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The entire point of riding to Duluth this past weekend was to hang out at Fitgers, something Dan has wanted to do for some time. We had to make a quick stop at Pizza Luce to grab Dan's credit card from the night before. Screaming down the streets of Duluth was excellent! I wouldn't mind heading up there to just ride around some. Finally arriving at Fitgers was a welcome treat. We grabbed a table and started in on lunch. Beers were already on the table by the time I made it inside, but I decided to start out with a bloody mary. I have to say the beer chaser was better tasting. I wasn't feeling the greatest at this point, yesterday's ride still doing a number on my stomach. I opted to not finish the last couple bites of my burger and we hit the streets of Duluth.
Having been on the bikes enough for the weekend, we left them locked up at Fitgers and walked a while. Being Sunday and the Fourth, we didn't find a lot of things open until we hit Canal St. We headed into Hell's Burger as they had a happy hour special going. I couldn't muster the thought of alcohol into my stomach, so I chose a couple glasses of lemonade. I had been craving it for a while, and it turned me around. After those had settled a touch, I felt amazingly better. The power of the fruit! Unfortunately, Rich didn't have any lemonade. He was struggling a bit with the sleep deprivation. At this point, some people next to us at the bar commented: "I think your friend's dead!"
I think the low part of the day was our stop at Grandma's. People were a little confused heading in, Dan downstairs and everyone else upstairs. Dan ordered drinks at his bar, and we as well up at our table. Short lived confusion led to a couple tall beers, Jameson shots, and one frothy margarita. I don't have to go back there. We did get a call from Alex saying she was a little early (about an hour) so we drank up and hit the boardwalk.
There are a few things I am not proud of. I have lived in MN for twelve years and I have yet to enter the BWCA (horror!). Nor had I set any body part in Lake Superior. Somehow this was mentioned on our walk back and we had to rectify that. Dan was obviously feeling good at this point, as he plunged right into the lake. Then we convinced Joe that his Batman underwear were perfectly suitable for swimming. Good times.
We met up with our saviors at Fitgers and of course had to have a couple more beers. Packing up the cars was interesting. Loading 5 bicycles, a trailer and all our crap into two fairly small cars was quite the challenge. Fortunately only a small amount of disassembly was required and we turned our faces south. I was surprised how much of the trip back I stayed awake. I'm usually good for crashing hard in the car, but I had to sneak another couple pics of bobbing heads. I did crash hard once my head hit the pillow.
All-in-all it was a fabulous weekend. I doubt I will ever recall any of the haikus I composed. A couple were halfway decent. Although, I was under the influence of heat, or lack of sleep, or booze, or some weird combination.
My coworker Dan is getting married next weekend. Unfortunately, my mother also chose to be ordained that same weekend. Family always wins. So it is that I cannot attend the wedding and felt it absolutely necessary to ride to Duluth with Dan and some friends for a bachelorish party weekend.
We left Saturday morning and as always when trying to gather 6 people together and roll out, we left about 30 minutes after we wished. We picked up a 7th part way through the cities and all headed out north. We have done this Duluth trip many times in the past, but always with the design of riding up and back, stopping only for snacks along the way and breakfast in Duluth (we usually leave in the evening to get the darkness out of the way). This time it would be different as we were loaded for camping overnight in Duluth.
We were fortunate enough to have Ken ride with us as far as Hugo. After breakfast, he pealed off, having to buck a pretty good headwind for the return ride home. Down to 6, we continued north. Our progress was slowed somewhat in Forest Lake as we had to maneuver our way through a parade. I am still kicking myself for not taking any pictures. A quick stop for some cool drinks in North Branch and to say goodbye to Michael and it was the long stretch of highway to Hinckley. We were moving at a pretty slow pace, even with a strong tailwind. Too many stops and general lolly gagging was starting to make this into one of the hardest Duluth rides yet.
After lunch in Hinckley (a very good i
dea) we hit the Munger Trail. There was some serious miles left and we put it to the pedals. The stopping was kept to a minimum and the pace was kept up and we found ourselves climbing up to the campground at Spirit Mountain around 10:15. Unfortunately, that was not enough time to make it to Fitgers (our ultimate destination) before the kitchen closed. So we called a cab to take us to Pizza Luce. A few cold beers sure felt nice, but after 160 miles of hot, humid riding, we were buzzing and sleepy very quickly. There was barely any talk when we made it back to camp. Everyone crawled into their bunks and crashed hard.
(a present from the trail gods)
I awoke Sunday morning not sure if I was going to ride home, or hang out with people in Duluth. I was still quite tired from the day before so I figured I would see how breakfast went and take it from there. No sooner had I poured my first cup of coffee and the rain started. And it really rained. We took shelter under an overhang at the bathrooms and made our plan of riding into Duluth to wait for our rides to come fetch us. The rain only lasted for roughly 30 minutes and we soon were cranking our way slowly toward Duluth proper. None of us are from that area, so we grabbed a map at a convenience store and decided to ride Skyline Parkway all the way into town.
Anyone familiar with the layout of Duluth, knows that it has the steepest streets in MN. They aren't that long, but there are some VERY steep ones. And of course, anytime you are talking about Skyline anything, you know there are going to be some hills involved. It was spectacular. We all felt good on our bikes (I'm sure because we knew we didn't have to be one them for 15 hours) and we just enjoyed the morning. Stopping to check out the views, taking a dip in a small swimming hole, and soaking in the now beautiful morning. And the day was just getting started.
We met up with our saviors at Fitgers and of course had to have a couple more beers. Packing up the cars was interesting. Loading 5 bicycles, a trailer and all our crap into two fairly small cars was quite the challenge. Fortunately only a small amount of disassembly was required and we turned our faces south. I was surprised how much of the trip back I stayed awake. I'm usually good for crashing hard in the car, but I had to sneak another couple pics of bobbing heads. I did crash hard once my head hit the pillow.
