Irish Hills, MI

[UselessPickles]

I did a Sunday ride to the "Irish Hills" area in Michigan (right by the Michigan International Speedway). It was a nice 270 mile ride that was mostly 2-lane country roads with no traffic and a little bit of twisty, hilly, narrow dirt/gravel roads There's lots of nice roads between Jackson and Ann Arbor, south of Brighton.

Here's a map of my general route: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&amp...3a6b1d3e10b62dc

I had a couple detours due to a marathon in Ann Arbor, a bridge that was out at Portage Lake, and of course the dirt roads just for fun.

And here's a bunch of clips from my GoPro HD Hero slapped together to show you a day's worth of riding in 10 minutes:

 

[Old Michael]

Holy cow, Useless! That was very good!

I really like the helmet cam perspective, the sweet sound of those pipes, and the lovely rural Michigan roads.

(And you actually avoided the mud puddles. ShinyPartsUp should take note. :lol: )

Thank you, amigo. Really enjoyed it.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wow...there IS a curve in Michigan!

Great video...

 

[Solo]

I enjoyed the ride Useless! The helmet cam is an interesting perspective. I'm a born and raised Michigander (Marshall, just east of Battle Creek) and the sky in your video was very familiar. Felt like being back in my early riding days.

 

[fljab]

I did a Sunday ride to the "Irish Hills" area in Michigan <snip>

I see you went to/through Napoleon; I grew up there and still get back time to time. Did you stop at Aggie's for lunch?

 

[UselessPickles]

Holy cow, Useless! That was very good!

Actually, those were horses, but thanks

I really like the helmet cam perspective, the sweet sound of those pipes, and the lovely rural Michigan roads.

The sound of the pipes is what caused me to choose not to put any music in the video. The only part I don't like about the helmet perspective is that the camera is in the full blast of the wind. The wind noise is much improved over the old GoPro Hero, but I still wish I could reduce it even more.

(And you actually avoided the mud puddles. ShinyPartsUp should take note. :lol: )

One of them almost got me though. The back end slid out pretty bad and I was just steadily cruising through in a straight line at about 5-10mph. Scary!

I think I missed the story about Shiny and mud puddles, but if his shiny parts didn't stay up, should we make him change his name?

 

[UselessPickles]

I see you went to/through Napoleon; I grew up there and still get back time to time. Did you stop at Aggie's for lunch?

This was a budget day ride, so no stops at restaurants. My wife packed me a lunch and I ate part of it in a park in Chelsea, and the rest in a park in Napoleon. Maybe I'll look for Aggie's next time I'm out that way.

 

[Fred W]

Nice vid.

Are there really a lot of Irsih in the Hills? I didn't see any that look like BeemerDonS.

PS - (Completely OT) In all of your previous posts, including this 'un, I've always said to myself, "Self, that UP seems like a good kid. He's got his head screwed on straight!"

Keep on keepin' on, man. :thumbsup:

 

[UselessPickles]

Are there really a lot of Irsih in the Hills? I didn't see any that look like BeemerDonS.

I kept looking for leprechauns, but I didn't see any. The name of the area comes from the Irish settlers that moved into the area in the early/mid 1800's. The area reminded them of Ireland.

Here's a couple pics from the area:

The story behind the towers is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Hills_Towers

PS - (Completely OT) In all of your previous posts, including this 'un, I've always said to myself, "Self, that UP seems like a good kid. He's got his head screwed on straight!"

Good to know that my deception skills have improved :crazy:

 

[Bustanut joker]

Good stuff Jeff! I always thought a bike ride down that way would be decent.

Only time I've been on them roads I was dragging a doublewide behind me large car!

Me, you, wayne, flyingJ, and whoever else, need to set something up.

:jester:

 

[fljab]

I see you went to/through Napoleon; I grew up there and still get back time to time. Did you stop at Aggie's for lunch?

This was a budget day ride, so no stops at restaurants. My wife packed me a lunch and I ate part of it in a park in Chelsea, and the rest in a park in Napoleon. Maybe I'll look for Aggie's next time I'm out that way.

You came out on Stoney Lake Rd to M-50; if you had looked left, that was Aggies (the restaurant part, Average Joe's is the bar). Used to be an IGA grocery store back in the day; it's about the only place to go in Napoleon other than the Napoleon Cafe on M-50 back towards the little airport. The Cafe is actually my preference when I'm there to be honest. Not fancy, just a local place, good food + prices.

What little park? over by the church?

Great ride report! I miss riding up there and still keep in contact with various folks I grew up with. I stay out on Napoleon Rd at the family farm when I go back; looks like I'm overdue...

 

[UselessPickles]

There were two churches right next to the park in Napoleon (Baptist and Lutheran), and the park had a pirate ship:

I guess I'll aim for the Napoleon Cafe next time. I like smaller local restaurants.

 

[fjrchooser]

UP, I'm out this way about 40 min. west of MIS off US-12. The Artesian Wells restaurant a couple of miles west of the track has a motorcycle motif and very good food at reasonable prices (all you can eat ribs for $13.95, walleye for $12.95 and sharing allowed ).

Give me a shout if you like when you're headed this way or if Busta's get together actually gets together..

PS. Your bike sounds great !

 

[canyonman]

Hey UP thanks for the ride down memory lane.

I grew up in the Irish hills area, used to go to dances at the ski lodge behind the towers in the pic.

Crawled home a few times from Kellys on the Hill Tavern which would have been right behind you when you took the pic of the towers.

Lot of really nice clean lakes in that area I miss those Michigan summers. You can keep the damn winters though.