Enjoying a nice little back road.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
...
There are certain roads I have discovered, unfortunately usually short, that I describe as “intimate,” or “enchanted”; so serene and peaceful, shady, lightly traveled, and without shoulders...
Originally Posted by
terrymorse
There are many quiet and pretty back roads along the Northern California coast.
Here’s a favorite: Gazos Creek Road, near Pescadero. Shady, winding, follows a creek. Almost no traffic. Redwoods.
Gazos Creek Road
Originally Posted by
bobwysiwyg
Wow, would love a backdrop like that around here.
Now that’s enchanted.
Hi @
bobwysiwyg,
Noting that you post from Ann Arbor, MI with the big block
M, I have posted,
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
… Back in the 60’s in the Motor City, I had an “English Racer,’ and longed to tour at about age 14, but then joined the car culture.
In Ann Arbor MI in the 70’s I really realized the utility of bicycles for commuting, and began touring on a five-speed Schwinn Suburban, but soon bought a Mercier as did my girlfriend, later my wife. We toured in Michigan and Ontario.
In 1977 we moved to Boston on our bikes, as a bicycling honeymoon from Los Angeles to Washington, DC and then took the train up to Boston...
I recall Ann Arbor as a great place to cycle, though admittedly I do not recall any specific “enchanted roads”;
(?) maybe Barton Drive.
Besides cycling around town, favorite rides were round-trip along Huron River Drive to Dexter and back, and Whitmore Lake Road beyond North Territorial Road, and back.
My first weekend tour was out Pontiac Trail to visit relatives in Waterford Township, and back. I was a member of the then-fledgling Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society, and we did some weekend overnight trips to local state parts such as Pinckney.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…The sponsoring Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society is an amazingly well attended and active bike club with an impressive website when I came upon it in well before even 2011.
Back in the early 1970’s I rode with a ragtag, loosely University-(of Michigan) affiliated student club of the same name.It was a small group of about maybe 5 to 10 regulars, led by a woman who basically suggested weekend rides (and taught me bicycle mechanics).
I have occasionally wondered if the current AABTS is the direct continuous sucession. I did ask about and named one rider from the seventies who was immediately recognized. One current rider had a jersey indicating the first OHR was in 1976. The name “One Helluva a Ride,” is taken from the nearby town of Hell, MI…
I also did a few rides back to the East side of Detroit via Plymouth Road.
In 2011, I participated in a Fifty-Plus Annual Ride (gathering) on the One Helluva Ride from Chelsea. The day before, we did a ride on Huron River Drive.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…[BF subscriber] @Road Fan had a nice itinerary laid out with the first stop at Zingerman’s, a fine deli for breakfast.
We left about 10:00 AM for the ride on Huron River Drive, as picturesque as it was in the 1970’s when I rode it as a yute…
Thanks for the opportunity to reminisce.
I have met several Michigan grads here in Boston, and I liken Ann Arbor to a distillate of many of the finer points about Boston, and imbued with Midwestern sensibilities.
Speaking of backdrops to cycling, in Boston (as well as Ann Arbor),
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
...I have ridden out West in the Desert, Rockies, and vast Plains, and while interesting and scenic, the views are unchanging for miles, and I really enjoy the intimate quirkiness of Metro Boston.