Superior, WI long ride?

[Skierchickie]

I'm going to be in the Superior area next weekend. My DH & my best friend are doing the Burrito Union 10 hour triathlon, so I thought I'd go for a long ride. Starting from Pattison State Park, I want to do about 100 miles, preferably a loop, but out and back would work. Is anyone familiar with the roads around there? I know I could just take a map and go, but I'm hoping to end up on fairly decent roads. I tried Mapmyride, but it's acting goofy, and doesn't really indicate which roads are better anyway. I want to avoid 53 and other major roads, and want to stay in more rural areas, but beyond that I don't have much preference. The occasional roadside park with an outhouse, and occasional running water or convenience stores is all I need. Well, and a few moderate hills would be nice - looks like it is all fairly flat to the south?? Turns out my butt is happiest on long rides if I can stand for climbs once in a while. Lots of turns would be fine - okay, preferable (need to incorporate variety if possible). Guess I'm pickier than I thought.

Any information would be appreciated - like I said, armed with a map and my computer, I can figure out a turnaround point to get the distance, if I just knew of a nicer route. Or if I knew of roads/areas to avoid.

Gotta like an adventure! Thanks!

[Thorn]

That is one part of the state I haven't visited. One thing I've noticed when I travel in the northern end of the state is that if you stay off the major highways, almost every road is fine (well, compared to metro-Milwaukee) and drivers are fantastic.

As you probably know, you're spitting distance to Duluth--you might want to try contacting the Duluth-Superior tourism board. A lot of the metro areas in northern WI/MN, encourage bicycle tourism. If they don't have maps of bike routes you can use to plot a longer route, they should be able to give you a good idea of which major roads to avoid.

[three]

I don't know if I'm too late on this one, but you could easily accomplish your goal on some really great trails. Hope over one of the bridges to Duluth and hop over to London Road...which then brings you to Hwy 61. Follow that (it's the same route as Grandma's Marathon) on out; it should at some point parallel the major bike trail up north...I think it's the Gitchi-Gami. Anyway, it's hard to miss because it's paved, relatively new, and follows alongside the highway. You can take that north all the way to Grand Marais.

OR...

you can hop over the bridge, again into Duluth, but this time head south. You'll have to take a few backroads (most of which are marked with arrows directing you to "trail") and head to the Willard Munger Trail (Munger Trail)...which you can then take all the way to Jay Cooke State Park and even past that..turn around at your half way mark and back to Superior.

MN has the most connected bike system of any state in the country. Once you get into our state and out of Superior, you can easily do 100 miles.