Lake Michigan bicycle adventure

The weather delayed, but didn’t stop, a major bicycling trip from Escanaba to Manistique  today.

After a morning maintenance break in Escanaba, a group of eight out-of-state cyclists calling themselves Venture Expeditions hopped back on the saddle to continue on their mission.

They came from Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Georgia to cycle around Lake Michigan.

“We started in Chicago on Sunday and have made it all the way up here since then,” Venture Expeditions cyclist Kelsey Bjorkman said. “It’s a total of about a thousand miles. We have 11 days of actually cycling.”

The Venture Expeditions group is based in Burnsville, Minnesota, and it’s riding to raise support and awareness for children’s educational programs, including one in Chang Mai, Thailand.

“They have a community center that does after-school programming and provides meals and a lot of other basic supplies that students in Thailand need that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get,” trip leader Erik Pelttari said.

You can find out more about the mission and the group on its website.