HELMETS ARE REQUIRED
Ride on the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail from Glen Arbor (Friday, September 12th):
Overview: This ride will be an out and back ride along the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail, starting from the Heritage Trail-Crystal River Trailhead on S. Fisher Road at 9:30am. After the ride, we will have lunch at the Cherry Public House. Special note: The first 3 ½ miles of this ride will be on low traffic roads, not a bike trail.
Ride Details: From the trailhead parking lot, we will ride south on S. Fisher Rd for about ½ mile and then turn right on Northwood Drive towards Glen Arbor. Both S. Fisher and Northwood Dr. are low traffic roads and are very safe for cyclists that ride near the right side of the road (more on that later). We will turn right on S. Lake St. and then left on to W. Lakewood Dr. Then we will cross M22 (S. Glen Lake Rd) ride ¼ mile south and turn right onto Forest Haven Rd and then onto the Heritage Trail after another ½ mile. We will ride along the Heritage Trail west towards The Dune Climb after passing Glen Haven. The trail continues on to Pierce Stocking and ends near Empire. Any riders that reach the Bar Lake Road Trailhead about 1.6 miles north of Empire should turn around. Most of the riders should plan on turning around at the Pierce Stocking Drive entrance which is about 10 miles from our start point. Plan on riding about 2 hours so that we can assemble at the Cherry Public House by Noon. Plan on dining outside since this is their busy season. Also, plan on sitting in small groups.
Ride Safety: From the Crystal River Trailhead, we will be riding for about 3.5 miles on low traffic roads before we reach the Heritage Trail. These roads are pretty safe for cyclists, but we need to be vigilant about basic road riding safety. Since cars will be passing us, no riding more than 2 bikes abreast on the roads or trails. The cyclist riding in the back should yell out “car passing” if there is an approaching car. For cyclists, that means stop riding 2 abreast and get into single file at the right side of the road. I highly recommend getting a mirror and bright flashing red taillight for your bike. Riders can either ride all the way back to the starting point at the Crystal River Trailhead, or stop at the Cherry Public House and have lunch before riding back to the start point.
Meeting Time and Location – Heritage Trail-Crystal River Trailhead on S. Fisher Road at 9:15am (the ride starts at 9:30am). The trailhead parking area is at the intersection of S. Fisher Rd and S. Dunns Farm Rd (County Road 675), about 1.5 east of Glen Arbor. From Suttons Bay, turn west on M204 and drive about 7.5 miles until the road reaches M22. Go left and follow M22 and turn left onto S. Westman Rd (right across from the entrance to The Homestead). Follow S. Westman Rd south and turn left onto S. Dunns Farm Rd. The trailhead parking lot is about 150 yards down the road on the right.
To reach the trailhead from Traverse City and M72, follow M72 west towards Empire until you reach County Road 675 (at M72, County Road 675 is S. Plowman Road). Turn right (north) and just follow CR 675 until you reach Big Glen Lake. At Big Glen Lake, turn right to continue on CR 675. Drive through Burdickville and along the lake shore north until you reach the trailhead.
Lunch: Cherry Public House opens at 11am. All riders should aim to finish at the start point lot 11:30-11:45am, and then proceed by car or bike to the Cherry Public House. They have lots of outdoor seating.