Taken for a ride

Prologue: The regional newspaper sent me an "evergreen" freelance assignment about chalk art on a local, non-motorized recreational trail. The editor was surprised when, several days later, I turned in a story about riding my bicycle down 18 miles of trail and conducting moving interviews along the way. The chalk art had all washed away but I had received a press release about a 600-person group ride at the end of the week. The editor said they already had run a preview piece about the group ride. I didn't know because the newspaper declined to provide a subscription or online account (or notice that they were publishing my work) for the nine months I was a regular contributor.

The article was never published, although I had the option of devoting more time and effort for $150 and my byline over an interest piece about artists decorating hiking and biking trails. I declined.

600 (registered) riders expected for 18th Tour de TART

The Traverse Area Recrational Trail organization’s Leelanau Trail can fly by quickly, but many opportunities to pause present themselves along the way. Trailside attractions range from farm stands to creekside benches alongside these 18 ADA-accessible miles between Traverse City and Suttons Bay, a bike and hike paradise. This Friday (July 21), TART will take full advantage of this keystone trail when they host Tour de TART, a Traverse City to Suttons Bay group ride including up to 600 registered riders with dinner, drinks and activities followed by bus rides back to town.

“I’ve very much enjoyed the Boardman Lake Trail since it was completed but the Leelanau Trail is probably my favorite,” said Janna Goethel, TART’s special events coordinator. “It’s pretty magical.”

Friday’s ride will start in Darrow Park on Traverse City’s west side and will end in Suttons Bay at a waterside park with food by VI Grill/Fiddleheads, Milk & Honey (ice cream) and Northwoods Soda in addition to adult beverage services provided by Northpeaks Brewing and Shady Lane Cellars.

The LT was well trafficked on Tuesday, which began cloudy and iffy looking before becoming a picture perfect day for a jaunt up the trail. In the early afternoon, a trio of snowbirds were resting at the Shady Lane trailhead with e-bikes rented from Clinch Park. No one was sure how far we’d made it up the trail because it was the first time for all of us. A young person overheard our conversation from a short way off and told us we’d just passed mile marker 11.

“We ride up in the north,” said Renee Discher, a resident of Bay Harbor in Petoskey and Dallas, Texas with her husband, Steve. “We ride to Harbor Springs.”

Discher said that she was a graduate from Traverse City Central High School.

“I just graduated from there!” said the informative youth.

“Do they still have that writing on the wall banner?” asked Steve as the youths rode away.

“Yup!” she replied over her shoulder.

Farther on up the trail, TCC graduates Betsy Julian and Brendan Kaufman agreed to participate in the (Wretched) Eagle’s first interviews conducted entirely on moving bicycles. Both plan to pursue studies at the University of Michigan, with Kaufman planning to start at Northwestern Michigan College and subsequently transfer. It was Kaufman’s second time on the LT and Julian’s first.

“It’s really pretty. It’s so calm and peaceful,” said Julian.

“It goes by fast, too,” said Kaufman.

The trip averages around two hours for these 18 miles, according to Tour de TART organizers. Julian and Kaufman made it in less without motorized assistance. Traverse City visitors Kimberly Ayers and Kristine Graham made their way in the same mode. Ayers said her bed & breakfast host pointed her to a local bicycle rental and the LT for a good time.

“We left our third day open,” she said. “She was like, you should ride all the way to Suttons Bay.”

Ayers said she and Graham were on a girls’ trip via recommendation from a fourth generation TC native whom they met while studying at West Virginia University (go Mountaineers!). The BATA bus saved us who were unprepared for a 36-mile out-and-back.

“I was gonna die. I was not gonna make it back,” said Ayers. “My rental bike seat was not doing it for me.”

Tour de TART riders, who disembark any time between 4:30 and 6:30 on Friday, need not worry about return trips either, said Goethel.

“We actually use TCAPS (Traverse City Area Public Schools) school buses for the event,” she said. “Bikes are transported back in box trucks.”

Regardless, there’s no need to tire oneself on the LT, which is smooth, flat and well apportioned with rest areas and attractions. Some of the foremost causes for pauses are the arresting artwork, which is installed and in progress along the LT and elsewhere in NoMI trail networks.

TART trail art director (among other hats) Caitlin Early said fitness and creative crowds have coalesced around several art initiatives. Poetry on the LT launched this year in collaboration with Anne-Marie Oomen to highlight Michigan writers with chalk art on the trail. Recent rains have washed away the work of five poets but their work will be reapplied in mid-August and throughout the rest of the season. Response to the project has exceeded expecations and offers a bright future, said Early, who was part of an event last month to bring writers, builders, users and organizers together.

“The event was incredible,” said Early. Subsequent public response has also been overwhelmingly positive.

“We’ve had criticism, like, make them bigger,” Early mused.

Early said more art is ongoing in the TART network, including more murals on the Boardman Lake Loop and a sculpture on the LT by Bill Allen that will be installed in September.

Spots on the Tour de TART may still be available by registering at traversetrails.org

“Online registration closes at 5 p.m. on Thursday but we do offer limited onsite registration until we sell out,” said Goethel.