Favorite Road Rides in SE MI?

[sisu]

Looking to mix it up a little bit this year. Have any routes or roads to recommend?

[utabintarbo]

Paved or dirt? General area?

I have a number of dirt road routes in N. Oakland County. Is that what you are looking for?

[sisu]

paved.
plymouth/ann arbor-ish.

how's hines dr? traffic?

[bike00]

Not quite in your area, but southern St Clair county, especially Harsons Island have low trafic and the roads are in good shape.

One nice loop is to start in Algonac, take the ferry to Canada, ride north to Sombra, Ontario, cross to Marine City, then ride back to Algonac. Add Harsons Island and you can easily get 50 miles.

[Dirtdevil]

Hines dr. Is a good out & back or a great way to hook onto the I-275 bike path and get some good mileage. Also, Ann Arbor Rd west (turns into Plymouth Rd.) is good for riding due to its wide shoulder. (shoulder good till Ford rd. crossing). You can also ride Plymouth Rd. to Curtis rd north, go over M-14 and meander your way to S. Lyon & beyond. Check out the AABTS website under "maps" and you'll find a lot of good routes that are road & MTN bike friendly.

[risnewski]

Hines dr. Is a good out & back or a great way to hook onto the I-275 bike path and get some good mileage. Also, Ann Arbor Rd west (turns into Plymouth Rd.) is good for riding due to its wide shoulder. (shoulder good till Ford rd. crossing). You can also ride Plymouth Rd. to Curtis rd north, go over M-14 and meander your way to S. Lyon & beyond. Check out the AABTS website under "maps" and you'll find a lot of good routes that are road & MTN bike friendly.

Good routes, plus you can take the 275 bike path to Lower Huron/Willow/Oakwood Metroparks which are all connected.

[Dirtdevil]

I just picked up the book "Dirt Road Washtenaw-Biking the Back Roads" by Rob Pulcipher and it has some fantastic routes I'm itchin' to ride. It comes with a description of the route as well as a map noting hills, points of interest, etc. A mountainbike would be good for these routes, but now I'm thinking I may need to add a cross bike to my collection.

[SteveF]

If you ever make it over to the Lansing area let me know and I'll show you some great road routes...

[®andyA]

<snip> ... I *DO* need to add a cross bike to my collection.

I corrected it for you.

[Leroi Brown]

I like riding out Seven Mile to S. Lyon/Whitmore Lake area.....road's not in the best shape, but not well traveled either. Sometimes I'll take Angle Rd.-Curtis-Plymouth Rd. and back into Plymouth if I'm short on time. Great country route that gets me off of Hines!

[Dirtdevil]

<snip> ... I *DO* need to add a cross bike to my collection.

I corrected it for you.

Thank-you, Randy! I started innocently looking at some models today.

[MediumRB]

I'm in Oakland County and like to ride out toward Milford and then loop around the GM Proving Grounds (~10 miles). So if you can work your way up to Island Lake Rec Area, then just take Kensington Rd. north and you will see the test track on your right when Kensington becomes Pleasant Valley Road.

[3d]

not quite SE michigan, but M25 from just north of the commercial strip in Port Huron, all the way up to the tip of the thumb has a really nice, wide shoulder (we were comfortably 2 abreast a lot of the way), and offers a few nice views of lake huron along the way. The route is pretty flat as well, which could be a good, or bad thing depending on your perspective. I just rode with a small group from downtown Detroit to Port Austin on Friday, 150+ miles, and while the Detroit to Port Huron leg was a little dicey at times with traffic and occasional lack of shoulders, the rest of the way up M25 was a really nice route.

[3MTA3]

starting from whitmore lake road going north leaving ann arbor:

park at bandemer park.
whitmore lake road north to M36.
go straight on hamburg rd off M36 when M36 makes a sharp right.
right on strawberry lake road.
left on mast.
left on huron river drive, which empties on to main street.
left in to bandemer park (driveway is next to the lotus building).
paved pathway in bandemer park will take you back to the parking lot.

you can also take a version of this from plymouth by taking hines to 7 mile to east shore drive in whitmore lake.

[i69whitey]

little west of what you're looking for, but
the ride along huron river west out of ann arbor is heavenly
(and from what this old guy remembers, arriving back at ann arbor brewery can suck too)