Course

37-Mile Course Key Stats (scroll down for 19-mile course)

Distance: GPX mileage varies between 36.7 (Strava) and 38 (Ride with GPS) miles.
Elevation Gain: approx. 2,400 ft. (by GPS).
Aid Stations: Mile 17 (Otis Lake Audobon Farm) & Mile 28 (Hastings Point & Gun Lake Road). Gatorade and water.
Clockwise flow (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday flow)
Pre-rides: See details below. Please start at Yankee Springs Township Hall.
Course designers: Mark VanTongeren & Matt Acker

GPX & TCX Files (FIT too)

Ride with GPS: Sign up or sign in to Ride with GPS. Click on “View Full Version” in map below, click Send to Device, select your bike computer.
Strava (ignore route creation date and elevation). Sign up/in and then use Strava link or click on View Full Version in map below, select Export on right, download GPX or TCX (turn by turn, for newer devices) file. Strava instructions.
You may need to download the file to your desktop/laptop, connect your phone via USB, and then move the GPX or TCX file to your bike computer (e.g., into New Files folder in Garmin).

GPX is a basic GPS track, compatible with most GPS devices.
TCX is a GPS track with turn-by-turn directions, compatible with newer GPS devices.
FIT is the best format for turn-by-turn directions on modern Garmin Edge Devices (available via Ride with GPS).

19-Mile Course Key Stats

Change for 2023: instead of the brutal second section of singletrack, riders will take the Norris Road two track through Yankee Springs Rec area.
Elevation Gain: approx. 900 ft. (by GPS)
Aid Station: Mile 14 (Hastings Point & Gun Lake Road). Gatorade and water.
Clockwise flow (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday flow)
GPS track files: Click on View Full Version in map below, select Export on right, download GPX or TCX (turn by turn, for newer devices) file. Strava instructions.
Pre-rides: See details below. Please start at Yankee Springs Township Hall.

Pre-Riding

Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday for the correct flow (Yankee Springs Deep Lake trail switches flow daily).
Start at Thornapple Township Hall a short ways south of Camp Manitou-Lin on Briggs. Please only park in designated parking spots and do not block the recycling bins.
Please stay off camp property except on race day.
Refill water at Deep Lake Campground. Bring plenty as there are no public water sources the rest of the way.
Note 30-feet, unmarked hike-a-bike up small hill at edge of Gun Lake Rd. where trail turns west (otherwise it would run into Gun Lake Rd). Note that the GPS file may be confused at this point. Bring cue sheets with you if you don’t know the route.
No bike computer? Print PDF or select Print from Strava link to get cue sheet (ignore singletrack info)

Course Markings

All race courses will be marked with directional arrows.
The 19-mile and 37-mile courses will have volunteers or sheriff monitors at busy intersections in addition to arrows. Some intersections may only have arrows. Racers are still responsible for crossing when safe to do so.
We highly recommend that you print the Strava Cue Sheet or map in case signs fall down or are stolen.
GPX/TXC tracks are not required but may be helpful if you have a navigation device.

Cue Sheets (Turn by Turn)
Click for 37-mile cue sheet or 19-mile cue sheet (to come) for gravel road section or use the Strava map and click Print and then reference our maps showing the Deep Lake Mountain Bike trails for the singletrack sections since cue sheets don’t cover the singletrack trails.

It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.

Course Description

Roll-Out and First Singletrack Section: After a 5-mile roll-out from Camp Manitou-Lin on mostly gravel, you will climb the infamous Bassett Lake Road hill. If you aren’t thinned out by now, this hill will certainly thin out the herd. Look for the Section C medical sign for your turn-off to the right (and signs on race day of course) where you’ll enter into the famous and revered Deep Lake mountain bike trail system at The Pines for 5 miles of fast fun. Take a quick left and follow the trail along the road before turning right and climbing into the ridge of pines. After some intermediate-level riding with a few moderately technical spots (watch rocky descent video here for one of these spots; nothing crazy relative to other trails in the lower peninsula), the most challenging of the day, you’ll have some windy but fast trail. As you approach the campground, keep some off-shoot trails to your left. You’ll follow the normal Saturday flow which is clockwise (opposite from the traditional flow), taking the trail eastward toward Deep Lake and then south, with a 30-feet hike-a-bike up the short hill to Gun Lake Road just before the creek, just west of Yankee Springs Rd.
Once you hike-a-bike up onto Gun Lake Road, the 19-mile route will cross straight over the road onto the Norris gravel road before merging onto Yankee Springs Road, and a right at Duffy to rejoin the 37-mile race (minus 13 miles of gravel and two tracks). The 37-mile route goes straight/east on Gun Lake Rd after hike-a-biking up onto the road.
Gravel & Two-Tracks: Enjoy some wider stretches over the next 17 miles, although a few will feel like singletrack in their rugged surface and need for picking the right line. You’ll head east, with a steady climb on pavement before accessing several miles of awesome gravel, including the beautiful Audobon Sanctuary where the aid station will offer water and Gatorade (sorry, no Lambas bread). After surviving the infamous Sager Road (our version of Mordor perhaps?), you’ll hammer a few more miles of paved and gravel roads throughout Middle Earth.
Final Singletrack Section & Finish: while the 19-mile race splits off to the north on a Norris Road two-track and joins up at Bowens Mill Road for the final 2.5 miles, 37-milers will finish the race with a final 3 miles of pure, rugged Deep Lake awesomeness, entering in at Graves Hill and exiting at The Pines where you first entered back at mile 5. Plummet down the Bassett Lake Road hill, but make sure you stay in control! Finish in reverse of your first 5 miles on mostly flat gravel and a final push on pavement until you reach camp, aka The Shire.