Top Six

An Introduction

"Touring Locally" is the lofty sounding theme I've adopted for my recent Cycleblaze journals, and this one will carry on with more of that mumbo jumbo. I'd like to claim it's based on some kind of deeply held ethical or environmental principle (you know, things like supporting local merchants, eating only locally sourced foods, using only human powered forms of transportation, refusing to buy products from companies that pollute, discriminate, mistreat animals, promote conspiracy theories, etc.) but the reality is that my theme is based more on cost, convenience, and practicality.

Whatever you do, though, DO NOT feel sorry for me. I have fun wherever I ride, and for me, fun is what bike touring is all about. Touring locally might not be as glamorous as touring in far off lands, but I believe it can be just as fun and almost as adventurous. And I honestly and truly enjoy beginning and/or ending bike trips in my driveway. An occasional short-distance train ride or car ride is also acceptable. Those forms of transportation are less stressful than airline travel and are much less likely to result in lost luggage or a damaged bicycle. I've had enough stress in my life. As a retiree, I expend a lot of effort trying to avoid stress. And you know what? Pedaling my bike is less stressful than flying my bike.

Moving on . . .

My definition of "touring locally" is flexible enough to include more than just my home state of Minnesota. In my mind, it also includes all of the Upper-Midwestern states of the U.S.A. With that justification in mind, I'm devising a plan for another local tour. In this case, my blitzkrieg of fun will be aimed at Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Why?

To answer that question, I should disclose that I lived in the Upper Peninsula during six of the first seven years of my life. [1959 to 1965] I had such fond memories of that time that I returned for my college years. [1976 to 1980] I enjoyed those years so much that I continued to live there a couple years beyond graduation. It was during that time when I gained a whole new appreciation for the great outdoors, which, in turn, led to the establishment of my famous new religion--The Church of the Great Outdoors. I even took my family to the U.P. a few times in the ensuing years. [1982 to 2017]

Earlier this week, I was looking at some pictures from those family trips and I realized it's been seven years since my last visit. Right then and there, I decided 2024 is the right time to go back.

This time, I'll be carrying panniers on my bike instead of a pack on my back.

A David Lettermanesque List

There are a thousand good reasons to make the U.P. a bike touring destination, but I don't have enough time to describe them all. Instead, I'll take the lazy way out and narrow them down from 1,000 reasons to a list of the TOP SIX:

THE #6 REASON TO TOUR IN THE U.P.: View-Blockers Galore

I know not everybody reads my bike touring journals, but those who do are painfully aware that I call trees "view-blockers." That's because trees usually block my view of better things--like lakes, rivers, mountains, scenic vistas, and wild animals. Despite my hostile and oft-repeated term for trees, I really don't hate them. They provide shade on hot days. They provide homes for birds and squirrels. They turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. Sometimes, especially in autumn, their leaves are kind of pretty.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has an incredible abundance and variety of view-blockers: Deciduous, undeciduous, undecided, coniferous, splendiferous, birchuous, virtuous, oakuous, ominous, provocuous, mapleous, etc. You name it, the U.P. has it. The only trees it lacks happen to be my favorite treelike plants--Saguaros and Joshua Trees. I guess it's a climate thing.

THE #5 REASON TO TOUR IN THE U.P.: Mooses and Bearses

I'm too lazy to check the facts, but I think Michigan's Upper Peninsula has among the highest populations of mooses and black bears in the continental United States. I've seen a few of those magnificent animals in my home state, but if I can make friends with a few U.P. bears and mooses while riding my bike up there, I will consider it a major thrill.

The U.P. has other wildlife too. Wolves. Wolverines. Lake trout. Eagles. Seagulls. Beavers. Muskrats. Yoopers. I should stop now, because there are far too many to name.

Well, since you insisted, here are a couple more U.P. wildlife namedrops.

Falcons. The one in the upper right corner was feeding on a seagull on the beach and only abandoned its prey when I was a few yards away. Peregrine falcons are the fastest flying birds on earth, but this one wasn't faster than my ability to click the button on my phone.

(An aside: I hate seeing a red squiggly line under "mooses" every time I type it. I like the word. I should contact the Cycleblaze spell correct team about that, but I'm not sure it would do any good. I mean, even the word "Cycleblaze" has a red squiggly line under it.)

THE #4 REASON TO TOUR IN THE U.P.: Quirky People

The cognoscenti among you already know that the quirky people are known as Yoopers. (As in, U.P-ers.) The stereotype is that they are simple people who speak with a Canadian accent. (Think Bob & Doug from the old SCTV sketches.) I assure you, most people who live in the U.P. are not like that. Yet, a lot of the non-Yoopers have a lot of fun playing up the Yooper stereotype to trick outsiders into thinking they really are Yoopers. I'll have to be alert while on this tour in order to distinguish between the real Yoopers and the fake Yoopers.

THE #3 REASON TO TOUR IN THE U.P.: Cycling Culture

The Upper Peninsula is a major mountain biking destination. I know, because I've done a bit of mountain biking there. I also know from experience that it's a pretty nice place for roadie-type cycling too.

Sad to say, I haven't TOURED there, YET, but I've read about people who have. I don't recall any major complaints other than the mosquito situation. Michigan's mosquitoes are almost as big as Minnesota's. I'm not worried about that problem though, because, as always, I will be carrying a vial of 100% DEET for protection. That nasty stuff hasn't failed me yet.

THE #2 REASON TO TOUR IN THE U.P.: Scenery

If you were one of the disillusioned folks who gave "hearts" to my pictures of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin scenery in the last few years, maybe you'll wish you could give my pictures of the northernmost parts of Michigan even higher honors. [An icon for "Gift from Heavenly Angels" would be nice to click on.] I hope my photos might even remind you of the beauty of Canada. That country is so close that a tough guy with a strong arm could skip a rock across the little lake that separates the U.P. from Canada.

Canada is only a few million skips away.

AND . . . THE NUMBER ONE REASON TO TOUR IN THE U.P.: Pasties

It is well known that the copper mining country of upper Michigan is the pasty capitol of North America, if not the entire world. Pasties are a unique delicacy specific to areas where Cornish miners settled after the mining industry fell apart in Cornwall, England.

I cannot deny that I will go a long way to make dumb jokes in my journals, but pasties are no joke to me. They are my favorite food. I like them so much that my alter-ego, Chef G., dedicated a whole episode to that amazing food on his cooking blog.

THE CHEF G. COOKING CHANNEL: THE MAGNIFICENT PASTY: Upper Michigan's Gift To Human Taste Buds (chefgcooks.blogspot.com)

It's okay if you didn't click on Chef G.'s link because I'm sure you'll be reading a lot more about pasties once this journal gets underway. I pray to the God of the Church of the Great Outdoors that I can eat at least one of those delicious meat pies every single day.

Pasties are hard to find outside of the U.P., so I frequently make my own.

The Conclusion to this Long Introduction

I can't promise when this tour will begin. Depending on many variables, it could be anytime between April and October. I'd like to do it before school gets out and families start filling up the motels and campgrounds. Early May would be nice, but snow often falls in the U.P. that month. In a departure from my normal modus operandi, I think I'll have to do a little planning for this tour.

I'll update this journal whenever I can be more specific.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWe crossed the U.P. in 2011 on our first really long cycling tour. It was great, especially the pasties! Looking forward to your trip.
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2 months ago

Keith AdamsAfter having not been there for decades, and even then having only minimal exposure, I've managed to get to and across much of the U.P twice since 2021. They've both been driving adventures, not cycling, but I've made a point of turning the drives into sightseeing and experience-building exercises and not mere transit-in-the-shortest-possible-time pass-throughs.

You're not wrong: it's a marvelous place.
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2 months ago

marilyn swettLooking forward to your journal! When we toured in the UP, we did a pasty tasting contest. The bison pasty was my favorite.
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2 months ago

Adam ZamoraI have not biked much in the UP yet, but it is certainly on my list. I've backpacked and skied there plenty, but not any long distance cycling. I'm sure it'll be amazing!
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI found the journal you referred to and just got done reading the U.P. part of it. Entertaining stuff, as always, but now I fear that anything I write about Yoopers and pasties in this journal will be copycatting you guys. Also of note, I see you two were among the bike tourists who have complained about the U.P. mosquitoes I referred to on this page. Thanks for confirming my observation.

P.S. Go Nimrods! I remember having a conversation with Andrea Brown about weird high school sports team names in my Seattle to Minneapolis journal. The subject came up when I waxed philosophical about the Salem (North Dakota) Holsteins' lack of fearsomeness compared to team names like Tigers or Grizzlies. She had some good ones, but I think Nimrods really does take the prize.
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Keith AdamsThanks Keith. The U.P. is mostly a large expanse of wilderness and view-blockers, so I think people do tend to speed through there as fast as possible. Nice to see that you took the time to dig into it a little further.
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Adam ZamoraHi Adam, good to hear from you again. It might be hard for you to believe, but in all my years in the U.P. I never took up skiing . . . or skating . . . or snowshoeing. But that's where I learned to love biking in the snow. Somehow, I also learned to appreciate the hard work of snow shoveling there. To this day, I still take great pride in shoveling my driveway by hand here in Minnesota while all my neighbors are using snowblowers.

Ah yes, backpacking. Have you been to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness? What an outstanding place!
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2 months ago

Lednar De NallohHappy pasty hunting
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Lednar De NallohThanks Led. Pasty hunting is the best hunting of all, though a lot of deer-hunting Yoopers may disagree. But that's only because pasties are much easier to catch in the U.P than deer.
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2 months ago

Adam ZamoraTo Gregory GarceauPorcupine Mountains are on my list to ski and hike! I've kind of stuck to the Pictured Rocks area so far. I lived in the Chicago area for nearly 20 years before I started going to the UP, which really seems like an oversight.
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Adam ZamoraPictured Rocks is also excellent.
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2 months ago

Paul MulveyLooking forward to your loop through the Yoop. (mind you, "Yoop"still has those red squiggly lines underneath it). With retirement this year, I'm doing a bunch of tours, and one of those fits in with the touring locally. I'm going back to riding the entire Big Creek Greenway, Silver Comet, and Chief Ladiga trails back-to-back in the Southeast.

Really looking forward to your adventure and your "number of pasties consumed" statistics.
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2 months ago

Gregory GarceauTo Paul MulveyI hope nobody reads the comments section of my journal, because then I can use "Loop of the Yoop" and nobody will know I stole that clever phrase from you.

P.S. Congratulations on your retirement, and it's nice to see you're joining the Legion of Local Bike Tourists.
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2 months ago

David Chavez“ As a retiree, I expend a lot of effort trying to avoid stress”

Amen, brother
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1 month ago

Rich FrasierWow! Mooses and Bearses AND Pasties! I can’t wait!

We lived many years in Grass Valley, California, where there was a large hard rock gold mine that used lots of Cornish workers. Just like the U.P., Grass Valley was imprinted with the mark of pasties. It’s so strange how some kinds of cultural transfer take root. Although with Pasties, it’s pretty obvious. They’re pretty good.
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1 month ago

Rachael AndersonWhat a great sounding tour, except for the pasties!
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1 month ago

Gregory GarceauTo David ChavezYup, stress is good for neither mind nor body.
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1 month ago

Gregory GarceauTo Rich FrasierThanks, Rich. It looks like I'm going to have to pay a visit to Grass Valley, California sometime in the near future.
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1 month ago

Gregory GarceauTo Rachael AndersonExcept for the pasties???? That's sacrilege.
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1 month ago

Emily SharpSo your beginning makes me think of the Ed Abbey quote that inspires my blog title. It says, so 'ramble out yonder, while you still can... while it's still there." My approach to work, touring and life is to do it now, while I can, before life makes me stick close to 'home'. But you can be a role model for finding fun near home. All of my 3-day weekend tours in the past have been fun, and so has been the quest of riding a portion of every single tiny road. Fun is where you find it I guess.

When you first wrote U.P., the first thing I thought was "PASTIES!". So I was not surprised where that landed on your list. You've got to come to Oz someday, though. Pretty much every bakery has pasties - some pretty awful, some quite good.

So do wolverines ever get used to humans and obnoxious like raccoons? Are they campsite bandits?
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3 weeks ago

Gregory GarceauTo Emily SharpFrom the beginning of your blog, I knew you were channeling Ed Abbey, just as, from the beginning of this blog, you knew pasties would be the central theme. I also suspect, from the beginning, you were onto my wolverines joke. I'm pretty sure wolverines don't inhabit Michigan anymore. (If they ever did.) But that's the way colleges name their sports teams. They go for the aggressive animals. If I was in charge of the NCAA, the universities would be required to name their teams after something more representative of their area. In that case, the University of Michigan Wolverines would be re-named the University of Michigan Apple Trees. Or the University of Michigan Squirrels.
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3 weeks ago