Great food, great weather, great scenery…what more can you ask for? The Leelanau Harvest Tour again delivered for many cyclists, the last big road ride of the season. Thanks to the Cherry Capital Cycling Club and all of the volunteers, the Leelanau Harvest Tour was again a huge success. This year, 517 cyclists rode in the annual road cycling event to benefit TART Trails, Inc. Covering various routes from 25 to 100 miles, beginning at Glen Lake Schools, riders circled beautiful inland lakes and climbed challenging hills to view some of the most scenic overlooks in Michigan.

The Leelanau Harvest Tour was directed by Emily Taphouse and it was her first time organizing such an event. She did a wonderful job and is already excited about preparing an even better Leelanau Harvest Tour next year. The T-shirts again sold-out this year, thanks to the new shirt designed by Dave Kirby.

The Cherry Capital Cycling Club will be donating nearly $7,000 to TART Trails as the proceeds from this year’s event. Over the years, the Club has donated over $50,000 to TART Trails as proceeds from the Leelanau Harvest Tour. This event is truly special and we are very thankful to be the recipient of these funds for the last nine years. We hope that LHT participants realize how the event has helped the regional trail system grow and prosper.

This year we are indebted to various area merchants who helped provide for the outstanding food stops along the way. Donated goods were provided by Stonehouse Bakery, Pleasanton Brick Oven, Big Apple Bagels, Northwestern Michigan College Culinary Arts Dept, Oryana, The Cherry Republic, Kejara’s Bridge, Pepsi Cola Company, Pure Water Works and Moon Dog Café.

Thank you to the Leelanau Harvest Tour Committee: chaired by Emily Taphouse; food stops by Kathy Heil; maps by Erik Jensen; route marking by Judith Briggs, Bill McKinley, Steve and Robin Nance and Parker Fields; Sag drivers by Carl Taphouse; computer registration by George Kuhn; and of course office support and publicity help from our own Bob Otwell and Missy Luyk. The success of this ride is dependent on all the Leelanau Harvest Tour volunteers from CCCC and TART