Friday in Frankfort: E-Bikes, a Low Battery, and the Perfect Stormcloud Stop

Friday in Frankfort: E-Bikes, a Low Battery, and the Perfect Stormcloud Stop We came into Friday with a bigger ride in mind. The plan was roughly 20 miles on the e-bikes, starting from Crystal Lake RV Campground outside Frankfort and using the Betsie Valley Trail to explore the area. Northern Michigan gave us exactly the kind of riding we came for: cool September air, woods beginning to hint at fall, water nearby, and long stretches where the bikes could simply roll. Then the battery gauge had other ideas. At about 7 miles out, my battery was already showing a low charge. We could have kept pushing toward Beulah, but that would have turned a relaxed vacation ride into a very different kind of adventure. So we turned around. That left us with roughly 14 miles for the day, which turned out to be plenty. Sometimes the best travel plans are the ones you're willing to change before they become bad stories. And besides, Frankfort was waiting. Post-Ride Recovery, Northern Michigan Style After getting back into town, Kellie and I stopped at Stormcloud Brewing Company in downtown Frankfort. This wasn't exactly a hardship. Stormcloud has that comfortable northern Michigan brewery atmosphere that works particularly well after spending a couple of hours on a bike. Nothing overly polished or pretentious—just a good place to sit down, get something cold, and decide that perhaps the low-battery warning had actually been excellent advice. I ordered the Whiled Away IPA, a 6.7% ABV IPA brewed with Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, Azacca and Citra hops. The Centennial immediately stood out to me. There are plenty of heavily fruit-forward modern IPAs, but this one still had some of that recognizable classic American-hop character underneath everything else. Citrus and fruit were there, but so was that slightly sharper hop profile that made me take another drink and say, essentially, there's the Centennial. Kellie went in a completely different direction with the Stormcloud Sangria, made with their red wine blend, oranges, apples and citrus. Two very different drinks. Both worked. Then Came the Hot Honey For food, we landed on the Hot Honey ’Za. That turned out to be the right decision. The pizza comes with marinara, pepperoni, Stormcloud's house cheese blend, goat cheese and a drizzle of hot honey. The combination works because none of those ingredients has to carry the whole pizza. You get the salty pepperoni, creamy tang from the goat cheese and then that sweet heat from the honey across the top. The crust picked up some nice char around the edges, too. After 14 miles on the bikes, there wasn't much discussion about whether we were going to finish it. We started eating before remembering we were supposed to photograph it. That may be the most reliable restaurant review possible. The Photo That Really Captured the Afternoon And then we took one more picture. Not the beer. Not the sangria. Not the pizza. Us. Two slightly windblown people sitting in Frankfort after a bike ride that didn't quite go according to plan. Kellie's hat summed up camping rather well: “Camping hair, don't care.” My own contribution to fashion was apparently sunglasses, a hoodie and the satisfied expression of someone who had recently consumed an IPA and hot-honey pizza. Travel doesn't always need a landmark. Sometimes the picture you remember is simply the two of you sitting together after doing something fun. The Ride We Didn't Finish We originally wanted to ride about 20 miles. We rode about 14. And I don't feel like we missed anything. The battery warning gave us an excuse to turn around before the ride became stressful, and it put us back in Frankfort at exactly the right time to enjoy the afternoon. That's one of the advantages of bringing e-bikes on a camping trip. They aren't just exercise equipment and they aren't really transportation in the traditional sense. They're exploration machines. Ride until you see something interesting. Stop. Turn around when conditions change. Find a brewery. Order pizza. Repeat tomorrow. Northern Michigan seems particularly well designed for this philosophy. Friday's Frankfort Scorecard Ride: approximately 14 miles Original plan: approximately 20 miles Reason for turning around: low e-bike battery indication Trail: Betsie Valley Trail area Post-ride stop: Stormcloud Brewing Company Jason: Whiled Away IPA Kellie: Stormcloud Sangria Food: Hot Honey ’Za Lesson learned: Never argue with a battery gauge when a brewery is waiting back in town. And with IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan taking over Frankfort this weekend—and Nate racing Sunday—the weekend is only getting started.