The Bicycle Diaries: Duluth, eh?

Good Day, Friends. How's about a little story time today, huh? I think it is a great idea. Today I'm going to tell you all about a little trip I took (via bicycle) to Duluth and back one windy June (long) weekend back in 2008.

This story is being told today because I happen to be riding to Afton Alps (campground about 25 miles or so from MPLS proper) with a few friends of mine, and it has been a while since I have done any sort of "touring." The other reasoning behind this is that a friend of mine asked me about it....so here we go.

As you know, I enjoy riding my Bicycle. I have a handful of friends who also love this activity. A few years back, two of the gents I know (who love biking) and I started talking about the possibility of riding our bikes to Duluth and back. It was a saucy January night, if I remember correctly, so we got WAAAAY into this idea. We actually thought we could do a ride into Wisconsin, but decided that riding to Duluth and back was a good place to start. And the next morning, when I wasn't so saucy as much as spiny/pukey, I thought to myself, WHAT THE HELL! let's do it.

So we planned and planned (trip would be in June, so we had a few months) and PLANNED. Al mapped out our route, I made our menu and Huss, well Huss supported us with whatever choices we had to make. As the trip got closer, I had to get more supplies, because while I had never done a serious tour, I knew that there was a handful of things I needed to make sure I'd be successful. First thing was to find Panniers. These are the "saddle bags" that carry all your stuff. I was fortunate and have a friend who let me borrow his.

Most of the camping gear I already had-stove, pots/pans, tent, tarps, sleeping bag...you know, all that good stuff. I also bought a new cycling cap (because that's how I roll) and some other neat-o stuff (like fireworks that we never used). As the trip got closer, June weather started to take over. In fact a week before we started our ride, a Tornado danced through a town we were riding through, destroying houses, schools and trees (do you remember the Hugo Tornado from a few years back? scary!). This made us a little nervous about what the weather would bring us.

(The picture above is an aerial view of Hugo after the Tornado came through. Our trail ran along side of these homes.)
Even the morning we left was rainy and yucky, but by the time we were leaving (roughly 5pm) is was really nice out. We all met at my buddies house, finished packing our bikes, S-ed a B and got ready to go. While I took a TON of pictures on this trip, they are sitting on my old computer, trapped in time, locked in a file that maybe someday I will get at....So below is the one picture I have of us with our bikes just before we left.

Huss is in the BLUE jersey, Alex has on a fleece, but was wearing a GREEN jersey and that is me in the RED. As the trip progressed, we dropped our names and called each other by our colors. I liked that. It made me feel like we were in a movie, or my imagination as an 8 year old, part of some team ready to conquer the world. Anyhow, We left Roseville around 5 and headed north.

The first leg of our trip was mainly on county roads. We weaved in and out of different towns, basically riding along side 35North. We eventually made our way up to the Lino Lakes area and planned on staying there for the night. On our way to the campground, we stopped at a booze store and stocked up. We bought a bunch of PBR and some Whiskey. We were just so damn excited that we were on our trip, that we decided to set up camp and drink a bit the first night. Well, we DID set up camp, but we drank A LOT, not a bit. We cooked some good food, and played cards and drank PBR and were proud of ourselves.

The weather held the first night, and besides the fact that we were all feeling that PBR and Whiskey the next morning, all was well. We packed up everything and got ready to hit the road. We ate some snacks for breakfast and planned a bigger meal later in the day. We got going, knowing that we had an hour or two of county roads before we got to our trail head. That time went pretty quickly, and soon we were on the trail. It was SO nice, big enough for us to ride side by side, or draft (depending on the weather, or legs and our goofiness.) We stopped for lunch, and noticed that the skies were growing darker. It was our goal to make it to Hinckley that day.

As the sky grew darker, we kept an extra eye on our map to make sure we knew where the closest town was. When the rain finally came, we had all already stopped and put on some rain gear. But of course Al just had a giant poncho that we had to duct tape around his body, because with the rain came wind.

We passed through a town in the rain and thought we could make it the last 15 miles to Hinckely. We were WAY wrong. After about 5 minutes of riding in crazy down pour, we turned around and went BACK to that small town, which happened to be Pine City. In Pine City, they had a gas station, an Italian restaurant and a Lion's Club. We went to the Lion's Club. We tarped up our bikes and gear and headed inside. When we pushed through the double doors, into a swanky vintage looking bar, all 7 people inside turned and stared at us. It was as if a group of zebra's came in. They gave us the funniest looks. We explained the situation, ordered some beer and food and figured out our next move. Near the front door there was one ad taped to the wall. It was for a Taxi that would go anywhere between Hinckley and Mpls. So after about an hour we swallowed our pride and gave the taxi a call. He was there within 20 minutes in a Taxi-Van. We loaded our biked up (still cannot believe they fit!) threw our packs in and got in the mini van. "Hinckley, please!" we told him, and away we went.

We got to Hinckley and told the driver than any Motel would do. He said there were only 2 or 3 to choose from, besides the casino. The cheaper the better. So we payed him ($76! for a 15 mile drive) and got ourselves a room. It was actually good, because we were able to clean and dry all of our gear, and ourselves, actually. And we slept *really* well. The next morning we got up super early and hit the trail. That night we would be in Duluth, possibly camping, possibly staying at some lake house of a friend of Huss's. That day brought a bit more rain, but it was WAY more manageable. in fact, we had the wind on our side and we were getting really good at drafting each other at that point. Just around mile 80, we were getting close to the dudes house that Huss knew. We attempted to find a campground, but it was not that nice and off the beaten path a hair too much (think Friday the 13th....no thanks) So we just decided to try to find Huss's buddies house.

Arriving at that house felt very good. We were able to put the bikes down, enjoy some food on the grill (it was SICK-they made these little popper things that were tiny fish battered and deep fried and you just eat the whole damn thing. I didn't dare, so I have frozen Pizza instead, which was great!)and we drank beer and made a big campfire. The crazy thing was we were staying with this guy, well actually his Dad and step mom. The dad was fucking ridiculous. SUCH a north woods, conservative, hunting redneck(but not trashy-or kinda). When we first got there he called us God Damn Hippies on silly bicycles. It was actually kinda funny. He kept saying things like "what, you gonna save the world pedalling those bicycles, you damn liberal hippies!" as we drank more beer, it got even funnier. Then he proceeded to pour motor oil on the fire to "really get it going!" I knew I was up north in the woods at that very moment.

We also got to sleep in the dad's hunting/ice fishing trailer. It was pretty nice! The next morning we were ready for the next 150 miles or so back to MPLS. We said our goodbyes, and headed back to the trail head. We had to go through a small town on our way and as we were getting closer and closer to the trail head, we noticed there were an awful lot of bikes going by. When we finally got to the trail and saw people watching the bikers, we asked what was going on. "Oh, it's the MS150 this weekend." WTF? how did we NOT know that! While now there were thousands of bikers on the trail that just yesterday was pretty dead, we saw that it had it's advantages. With all the cyclists, we were able to draft other people. And let me tell you, those that drafted us LOVED that we had all our camping gear and such-it made their ride super easy. We also were able to stop at all of their checkpoints, pretend we were part of it and get food, drinks and mechanical stuff taken care of for free. that was solid.

So the whole day we rode with this giant charity event, and it was great. We finally got to Hinckley and knew we had to leave the massive group. However, I realized that I was breaking spokes and did not have the knowledge (at that point) to fix it on my own. So I saw a mechanic who offered to help and fixed 3 spokes for 5 bucks. And after that, off we went! We had an idea to go a bit off the trail we were on to find a different campground. So we headed East, which also meant going downward to the river level. We were back on country roads, riding by LOTS of farms. We had about 5 miles until our campground and finally hitting the 90 mile day. We were BEAT, tired, drained and ready to relax. Then, out of nowhere we heard a jingle, which sort of sounded like a dog collar. That jingle got louder, closer and more intense. We realized that a farm dog was running towards us. It started barking like crazy and I realized I had to get my shit together and RIDE. Like RIDE as fast as I could. We all started screaming as the beast of the dog was about 10 feet away. I have never pushed that hard in my life, and as the dog got closer, it jumped up at me. I screamed in it's face and road like I was never going to ride again. I looked back and the boys were behind me, also safe from the dog. This happened about 2 more times on the way to our campground that night.

We were so exhausted, we barely finished putting up the tent and Huss was asleep inside. Al and I found wood for the fire, tried to defend ourselves from the most brutal mosquitoes ever and felt almost as if we had eaten Acid, we were for tired we were hallucinating. But the night went on and we ate dinner and went to sleep. The next day would be our last on the road. To be honest, I don't remember too much from that last day.

I know I climbed the biggest hill of my life and kicked it's ass(by that I mean I made it all the way up and beat the boys!!!) I also went the fastest Ive ever gone on my bike-going down one of the giant hills. My computer said 37mph. crazy. We also got chased by 2 more dogs, again very scary. When we were about 50 miles from where my car was parked, I felt a spoke break. I knew that it had already happened , and been fixed, but I also knew that once one goes, more will probably go. That last 50 miles were killer. I was losing spokes, one an hour about, and my knee was starting to ache. At one point, we were just outside of Roseville at a gas station and I saw that 5! spokes were busted. I was starting to freak out a bit. But I told myself, hey, I can always buy a new wheel. I just NEED to make it to Al's house/my car. And after roughly 315 miles, we finally made it home.

Throughout this trip I was using a men's saddle. At that point in my life, I knew little about bicycles, or rather, how to adjust them properly. This really matters when you are riding a long distance! My princess (as A calls it) was killing me. When I arrived home, I threw the bike in the corner and didn't touch it for a year. Of course it took me about 3 days to get back on my commuter. But I needed a rest. All in all, it was amazing. Most fun on a bike Ive had (maybe....)Also, my tips: don't get wasted the first night. Use your water bottle to spray dogs in the face if they chase you. bring extra spokes. even if you don't think you will need them, you might. Don't let your pride get in the way of comfort, or safety. Taking a cab isn't the worst thing ever. Also, just have fun. that is all you need.