First Post - Written February, 2018

Hi, and welcome to the first installment of A Superior Bike Adventure!  It is an adventure that has not yet begun, other than initial stage planning.  As much as I hope it will be the best adventure ever, the superlative “Superior” refers to the lake, not my riding skills.  My intent, you see, is to circumnavigate Lake Superior on a bike – the pedal kind, not the Harley kind.

My first flirtation with this adventure was the idea of completing the great loop in a trawler.  The great loop is a term that refers to boating a complete circle from the Intercontinental waterway, to the St. Lawrence seaway, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi river and the Gulf of Mexico back to the original starting point on the eastern seaboard.  The plan was a two-year live-aboard experience interrupted only by a winter layover in Lake Michigan during which we would return to our home.  I studied the loop and read several accounts written by “loopers” to prepare for this journey.  My research culminated in a trip to Manitowoc, Wisconsin for Trawler Fest – a previously annual affair where loopers would commiserate and boat builders showed their latest and greatest sparkling new vessels and accessories.

Two or three days into Trawler Fest, the love of my life said no.  She believed the space was too small and the accommodations too spartan for an extended trip.  I maybe should have anticipated this reaction but, being a guy, I was blinded by testosterone overload and a lack of empathy that comes naturally attached to the Y chromosome.  My wife and I are compatible in nearly every other way but I love the rustic outdoors and her idea of roughing it is a hotel room without HDTV.  We are also inseparable, so a solo trip around the great loop is out of the question.

I accepted my fate, but the idea of an adventure never quite subsided completely. I can’t pinpoint the time, place or circumstances that generated this latest idea.  Growing up in Michigan, I have always loved the water.  As a youngster, we had a summer cottage on a lake in the Irish Hills. We swam, fished and water skied all summer long.  Sundays were reserved for racing sailboats.  Vacations were more often than not taken on and around the Great Lakes in a rental cottage or a tent.  I have spent a considerable amount of time on each of the big lakes but have never seen the Canadian side of Lake Superior.  I am drawn to Superior by her reputation for native beauty so the idea of taking a circle tour by car does not really resonate. But Superior at 10 miles an hour – now that has appeal.

But how does a broken-down retiree, slightly overweight with an artificial knee tackle a 1,500-mile bike trip?  Is it really possible or is it too late to punch this ticket?