IronK's surgery was a big success and after 6 days of complete agony in the hospital, she came home. Of course, the day she came home, I finally gave up on the strange cough I was having and saw my doctor. Could it be a cold? Nope, pneumonia. Fortunately, there were antibiotics. But it was a good thing that mom came for the week so that she could take care of both of us.
So having finished up my antibiotics and gotten back to work, I started considering riding again. Nothing like a DNF to really motivate you. I had these 3 new permanents approved - all part of a 600k I have been designing for years. I wanted to ride the middle section from Moose Lake to Two Harbors. So I called up GearBob who did the 300k Groundhog Day Fog Festival with me. The weather was supposed to be pretty nice, clearing and in the 50s.
First, neither of us could afford 1 minute off work. Second, GearBob is doing a R-12 (come to think of it, I might be too) so April 29 was the day to do this if we wanted to keep that goal alive. My lungs pretty much felt like a pile of sludge and I was still coughing, but it was supposed to be a pretty flat ride. What could go wrong? So we had to get to the start in Moose Lake (about 2 hours from the Twin Cities), do 230k and drive back in one day. So we set it up for me to pick him up at 6 for a 9 am start.
That worked great. We got to Moose Lake at about 8:30 and pulled out right on time. The day was a grey one, one of those deceptive days that makes you overdress. We had to stop after 2 miles to shed clothes. I always learn a ton when I ride with GearBob, he knows more about bicycles than just about anyone I know and with my new frame on the way, there was no shortage of topics. From Moose Lake, our route took us 37 miles up the Willard Munger State Trail, which is a beautiful trail that winds its way through the north woods to Duluth. This area is a different climate than 2 hours to the south and the trees were only just beginning to budd out. Many tiny flowers on the forest floor were emerging and the spagnum moss was about the greenest thing around. Throw in tamarack swamps and giant basalt boulders and a bunch of wildlife and you get the scene a little. Being so early, we were just about the only people on the trail.
We got to Duluth around 11:30 and headed up through Duluth to the control. Duluth is a very old city and West Duluth may not actually have any good pavement. But it does have cool mom and pop shops that are fun to see and it has San Francisco style hills. We followed the route that was given to me by a local, but which I had not ridden. As we got to the top of Superior Street, we gazed in fear at what lay ahead.
The planned route had us going over a road suspended over the interstate with no shoulder, one way around a blind turn. Traffic was moving at around 45 miles an hour. Bob just stopped dead in his tracks. No way we were going over that. To the right was a pedestrian bridge, we took that in the name of safety. Bob recalled riding in Duluth years earlier and thought we could get around the bad section.
So we descended on the Superior Hiking Trail and found all sorts of fun stuff. Restored trains, Canal Park, and a very nice path along Lake Superior. We took copious notes, still looking for where we could get back to Superior Street. Duluth sits on a hillside and is cut in half by interstate 35. Navigating is a challenge.
But the Lakewalk Trail was empty and we had a nice run up the shore. Suprise! The trail ended at the control. We had avoided certain death and found a very scenic way to see Duluth. This was a big win for GearBob, he's a touring nut at heart.
At the control, we grabbed a very quick bite. There was a strong north east wind blowing and Two Harbors, the turnaround, was 24 miles away. We enjoyed riding through Kitchi Gammi State Park and the many very nice sights on Scenic 61. We would have enojoyed them much more if we hadnt been struggling to make 11 mph. Bob was bonking by the time we hit Two Harbors and a prolonged chow session at Culver's Custard was long overdue. Happily, a tailwind back was our reward. Sunset on Superior is beautiful.
By the time we returned to the Duluth control, it was dusk and the lights went on. The trip back to the Munger Trail was much quicker than the meandering way up and we finally got back to the trail as real darkness set it. RBA Rob was concerned about having riders "climb" out of Duluth. We cruised up the "hill" at about 13-14 mph and I just got over pneumonia - we decided that hill was giving it way too much credit. Mound? Pile? Bump? Those might be better terms.
The final 37 miles were some of the most awesome night riding I have ever done. Being on a bike trail with zero traffic and barely a street crossing, we could almost ride without headlights. Eventually we turned them on to scare the deer, who were everywhere.
Bob had some issues with his hands in Carlton and while he waited, I cooled down too much. Coughing set in and I inhaled my inhaler. But it was concerning; cold air has always been an asthma trigger. Once I got moving again I was much better as my core reheated.
We finished in 12:30 and tossed the bikes in the back for the trip home. We eventually stopped at McDonalds, but it was still past midnight when we got back to the Twin Cities. The following day, I had to drink more than 2x more coffee than usual. I was so happy to finish this ride; it was a big deal to finish something like this even when I wasn't at my peak. It gives me hope for the Cascades.
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