Ben's is Big Stop for Bike Tourists From Michigan

Five cyclists on a bike tour from Michigan stopped by Ben's Thursday to look at the shop and look over the new Fugitive gravel/touring bike.

The five, all from Grand Rapids, Michigan, woke early Thursday to ride the 45 miles to Muskegon to catch the ferry to Milwaukee. They made their way to Ben's to see the shop because they had used our online services in the past. 

They rode to Racine last night to camp at Sanders Park. Today, they'll make their way to Chicago so they can attend the Tour de Fat Saturday. On Sunday, they'll make the long trek to Warren Dunes, and on Monday, they'll ride home. 


The trip began as a research effort, explains Jay Niewiek. He runs Spokefolks in Grand Rapids and puts on a fund-raiser modeled after the Tour de Fat. 

"We wanted to see it in real life," he said. 

Two members of the group, Todd Masker and Brooks Twist, work for Brewery Vivant, which brews Belgian-style beer similar to the New Belgium Brewery style. 

The rest of the group is made up for Kent Sinclair, a student at Grand Valley State University, and the "elder" and chaperone of the group, Tim Gunnett, who at 50, is riding the whole tour on a single speed. Gunnett said the Fugitive was exactly what he was looking for in a touring bike.

A Western-Michigan Bike Tour with Dan S.

Our IT guy at the shop, Dan Schneider, just returned from a four-day bike trip along the eastern coast of Lake Michigan in Michigan.

Dan, who has been riding, racing, and touring for more years than he can count, took the ferry to Muskegon with a few friends. The group pedaled over a variety of paved roads, gravel roads, and some unmarked forest roads.


On a bike tour, "I get to hang out with friends and go on a vacation that's all on bicycles rather than going somewhere and driving around,"  he said.

He took the ferry to Muskegon, then rode a loop from the ferry station to Grand Rapids, then Big Rapids, through the Manistee National Forest to Hart, then back to Muskegon.

"Touring is just relaxed," Schneider said. "No one wants to go really fast. We all just want to look at the scenery and have a beer at the end of the day."

Most of the route was planned on google maps, then Ride with GPS. They had hotels reserved along the way.

Dan rode his 2014 Specialized AWOL Comp bike. He loaded up all his gear in Axiom panniers (travel bags) attached to a Blackburn rack. Several times he used front-mounted Serfas lights, especially when the lights went out at one of his hotels!

He also had Specialized touring shoes and an Echelon helmet. His extra Bellwether shorts and jersey were stored in a Banjo Brothers frame pack. He was prepared for rainy conditions, but they had "really good weather."


All of these products are available at Ben's either online or in the store.

On Saturday, our web sales guy, Matt Hewitt, is leaving for a nine-day trip from Milwaukee around the northern tip of Lake Michigan, then back down along with eastern coast of the lake. He'll be camping along with way with friends. We'll be posting about his trip on a new bike when he returns.