Hi!
I went around Lake Huron last summer as Denise mentioned. It was an incredible ride with opportunities to meet other cycling tourists at several different points in my tour. I also rode from Saulte Ste Marie to Espanola on 17 along with several Cross Canada cyclists who happened to be riding through the area at the same time. I met 14 Cross Canada riders during those two days on 17.
If you check out my Round Lake Huron journal on Crazyguyonabike.com you will find places where I've made specific comments about the ride, shoulders etc and in many pictures you can actually see the road conditions. Additionally each page has a profile chart showing the hills etc that you can expect to ride.
http://gltlakehuron.crazyguyonabike.com/
I found from discussions with other cyclists that there seemed to be a pattern that cyclists NOT using mirrors were the most concerned about traffic. Cyclists using bike mounted mirrors were in the middle and cyclists using helmet mounted mirrors were the least concerned. I personally used a helmet mirror and did not find the traffic conditions too bad.
Most sections have at least small paved shoulders that you can ride on. THe shoulder does tend to disappear in three lane sections where your side of the road has two lanes. Most cars go to the lane closest to the center so that wasn't a problem for me.
Keep an eye out for two big trucks, like lumber trucks, going by in opposite directions at the same time. It was recommended to me that I try to avoid travelling on 17 during weekends or holidays when the traffic tends to be higher with many more RVs and other tourists.
When you turn at McKerrow/Espanola you turn on to highway 6 or 8 I can't remember the actual number. This highway has a dirt shoulder but no paved shoulder. In the middle of the dirt shoulder there was a hard clay area that in most conditions could be ridden on. I stayed on the road although I did go to the clay area a few times when climbing the "mountains - labelled that way on the map" after Espanola especially in areas where the road dipped a lot meaning that cars might not see me until they crested the hill behind me. You might find those mountains a bit surprising after riding the TransCan earlier in the day.
Once you reach Little Current the highway turns pretty peaceful and relatively flat except for a couple hills all the way to South Baymouth. Camping can be hard to find in South Baymouth so if you want to take a daylight ferry and it's dark I recommend camping at the campground somewhere around 15 km outside of South Baymouth.
Plan your entrance into Tobermory so that you are going to be riding opposite the traffic direction if you are arriving there on a weekend. If you will be heading South then try to be doing so on a Friday rather then a Sunday and the opposite for the other direction. There are no paved shoulders on the highway leaving Tobermory and no alternate roads for about 40 km. Check my tour report and you will find that the point where I turned off allows you to head South on the highway or West and East on much quieter roads.
If you intend to stay on Tobermory for a few days to ride the island you can find very detailed road maps of the island for a couple of dollars at many of the small stores.
Hopefully you can tell by my long message that going around Lake Huron was an incredible experience for me and one that someday I just might repeat despite the many other places in the world to tour.
Lake Huron is actually just one segment of my Great Lakes Circle Tour. I've also gone around Lake Erie as well. I have three more Great Lakes to circle in North America anyway.
In my Great Lakes Circle Tour journal I have a page for each lake with links to other bicycle tours around the same lake. Here's the one for Lake Huron:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journ...e_id=15957&v=3
Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have.
~Jamie N
www.bicycletouring101.com