that has just become a super difficult logistic challenge for our organization. And there's another reason why there's not return transportation. We are closing out the event with a pretty big party at the end. We want to make sure everyone has the time and the space and their plan to be available for that part of the event as well.

Speaker 2: 16:41

Awesome, okay, so if I am going to the ride and one of the things that really drew me to this ride is you're in pretty much all inclusive deal Some riders get really concerned, when they sign up for rides, at the additional charges, the additional things. You actually once you pay the registration fee and we'll get to that. But once you pay the registration fee, you get the bus, you get parking, you get breakfast, you get dinner. You are on your own for lunches, and we'll let you dive into when you get lunches and breakfasts. You get dinner and breakfasts. But so each day, for lunch you're on your own, but you get ferry shuttles, you get the jersey. I mean, what am I missing?

Speaker 4: 17:30

That is most of it. I do have to step back and correct you on one thing, I apologize. The pre-tour bus is the only thing that's not included in that price, because not everyone's going to take advantage of that. I apologize.

Speaker 4: 17:43

I'm not sure what you're going to have. So your registration would include, as you said, breakfast and dinner on all riding days, with the exception of the first day is a glorified check-in day. That day we offer or we do have dinner as well, before the riders orientation. So you would get that. You have a space to set up your tent and camp Showers are included with that price. The jersey is included with that as well, as you spoke of the ferry ride out to Mackinac Island for our layover. So that is all part of it.

Speaker 2: 18:21

In addition, sag wagons, aid stations they're well-stocked and snacks and beverages back at camp are all part of that all-inclusive price you just spoke of and, Michael that's something that you've been saying for years that you've looking for more rides like that, where you don't have to be nickel and dime all the way across the state.

Speaker 3: 18:44

Yeah, there's a few rides where it's like, yeah, a bottle of water, whatever you want, you're buying. The question I had you're providing lunch and dinner. Is this the same cater or whatever is providing that all along the way, or do you have different people providing the meals? How does that work? How does that work, I guess, is my question.

Speaker 4: 19:08

Yeah, absolutely no. That's a great question. So for many, many years we solely use schools and school food programs as the way that we took care of our ridership as far as meals. We still do that where the programs are in place and where they have the capacity. What we run into.

Speaker 4: 19:28

A lot of times we're going to smaller towns that might not have huge food programs or limited summer staff, so by that we've been bringing in caters as well. So we do a little bit of a mix, depending on the location and what's their amenity wise in the town. It generally becomes about a 70% through our caterer, which is Dawn Fresh, well-known in Michigan here and well-known on some of the cycling events in the Midwest. They support and service a lot of them. And then 70%, that say 20 to 25% school boosters, band boosters, soccer teams, things like that, providing the food at the schools. And then, when we have the chance and when it works out, we'll bring food trucks and different vendors in at camp, like sometimes we don't stay at schools and in that case it just makes sense to roll in five food trucks and let everyone have their pick of the day. That's cool.

Speaker 2: 20:33

Yeah, sounds really good, so okay. So when we're signing up for rides we're always considering what exactly are the logistics. So you offer a pre-check-in on the second August 2nd. You can check in on that night. You don't have to, but you offer that as an offering. There is no dinner provided that night. And then the next morning you offer a bus that people can pay for from Traverse City to Alpina and then put their bikes and get themselves another gear to Alpina, and then that night in Alpina is the first night that catered meal for dinner Dinner only is provided.

Speaker 4: 21:22

Correct, correct, okay, and just to clarify a little, there is so that pre-check-in and then the morning of August 3rd is, excuse me, what we in essence call bike loading. So a lot of that is logistically. We have trucks where we will load your bikes, we'll get those bikes back to the start for you and we offer that early check-in just to make it so people don't have to get up butt crack a dawn on the third there to be able to get themselves over to Alpina. So you could utilize that service. Say, you and some of your friends were doing the logistics, you know, at the front and the back end you could load your bike on and get your bike back to the start and not use the bus. So we have that going on on the second and the third. And then, yes, yourself and your luggage would go on the bus late morning of the third to then travel over to Alpina to check in and register and have the meal, riders orientation, that whole side of it.

Speaker 2: 22:23

And of course I'm sure you give a writer's guide with all this broken down, but just just for some of our subscribers and followers trying to turn up, pay attention and follow along if it's a ride that they're interested in doing, just kind of wanted to make sure I had that right. So you check in on the third, you probably give an orientation for first timers or whatever, and then on the fourth you start riding and you go from Alpina to Rogers City. That's the first day of riding. So that morning the riders will expect, or can expect if they would choose, a breakfast provided by the shoreline ride, and then when they're on the road, lunch is on their own, except for of course you have aid stops and water bottle filling stations and stuff. And then dinner that night is provided, and then that repeats itself throughout the event. So I'll bring back the map here. So when we're looking, the first day after you check in, you go from Alpina to Rogers City and then Roger City to Sheboygan. Isn't there trails in that area there?

Speaker 4: 23:34

are several or not several. There are multi-use trails in that area. We will be on some of them. We will be ducking off of the off of the trails a little bit to hit some of those inland lakes and some just Picture-resk areas. I think people need to see along the way, but there are some trails that we will be hitting as part of the route for this year.

Speaker 2: 23:57

Yes, so then Then the next day you'd go from Sheboygan to Mackinac City and then Mackinac City. You do something that is close to or similar of a ride. Michael, you and I are used to in Bragg, where, where my friend Franklin has a, has a layover day and Shoreline is doing the same thing, they have a layover day.

Speaker 4: 24:24

Yep, yep so.

Speaker 2: 24:27

Go ahead. No, I just wanted. This is what is selling the right us. I mean this.

Speaker 3: 24:35

Let me stay, stop you right there. And let me say, the first time we were looking at going to Bragg Bike right across Georgia a couple years ago, we saw the layover and Honestly we were laughing to ourself going why do you need a layover day? Yeah, first time we did it it's like, okay, this is kind of nice because him and I we got a rental car, went to a distillery, had a good time. And Now we're to the point where it's like, yeah, we kind of like those layover days. So the layover day kind of sells us in a lot of ways.

Speaker 2: 25:09

So I I remember being in ragbrite last year to mirror what he's saying and I remember looking over him on Wednesday going and I really miss that layover day right about now.

Speaker 4: 25:22

So yeah, we do a layover.

Speaker 4: 25:24

It's kind of been a staple of our events and I guess I could kind of explain it this way I, like I spoke of earlier, I like ultra endurance stuff, I like those kind of kill me if you can events right.

Speaker 4: 25:37

But that's not like bringing people here to Michigan or Michiganders coming to this and and experiencing what's up there. It's not something you want to rush through, it's something you want to kind of take the time to pedal, check out the sites, immerse yourself in things, and If we did not have that layover day in the middle of there, you would literally skirt right by some of the the best assets and some of the most you know enticing parts about being on this event. So in the past our layover day has been in Traverse City, because that was the midpoint of the ride, great town for that to happen in. But with our new route this year and the things we're switching up, the layover, as you mentioned, adam, lands us in Mackinaw City, which awards you the rider gift of having a ferry ticket to go over, step back in time and Be on one piece of land where cars are not allowed anymore, and that's Mackinaw Island, which is a gem of Michigan and something everyone that visits here or lives here should experience.

Speaker 2: 26:48

Yeah, If you've never experienced Mackinaw Island, for anyone watching or listening to this highly recommended. You catch a ferry on either side of the upper peninsula or lower peninsula and, and Like Neil says, I mean there's like two or three vehicles on the island. I think they're emergency vehicles and maybe like a firetruck or something like that, but there's forts there and fudge, and yeah, it's a tourist area, but it's just beautiful. And then you know one of the things I kind of not laughed at but I smile that is when, on your website, you said a car-free ride around the island, which is that's true. I there's. There's no cars there. So I believe it's like eight miles around the island, if I remember right, or eight and a half or something like that.

Speaker 4: 27:34

So it's like yeah, eight point seven, I think, if you stretch the outer edge as much as possible, Gotcha.

Speaker 2: 27:42

Well, that that was really cool. That's when Michael and we're talking. We thought that'd be really neat to be able to. You know you talk about Strava, heat maps or or even I've never been out there riding. I mean, I've been, I've been the island a few times, but never with a bicycle, but so that's really I know you. I know the rent bikes like they're on crazy.

Speaker 4: 28:00

But yes, yeah, they run a ton of bikes out there. It is actually Probably the place you can see folks ride a bike for the first time in many, many years. As well as very seasoned cyclist being out there as well, yeah. Y'all got any WD 40 You'll see more twins classic twins than you've seen in a long time out there, which is another cool part of it too.

Speaker 2: 28:26

So that that was one of the things that was neat for us. I mean the layover day for us. We've done laundry on layover days, as Michael mentioned, were known to go to distilleries, something that we actually look forward to, but the idea of taking a ferry out to Mackinac Island, getting a ride out there and then still coming back, and I mean there's just breweries around there and all kinds of good stuff, so so okay, so you also do something Reminiscent of what we're used to, which is you allow your three-day riders, or what it would be, shoreline light, not to not to steal the idea, but I mean you, you offer people do that as well, and they join us on that layover day. Is that correct?

Speaker 4: 29:16

Correct, correct. The three-day option for shoreline would drop in there at Mackinac. All folks would check in there, and for the three-day riders there's a post tour bus this year. So, okay, they would have the option of Jumping in in Mackinac, parking up in Mackinac, starting from there and riding down to the end with us in Traverse City and then, on Sunday morning the 11th, taking a bus back up to Mackinac to retrieve their car.

Speaker 2: 29:45

Okay. So it appears to me, based upon the map Let me go back to the map here that the longest day in the saddle for this ride is the first day for the three-day riders, or what would be the fourth day or the day after the layover day for the seven-day riders. Is that Mackinac City to Charlevoix? That seems like a decent day in the saddle, but beautiful day, by the way.

Speaker 4: 30:10

Oh it's, it's amazing route through that area. You are not wrong, very beautiful. Some of the iconic cycling in Michigan runs through that thoroughfare. And, yes, you are not wrong in the assumption that that is going to be the longest day in the saddle.

Speaker 2: 30:28

But still, if no one's been able to do that, there's the tunnel of trees there. There's just just absolutely amazing beauty. If you've ever seen Movies where they you know they go right across the coastline, you are, you're on cliffs, looking over Great lakes, and it's just absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 3: 30:48

So Now, see that this is where We've ridden the other side, up and up to Mackinac City. Yes, so going this way we would. If we were to ride this, we'd be going through some of the areas that we went where, which were extremely beautiful, so that would be cool.

Speaker 2: 31:09

Ironically, we rode that with the artist who made the jersey for Shoreline this year, brian.

Speaker 3: 31:15

Ryan.

Speaker 2: 31:16

Yep, yep. And so Brian joined us for another ride in Michigan called Dull Mac, and that was from land. We did the five-day West. We went Lansing to Mackinac so we went north. I'm really excited that if we do this, will be going south and doing it a different way. So I Really like Brian's design. Definitely check that out on the website. We'll drop a link below. But so hello Brian.

Speaker 3: 31:45

So so some of his work right here, as a matter of fact, that's right, he did our logo as well.

Speaker 4: 31:52

So he seems to make the rounds in our cycling community, doesn't he go? Yeah, you know, it's funny.

Speaker 2: 32:00

Yeah, absolutely. We were on that ride and I'm slightly mentally sure, was still growing roots in different ways and we said we need a logo and we need something official and Sure enough, I Think it was me riding right next to a graphic designer.

Speaker 4: 32:21

So it's always good to have those unlimited hours to chat on a bicycle With some right that developed.

Speaker 3: 32:28

We kind of laid out kind of our vision out of our we're just like pouring forth ideas and yeah. That was a good.

Speaker 2: 32:35

He hit it on the mark. I'll tell you that. So Actually, brian Fritz is a wonderful artist. He does all kinds of cycling prints and stuff. We'll drop a link for his website here below as well. So Definitely check it out if you're looking for Some really cool Artistry of cycling. He's got some really good prints. He's also into birds, um, so if you're into birds or bikes, you can check that out. But Definitely definitely cool. We'll drop a link for his website below. But Okay, so Now getting back to the ride, the Charlevoix and the Traverse City seems to be the last day and we pull the map up here and that goes by torch lake, which I'm I'm personally excited about.

Speaker 2: 33:20

So that's the, if no one's been up there, as we call in Michigan, we call it up north. If you ever see me once in a while, I'll tell you about it all north. When I first moved I'll just tell you now when, when I moved to Michigan, I was working at UPS and these two guys said ever going up north this weekend I'm like up north, like a mile up north, like three miles up north, like how far you going. Well, now that I've been here about 20 years, I realize that it's Mount Pleasant or north of that is pretty much what they consider up north. So, but when we went by torch lake, it's just it's shallow water. I mean, it's a blue you've never seen before, so Absolutely amazing. And then you end in Traverse City. But something you do that's a little bit different, that that I'm not used to is, if I'm reading your website correctly, the last day of the ride you end in Traverse City, but the party per se is not until the next day. Can you touch on that? Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4: 34:25

So to elaborate on that up north concept you were just talking about, that's what these rides are really designed for. Like, we say that all the time as Michiganders but everyone from out of state doesn't really understand what that totally means. So these rides are kind of designed to showcase what up north really means to the rest of us. Right, and for Shoreline this year we wanted to have a way to involve the community more, have the way to kind of. This is going to be the end of our touring event season so we kind of wanted to let it go out with the bank. So we roll in.

Speaker 4: 35:08

On August 9th is the last riding day where we're traveling from town to town, but on August 10th we're in Traverse City. You'd wake up there, we'll have breakfast there. There's going to be a number of rides and other advocacy and cycling organizations that are rooted in the area where we have hosted rides going out on different surface types. There's a great trail system called Tarte Trails up there. There'll be some rides out on there. There's some mountain bike trails that folks will be taking people out on if they want. And then there's the iconic mission point that goes from Traverse City, kind of heads. It's a peninsula that heads to the north of the city, that's full of vineyards and cherry farms and just beautiful rolling hills and amazing riding. So we're going to instead of traveling from town to town on the last day, we're going to get in on the 9th and on the 10th we're going to have a bunch of different ride options you can do there in town.

Speaker 4: 36:11

Or if you wanted to go hit all the distilleries on your bike. Go check out all the breweries on your bike. There are a multitude of things you can do in that town on a bike. So we figured why brush what right by it? Why make it the layover day? Why not make it?

Speaker 3: 36:28

part of the event, and that is that Traverse I was just going to mention Traverse City distillery is there.

Speaker 2: 36:35

Absolutely, We'll be going there. Yes sir, yes sir.

Speaker 3: 36:38

Yeah, that would be a no-brainer for us it's a good spot.

Speaker 4: 36:43

That's usually on the layover day. That's where I'll be hiding back there on the patio with a Manhattan, trying to relax a little.

Speaker 2: 36:50

So I knew I liked you, okay. So the goal for the 10th, then, is to bring some highlights or some advocacy groups, different riding options, whether you're into mountain biking, whether you're into trails, whether you like breweries, whether you like distilleries, whether you like wineries, and then you're going to collaborate, that bring it all together and then you're going to have a party.

Speaker 4: 37:20

Yep. So the day will end with a big festival party. So some of those announcements have not been made yet. They're in the works and will be forthcoming in the next month or two. You'll start seeing all the details for exactly who's going to be there and what's going on as part of it. But we are going to throw a big community party alongside those other groups that I brought up that are already rooted in Traverse City, and that will be for our ridership both the seven and three-day riders and for the community at large. So we kind of wanted to make this a way to unite all things cycling up there as we end the ride and come into town and just show some love and celebrate cycling. Okay, it's awesome.

Speaker 2: 38:06

So a little bit of a recap. You have two major events, which is Mupp and Shoreline. You are the Events Director of League of Michigan Bicyclists. Truth be told, the one we're interested in is the Shoreline, obviously, but you offer pretty much a single price point for everything that we talked about. Are you prepared to say what a seven-day ride costs for that?

Speaker 4: 38:36

Yeah, absolutely. I can share that with everyone. We do have some discounts that are floating out there in the wild and we are a membership organization. So I would welcome you to check out our membership site and some of the benefits that come alongside that, because that would give you some elevated opportunities, let's call it and early access in years going forward. But this year Shoreline is for the seven-day ride. Standard pricing is $14.99. And that's for the entire thing, the everything we spoke of attendance to the party, the whole shebang. The only thing that doesn't come with that, like I spoke about earlier, is that pre-tour bus. That would be an additional charge if you wanted to utilize that. The three-day ride would be $6.99 would be the standard price for that. And keep in mind, that's all your meals, a place to shower, a place to camp, taking care of you along the road, making sure you got snacks, water, everything you need out there, as well as pick up, get you back to camp if you need it the whole shebang.

Speaker 3: 39:46

Cool. Now when you say that there's probably a lot of people out there going, oh my gosh, that sounds like a lot for a seven-day ride. There's a little bit of that shocker?

Speaker 2: 39:57

I know we get that from Reg-Roy. That's a fracture.

Speaker 3: 40:00

Well, that's exactly what I was going to say. That seems like a lot, but when you look at, your paying several hundred dollars for your ride on these other rides and this includes a jersey is that correct, correct, these prices? You're paying for the jersey. On the other ride you don't get typically breakfast or dinner, so I mean typically, you're taking care of all of your food on your own, things like that. I just want to make sure that people understand that that shock, when you really think about it and break it down, is really a good deal for seven days of riding the jersey, all the support and breakfast and dinners most of the time.

Speaker 3: 40:47

No and I appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 40:49

The whole point of what we're trying to do.

Speaker 4: 40:55

You know a lot of folks come to us that might be their first time, they might be new to touring. The whole point of this even for veteran cyclists that attend these events is to allow you to think a little less about what you have to do and really have your mind open and set to be able to ride and enjoy your ride and enjoy the towns and the spaces you're going through. So all about thinking a little less and riding and enjoying a little more.

Speaker 3: 41:25

I have to say we've done some rides where they had breakfast or they've had dinners and things like that, and honestly there's a lot of advantages to it because you know, it's not like we're okay, where do you want to go eat? We got to find some place in town or we got to find a food truck. It's like, oh, that's cool right over there. You know, half a block away, we walk over there, we can eat dinner. Like you said, neil, it just takes all that thought process out.

Speaker 2: 41:54

Yeah and Michael, I think it's fair to say that you and I have both. You know we've told people we've done a few times, you know, five for me, six for you. But there have been times where, depending on where your charter puts you, you start riding out of town and there is nothing. You're on the road and there's nothing to grab.

Speaker 3: 42:16

So excuse me, yeah, there's been times where, in the morning, when you start off, you're right. You're right on the route, ready to go outside of town, and we've, you know, done that. It's like, oh, we'll just hit some place on the outside of town, but we're right on the edge of town and there's nothing to hit for till whenever the next town comes up.

Speaker 2: 42:37

So there's a lot of miles down the road and I'm like where's my Casey's Right here? So, no, that's definitely good. So I mean the fact that you have the jersey and everything included, because most people who do a ride like that, they want to bring home the memento token of having the jersey. And, you know, this year it has something to celebrate the Mackinac Bridge on a little teaser there, if you check out the website. So definitely excited for that, so cool. Well, neil, I really appreciate you, you know, taking some time with Michael and I and coming along for a little road adventure of an adventure that you have planned and still planning in the works, and I'm kind of excited to hear more about it. So I'll definitely be paying attention. Is there anything that we did not highlight that you would like to get out? We're going to drop all of your contact information below, but if there's anything that someone's listening to this on a podcast and what would be some of the best things that you might want to let people know, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4: 43:48

I think you know, one thing that gets missed by this sometimes in the marketing and the way these sort of events are promoted is that this is an advocacy organization and this is one of our main funding mechanisms to do the work we do. We've passed hands-free laws in the last year, or help to pass them. Rather, we didn't solely do it. We've got three-foot passing laws passed. We're working down the road on vulnerable roadway user packages and all kinds of things, and those things couldn't happen without us putting those events on and bringing in the income that allows us to do this work in the state. So I think that's something you know. A lot of people think maybe the league's a 100% volunteer organization. We're not. We have staff. We got people that are working every day behind the scenes for every discipline of cycling, to make it safer and to get laws to protect all of us. So that's one thing I want to make sure everyone understands. Secondly, as you said, you're going to drop my contact information and stuff in there, but we're accessible. This is not an organization that you're going to send an email and no one is going to go unanswered. I have myself and a great team of people behind us that are daily trying to help folks navigate attending our events. And if you have a question, if something doesn't fit, something doesn't make sense to you, reach out to us. We'll work through it with you. And, additionally, there's one thing that I've been really doing since I've been here. It's part of our registration. It's one of the questions on the registration and these events are for everyone.

Speaker 4: 45:32

This isn't something that we're like only targeting elite touring cyclists, like, if you want to come out and try touring cycling, this is a great way to do it.

Speaker 4: 45:43

But we also accommodate anyone we can in any way we can, and by that I mean we allow e-bikes, we allow recumbents, we allow trikes. We have all this infrastructure in place to do that and we also, like I said on the second ago, one of the questions on our registration form is are you facing a disability and would you like someone to reach out to you to navigate that, to help you be a part of this event? And that's something that I've been doing since I've been here and I really want to make sure that that's out in the wild and people understand and know that. We've had folks reach out to us that maybe are blind and need a captain and they'd be the stoker on a tandem, things like that. If there's some unique situation that you have out there, I want you guys to be a part of this event and to experience cycling here in Michigan. So we try to do everything we can to make it for everyone. So if there's a need, reach out and we're here to help.

Speaker 3: 46:44

Well, that's awesome, neil. This is the first that I've really been introduced to League of Michigan bicyclists, but it sounds like you guys are doing some fantastic work, so I'd just say keep it up. So sounds awesome.

Speaker 4: 46:59

Thanks.

Speaker 2: 47:00

So obviously when you produce a show, you have notes. I've gone through my notes and I need to make sure that I bring attention to something. You just mentioned the word e-bike. So shoreline is e-bike accessible, E-bike is allowed. Being a Michigander, keep it if I just said that. Go ahead and quote that for January 29, that I just said that. But I happen to know that e-bikes aren't allowed or they're really being restricted on Mackinac Island. For those who are doing e-bikes going out to Mackinac Island, could they just take their batteries off?

Speaker 4: 47:42

Yes, that is the best way to handle it. There's all kinds of stuff going on in the state. I sit on some state boards and different agencies that are kind of navigating our rules and regulations from a statewide level. As far as e-bikes but Mackinac Island, they are restricted right now out there For good reason, as we spoke of earlier. It's a non-motorized island during the summer months and the best way to address that would be to remove your battery and use the pedal feature of your e-bike to go around there and, like you said earlier, it's eight miles. If you're a touring cyclist, it won't be that big a deal to ride without the assistance out there and it's mostly flat.

Speaker 2: 48:27

It's super flat, so it's not like you're not going to be having to worry about elevation. I missed that earlier and I apologize. I just wanted to make sure we got that in there. Well, I am very thankful for your time. I appreciate you coming on with Michael and I. We're always trying to bring attention to new rides. We have a lot of people from all over the place that listen to us, and thank you for those who do. We really appreciate that, so hopefully we can bring some attention to a state that I find near and dear home, and so if this is what we do, boy, this travel will be really cheap for me on this one.

Speaker 3: 49:15

Why we always go east. We never come west. Why is that?

Speaker 2: 49:20

I came west. I drove 12 hours to ride a century and gave you a hard time about central time.

Speaker 3: 49:26

That is true.

Speaker 2: 49:29

So, neil, when I went out there, we did this ride called the Gorilla Century, and it was halfway through and you know friends being friends and pedaling many miles next to each other. He said you okay? I said yeah, I just think the central time is messing with me, and so it's been a long, long running joke. And so then when I was driving home you know, when you're on 94 and it says you've now entered the Eastern time zone, I took a picture of that. I said, ah, I was right with the world.

Speaker 2: 50:03

So well, neil. Thank you again. So we'll put all your information down below. If you're interested, please check out the website. Check out the ride Super excited. I'm going to show the map one last time here. That ride that we're looking at goes from Alpina to Roger City. Oh, there's Michael with his hand.

Speaker 3: 50:27

Michael's got the hand. I've hung out with Michigander way too much. I know the hand thing.

Speaker 2: 50:35

You know I would say what they do in Ohio, but I'll lose Ohio listeners. So I won't do that. Let's not do that, I won't do that. So Alpina to Roger City, roger City to Sheboygan, sheboygan to Mackinac City. Next day layover day where you can have the right to take a ferry out to Mackinac Island. If you have an e-bike, leave your battery at camp, come on back, enjoy Mackinac City because it is a beautiful city, and then next day get ready, get to bed a little early because you're going to have a little decent pedal down to Charlevoix and then from Charlevoix to Traverse City. If you're choosing to do the seven day ride, the next day when you get up you can ride around the local area in Traverse City and then that night is a party to collaborate and bring it all together.

Speaker 4: 51:26

So yeah cool.

Speaker 2: 51:29

Well, neil. Thank you so much. We will. We will be in touch if it's sounds like something we're probably going to do, but once we lay out our schedule and make sure we'll, we'll be in Rhode Island still available. Yeah, Rhode Island.

Speaker 4: 51:45

Just saying Well, if you guys have any more questions, you know, reach out. I'm here, let me know if anything comes up, and I really appreciate the time to jump on and talk to you guys about this.

Speaker 2: 51:57

So we appreciate you.

Speaker 4: 51:59

Thank you very much Appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 52:01

Have a good night.

Speaker 3: 52:04

Thank you Thanks.

Speaker 2: 52:11

Give me one second here, there we go. Well, that was cool.

Speaker 3: 52:15

Yeah, yeah, it sounds sounds interesting, so we will have to the country that's for sure, for sure, I mean.

Speaker 2: 52:27

I mean I know they call it up north for a reason and people sit in hours of traffic to go up there. I'm just not one of those dedicated guys. I'm the guy who's like, ah, I can go 20 miles home and be at my house.

Speaker 3: 52:41

Yeah, it sounds interesting. I think we need to put that. Put that it's on the list. I think Maybe move it up a little higher in the list. But yeah, bra Bragg is just Right in that sweet spot of the scheduling. There are so many rides that we want to do that are right at that exact same time. So that's what kind of Limits us in a lot of ways of those rides that we had talked about Couple episodes ago, being able to hit a lot of those at the same time.

Speaker 2: 53:17

So We'll see. Yeah, I mean, when we start looking at the, the back and the brand and all those, I mean they're either that week or the week after, and so this actually gives us a little time. And since he mentioned that he had just gone out to the route announcement party for a rag brie, I was kind of interesting. It's a south route that was my first year and Going back to Glenwood, which was my, my first city that I'd ever been to. So, well, that's, uh, that's what I got, what you got. Something else?

Speaker 3: 53:52

well, you know, I Was going through our, our numbers and statistics and that type of thing and it's amazing where we have listeners from. You know, we've got a lot of listeners from the Chicago area and we got a lot of listeners from the Atlanta area and, that's to be expected, got a lot of listeners from the the Detroit area. But I started looking at some of these places and it just intrigued me of some of the places in this world that we have listeners. So I thought you know every few episodes that maybe we should have like a listener spotlight and Kind of, where are some of our listeners at?

Speaker 2: 54:41

Listener, spotlight I.

Speaker 3: 54:45

Gave him a chance to play with his toys. So I thought we'd do that. So I thought I would just. I just randomly went in there today and picked out two towns, community cities, didn't know anything about him, knew what state there and that was about it. So I thought we'd just do that and and Explore some of the places that the people who are listening to our show live. What do you think about that?

Speaker 2: 55:10

I love it. Would you mind if I just gave a little backstory when you said you went in there, so if anyone has never Ran a podcast or have any friends or or family that does, you get a back-end Database where you can find out where your listeners are coming from, whether they're listening to on an Apple device or Spotify device. You also get to see the state that they were in. You get to see where they downloaded it from and many times, more often than not, you actually get the city and the state they downloaded from. So when he said when he went in there, I just kind of wanted to make it clear that you went into our database and you looked at some cities.

Speaker 3: 55:47

So yes, love it. Rand randomly selected. I didn't know if these are big towns, little towns or whatever. The first one I hit was Durango, iowa. Wow, yep, ringo, iowa. I live just south of Iowa. I, you know, you and I have been all over Iowa, hit tons of little towns and all that. Never heard of Durango, iowa, but it's in Dubuque County, okay, and the reason why you've never heard of this is the population as of 2020 was 20 people.

Speaker 2: 56:27

Except Janine had that baby, so they might be 21.

Speaker 3: 56:32

Well, she might have had twins, so he might be up to 22 now, but there are 11 households and One of them is listening to us, so I mean, you know that's, that's pretty good.

Speaker 2: 56:48

Or stir or family we we thank you for for listening to us.

Speaker 3: 56:53

That's right. That's right. So you know you find a small enough town. We can have a big chunk of the people listening to us. But thought that was interesting. The other one that I was randomly pulled out was big Lake, minnesota. I Like the sound of that. I'm thinking Lake Cabin, minnesota, you know.

Speaker 2: 57:15

I Hope that lake is big. I mean a cat. Otherwise it's like selling something that's not true.

Speaker 3: 57:19

So false advertising. It does have a big lake and that's in Sherburn County. The population of this one is 6780 as of the last count. The town was organized in 1858 and it's basically globally located, or geologically located on a corridor between, basically, st Cloud in Minneapolis. It's kind of almost like right in the middle of the two so and They've got swimming beaches, they've got the sand dunes state Forest and they also have the Sherburn National Wildlife Refuge so Well, the good news is is we have listeners from there.

Speaker 2: 58:01

The bad news is their percentage went way down. When you said 6,000, that's only one person, so we need to. I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3: 58:08

What now? What I thought was funny is the first one I just randomly picked was, yeah, population 20. I was like, okay alright. So we thank our listeners. There's a shout out to Durango, iowa and Big Lake Minnesota.

Speaker 2: 58:27

Well, normally it says Brighton, Michigan, because I'm testing and I unfortunately skew the numbers. I wish I could go in there and omit sometimes where you know where I live and and not even show up on the database. So but although I'm hoping that my family and friends are actually, most of the time, your family and friends don't really want to listen to the show. They hear you now. Yeah, it's like.

Speaker 3: 58:52

We listen to you, yeah, all the time. We don't want to, yeah, so.

Speaker 2: 58:57

Well, you and I are still trying to figure out our schedule. I mean, that shoreline is sounding very appetizing. Make sure that it fits within the schedule. I know you have a little bit more difficulty with a family and Figuring out how that will work, but if that's something we'll do, we'll definitely update our listeners, follow subscribers Wherever you may fall. I'm take this time to let any podcast listeners know that we are now on YouTube and TikTok. We decided I know I mean you can get sick of us fast Unless you enjoy us. Well then then please listen as much as you want.

Speaker 2: 59:41

You and I made the the decision this year to take this thing in video form and have have a couple more platforms. You and I both Agreed that we weren't sure about the YouTube. Youtube also wasn't sure what they were gonna do with podcast for a while there, but they've kind of slowly settled out the last couple years and what they were gonna do with RSS feeds and what they were gonna do with RSS feeds and taking our information, so you can get all of our old, old shows there a lot of good stuff there. I actually just Quoted one of our shows.

Speaker 2: 1:00:14

Somebody was asking how to fly with their bicycle and so I went to our show that we did audio only, which I would love to Redo gonna revisit that, revisit that but I did quote it there. They said how difficult it is to fly with your bike and I went to the old show, copy paste, boom and hopefully they enjoyed it, hopefully they were able to get some Information. We don't claim to be experts I'm far from an expert but it's worked twice for us and I've only got three extra screws.

Speaker 3: 1:00:46

So yeah, that's okay, yeah, you didn't do the joke, did you? How hard is it to fly with your bike and you like? Well, you flap your hands really fast.

Speaker 2: 1:00:55

No, okay, no I.

Speaker 3: 1:00:57

Generally his response. When somebody asked how hard is it to fly with your bike, well, you got to flap your arms really hard.

Speaker 2: 1:01:03

So the joke. I do make it work, as I saw. Yeah, we flew yesterday and, boy, my arms are tired. Yeah, I mean literally a little. Not be here all week, so yeah, exactly, well, cool, so check us out. You can find us in many places, we'll. We'll update everybody as we, as we land, land a schedule and big decisions. I know I know big decisions yes or no, no or yes. So Appreciate your time tonight, my friend. Good to see you, as always good to see you as well.

Speaker 3: 1:01:45

And what? What is today?

Speaker 2: 1:01:48

Well, somewhere, somehow, in some other world other than where I am, it's a great day to ride a bicycle.

Speaker 3: 1:01:55

some Right here in Kansas it is in fact a great day fifty some degrees, so hey.

Speaker 2: 1:02:01

That's nice. You can celebrate your chiefs where your chiefs outfit and go out and ride your bike.

Speaker 3: 1:02:06

I'm gonna put on my my, my Taylor Jersey and go out and ride. I mean my Kelsey Jersey, sorry, whoa whoa whoa, ouch, ouch, I caught that.

Speaker 2: 1:02:18

Have a good night, sir. Take it easy, man.

Speaker 1: 1:02:20

Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on road adventures with cycling men of leisure. If you have enjoyed this, please subscribe to the show on the podcast app of your choice.